Death Row

Aidan Quinn leads a stellar cast in CONVICTED, the gripping tale of a lawyer/writer who uncovers new information regarding a woman convicted of kidnaping and killing an infant. Connie Nielson plays the convicted woman due to be executed within days, and Kelly Preston is her new attorney. Quinn becomes convinced the woman did not kill the child, and in fact no body was ever found and there is very little evidence to tie the woman to the kidnaping itself. It's a race to the finish as the clock ticks down on her execution date. The plot is nothing new, but CONVICTED plays out like a first-rate murder mystery, with lots of twists and turns -- and a truly unexpected and unforeseen ending. Tim Daly of WINGS plays a pivotal role as the convicted woman's brother-in-law, and he and Quinn, Nielson and Preston are all at the top of their game. Nielson is particularly convincing as the deeply troubled and fatalistic convict. CONVICTED plays out like a good novel, the highest compliment I can give any movie.

A powerful performance by Connie Nielsen, well supported by Aidan Quinn and Kelly Preston. The plot holes don't really matter here, it's the psyche of Charlotte Cory, as revealed by Nielson, that draws one through this film. Like Quinn's character Frank, one needs to learn why this beautiful person will passively accept execution by the state rather than defend her innocence. Self-condemned, because she miserably failed her sister Stella years before, Charlotte seems to believe she can atone for her sins in a twisted kind of sacrifice.

Neilsen reveals with her face and eyes the inner beauty of her character, the sadness on learning the (false?) circumstances of her father's death, the meaningfulness of her relationship with Frank, the love of her sister, the hope of a new life.

Aidan Quinn provides a solid, believable Frank, the shyster turning hero, resonating with Nielsen throughout.

The overwhelming impression of this film is its realism, in character portrayal, settings, musical score, it seems authentic, even when viewed through the lens of a security camera. In contrast, the fantasy sequences are whimsical and far out.

The solution of the mystery is satisfying, leading to a good ending.

There are many stories concerning the unlucky people arrested, Incarcerated, Convicted and often executed for crimes against the state. But what if it's an innocent woman awaiting death? In this movie directed by Bille August and written by Neal Purvis was originally called " Convicted ", but changed to " Return to Sender " stars Connie Neilsen as Charlotte Cory, a former nurse, who's being prepared for execution, while reaching out to Frank Nitzche (Aidan Quinn) a man who claims to be a former friend of her father. Unknown to Cory, Frank is not who he claims to be and that secret is discovered by Susan Kennan (Kelly Preston) her attorney. However the discovery is made simultaneously with Nitzche who learns that Cory is protecting someone else. It's a race against time as both of them try to halt the execution before they bring the new evidence to the governor. Although slow to build and the subject matter is difficult to comprehend, the film nevertheless does produce a dramatic atmosphere which lends itself to an escalating climax. Quinn is incredible as the despicable former lawyer, now trying to help uncover the truth. Nielsen demonstrates a wonderful transition from ambivalent nurse to desperate victim who realizes she does care to live. ****

it's a movie that brings out the human nature of the man,which is trying hardly to rile on real fact for the immersion of the truth in order to triumph over the possible bad part coexisting in everyone of us ,part which it's revealed into the very start of the movie.during the whole duration of the movie,the watcher comes to serious and powerful feelings regarding the human condition among the others which just look like some little pure things in comparison with the inmate Charlotte and the man who does almost everything to apply for her's "inguiltyness" in which he doesn't believe in 100% . the final is on the same scale with the movie,being an answer to the whole movie,revealing the house of the sister's laying calmly in the lazy landscape of the sunset,revealing the house which was "put into fire" by those who believed that she was guilty.the final scene reveals the humanity of the whole movie and it gives the movie a possible continuation ,beeing placed in the zone of a flaming relationship between the main two characters of these miniatured masterpiece.

I'm just writing to alert and remind everybody what really can be done with a "low budget" and independent movie like I think this one is.

I love this movie, it's story, the characters, the performances of the actors. It's all great.

It has a fantastic ending and I recommend everyone to see this movie.

I really think that this type of picture should have more support for being done. It's the "simple" stories like this one that demonstrate the true beauty of the cinema and not the blockbusters that the main industry continues to support.

I'm not saying that those shouldn't be done, because their fun.

I just think that sometimes and more often, they should support the so called low budget movies so that great, fantastic, human, and simple stories like what this movie represents could come out and be seen by all the people.

The fact is that with the low advertisement that is made to this type of movies, at least in my country (I presume that in the States it shouldn't be much more), only the true cinema "buffs" get the chance to find out about them and see them, and not the common person, as it should be from the start.

If you really love cinema, don't forget to see this movie, because it's one of those few movies that ends and makes you keep remind about them, the plot, the simultaneous complexity and simplicity of the characters, and everything else for a long time.