psychocharlie13

The only reason I even watched this movie (at first) is because there was nothing else on tv, and I saw from the commercial that Nicole Kidman was in it. I'd seen Noah Taylor in the Tomb Raider movie and loved his dorky, scatterbrained performance. So I sat down and watched it. I was amazed. This movie is GREAT for a romantic person. The difficulty of the situation in Africa, combined with sad romance, repression, and brutality was enough to make me feel the emptiness that comes with the longing for true love that every girl and boy feels at one point or another. I rented the movie on video, and was surprised to find that very little was cut out; just a few slightly racier moments, and a foul word or two, plus one scene at the end was double-shot to have Thandie Newton in a bra and panties rather than naked. Rent it and watch if you're a longing romantic, or if you want to be one. Ah, love is such exquisite pain.

Wow. I've seen Julia Stiles in 'Save the Last Dance' and '10 Things I Hate About You', but neither compare to her sympathetic performance as Ellie, the 14-year-old outcast who is in love with her father. The makeup artist did an excellent job of making her look fourteen in the beginning of the film, and of making her look seductive and, well, wicked in the rest of the film. But back to the movie. This film is almost scary. Not in the horror aspect of the movie, but in the horror of the truth about what happened between the people in the movie. It takes the often hidden subject of incest, and the inconceivability of murder in the family, and thrusts them right on to your TV, while still being tasteful about the delicate nature of these subjects. My only complaint is that there are too many fade-aways for transitions between scenes. My vote is four out of five. A must-see for fans of Julia Stiles, but definitely not for the kids.