The Righteous

1) I believe that this movie is more like a religious experience than a story about loss and guilt. I don't think it is ambiguous, there is only one explanation. In any case, regardless if i am right or wrong, there are many layers here, Existentialism, Metaphysics, God and, simultaneously, the absence of God. Pick your poison.

2) This is a psychological/dialogue driven drama with mystery and horror elements. If you are looking for mindless fun/gore/people killing each other, you will not like it. You will probably don't like it either if you are under 25 years old or if you don't like movies with religious tone. Filmed in black and white, there are many intense and thrilling moments if you are into this kind of movies. Actors and actresses are excellent, cinematography too.

3) I can understand why the ending is polarizing. I found it great, it's a great and appropriate ending for this movie.

It's not a flawless movie, i would prefer it longer, 90 plus minutes aren't enough for this story to be told and unfold. Some scenes ended abruptly while it was getting interesting. But, overall, it was very interesting and most importantly, somewhat original. I wish other directors can be so bold and courageous in this genre, down the road.

I'd say the setting is okay, the black-and-white thing, some tension is there - that's good. Henry Czerny did good throughout the movie - yes.

On the other hand, there's no horror, no mystery, some cheap thrills and whole lot of dark blunt drama. And that's it.

There's no meaningful culmination, no good lesson. The whole plot is just unbearably blunt. And if you ever seen more than few movies in your life, you know from the beginning where the whole thing is going, and it goes exactly there... cause this plot has no depth and there is no surprise.

Overall, it's too superficial to be any good.

Written , directed and starring Mark O'Brien, a favorite actor of mine, The Righteous is an excellent film that at times soars, due to some superb acting, a great script and gorgeous B&W cinematography. When a movie relies on very little action and lots of conversation, you need to give the audience something great and interesting to listen to and film it well. This movie does both. The problem with the film is that it leaves you with some questions, certain angles in this are not made clear and it doesn't always hit the high notes. The best scenes by far are the ones between O'Brien and Czerny, these scenes are mesmerizing. Both are wonderful actors and in top notch form here. One of the best new films I've seen lately. I wish more film makers were daring enough to film in gorgeous B&W.

Black & white was a great choice for the look of it. From the acting to the writing to the direction everything worked in this production that had an Alfred Hitchcock vibe to it. The story gets muddled a little bit here & there, but everything else worked so well that I didn't care.

A well written, well acted and well directed tale of personal horror, of loss, of abandonment, of the inequities of the human soul. Yes, I found this very good, not a comfortable film, but one of excellence.