Holy Lands

I really liked this, I love Rosanna Arquette and she was amazing in this. It touched on many topics, relatable and believable, family, friendships, religion, age sickness and death, and I have to say this was my favorite James Caan movie in awhile. He became the character and was so believable in this it was very touching. A great movie for a weekend. Good job, loved it!

I read the novel, which is a collection of letters between the characters, when it first came out. I really enjoyed the film! It has the same feel as the book, which makes sense as the author is also the writer and director. If you haven't read the book, I can see where you may feel it is a bit jumpy.

The acting is great, Hollander is my favorite actor and I always enjoy James Caan as well. They work well together and I really enjoyed their scenes. The supporting cast is also charismatic.

The story is, again, enhanced by having read the book I think. We're looking into the lives of these characters, and the events take a realistic approach in not giving a big resolution. I feel this enforces the principle that time goes on, and nothing is ever wrapped up in a big tidy bow forever.

Overall it is a sweet film about friendship, family, love, growing old, and death. I think it teaches a few timely lessons. It's an easy way to pass a couple of hours.

A good film about family relationships, about caring for the family while one is alive. The movie is probably best for those with adult children. A calm and delicate presentation also with humor.

Not particularly shallow either. It's just trying way too hard. Holy Land expects to tick off the viewers emotions in a box like fashion - emotions don't work like that. Viewing it more resembles an awkward dating experience than the emotional rollercoaster it is trying to be.

In my opinion, this is the type of movie that should have worked a lot better than it did.

With seasoned fine actors like James Caan Tom Hollander, Rosanna Arquette, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers one would think that even more so. However, the characters here are too superficial, the thematic elements often fall into melodrama, and there are a number of scenes that are just head-shakingly bad.

For example, Caan's character, the cantankerous Harry, who as you probably know by now has moved to Israel to run a pig farm, has not heard from his daughter (Efrat Dor) for a little while as she's traveling to meet him at the farm. So when she finally shows up, what does he do? Hug her:? No! He slaps her hard across the face. Huh? Other than that scene, there's no other traces of Harry being abusive physically.

Overall, there are some moments that work here, but for the most part I thought the film came across as frustrating, even annoying and just didn't work.