Crimes of the Past

The ambitious espionage thriller blends well with an intense family drama and weaves together a good story. Thomas Sparrow (David Rasche) plays a CIA agent in Berlin during the Cold War era who was involved in transferring of money. The assignment goes wrong... And now Sparrow is retired and has come back to Seattle in hopes of reuniting with his daughter Josephine (Elisabeth Rohm), whom he hasn't seen for years. The film is engrossing, and very well acted!Eric Roberts delivers a wonderful performance as Josephine's shrink, who also happens to be a former CIA employee. I saw the Hollywood Reporter Review which mentioned that the more crucial accomplishment to the film was the insight into all of the characters and that it was a densely layered mosaic, and I agreed.

When i faced the choice of watching this movie, I visited the IMDb page for guidance. Despite having a low rating, i decided to watch this movie because of the top comment that called it a 'superb movie'. Folks, let me be precise. This movie is a total waste of time and i am confused why the top reviewer ever called it superb at all? This movie is not even close to be called mediocre.

I wonder why the top review never got buried? The movie has got nothing in its credit to gain any rating. The acting was dead, the script was non-existent, the music wasn't even worth it at all.

If given an option again, I would prefer to watch Mickey Mouse's cartoons than this garbage of a movie.

People, don't bother to watch this one. I have had a very bad experience with this one and would never ever recommend this flick to anyone...

I just wish i could un-see this movie.

Pretty good flick all around I have to say. My own taste would lean more on the CIA and Spy facet of the story. However that's because I happen to be more fascinated in that material. At the same time it was good to see a show like this for variation. Without giving away too much plot, I found the conclusion gratifying. Given the spirit of the storyline it paid off by coming full circle for the Josefina character. She gave a fine performance, I might add. And conceptually I felt the ending added credence to the film. That was my sense. Maybe it worked for me or anyone connected to the idea of memory and reflection of apparent. I hope that was vague enough. Actors and actresses were all very good too. Thanks.

While i am tempted to give this movie a 1/10 to offset the top reviews it is more like a 3/10. It lacks in everything, reasonable story, empty acting and horrible editing. While the story might have made it a poor mediocre film, the video editing was just dismal. After 10 minutes of watch vague and shaky shots i was exhausted. In some poor attempt to make it more "realistic" every shot is shaky, like a handy-cam. That would have been a bad idea even if the acting was solid. But the acting was also poor. Even the main character is completely 2D and everybody else is barely present. It seems they only had money for a couple of takes. All in all its awful just awful.

This was an excellent film, which took me by surprise. The story and direction managed to masterfully blend the suspense of the spy genre film, while building wonderful characters and leaving you with something under your skin. The performances were outstanding! David Rasche, Eric Roberts and Elisabeth Rohm were brilliant! It was visually beautiful and the evocative. I was reminded in ways of Coppola's The Conversation, with Gene Hackman. Elisabeth Rohm was amazing. She created such a complex and rich character and should be awarded for it. I look forward to seeing the film again. It was excellent from start to finish.