Godless

I really enjoyed this movie...enough to have seen it three times so far. Lim handles an interesting subject pretty darn well. I read here some people thought the film was "slow". I disagree. I think the perceived "slowness" by some added to the film. It almost made the house itself a character. Overall this movie is very entertaining, but the highlight of the film is, without question, the great acting by Craig Jordan. Craig really brings the character of Nate to life. I really think Craig's acting takes this film from a 7 star film to the 9 stars I gave it. He really becomes Nate. I will recommend this film to all my friends to watch.

The only movie that I have recently enjoyed as much as "Godless" (2015) is "Akron" (2015), which I recently reviewed on IMDb. Being addicted to happy endings, naturally I would like both movies - even though both are very different in look and pacing and place, but absolutely not different in their positive emotional impact.

Godless is movie number 2,734 in my personal movie library; Akron is 2,731. And while I seldom ride consciously on the coattails of another writer or reviewer, I must agree almost completely with my fellow reviewer of "Godless" who stated in part, "Craig Jordan as Nate is the most redeeming feature of the movie," although all of the performances in "Godless" are on the money. Period. Full stop. So I salute absolutely Craig Jordan and Michael E. Pitts, but also notably Garrett Young, from whom I hope to see much, much more.

My sole abjection to the previous review is related to pacing, described elsewhere as "DEADLY SLOW!". In my opinion, given the characters, plot, setting, cinematographic circumstances, and obvious directorial intent, the pacing of "Godless" is indeed slow, but the pacing of "Godless" is pure directorial genius, in my opinion.

With the mandatory caveat that I do not do this very often, I give "Godless" the IMDd rating of 10.

As a postscript, my long-time neighbor in what he calls "our sleepy Beverly Hills" has had an especially rewarding and lucrative career in the movie-making business hereabouts. So when I supplied him with a DVD of "Godless" and asked for his informed opinion about the totality of the production, the next evening he came over and said "first rate" and "top drawer" and agreed with my opinion of Joshua Lim's directorial genius. He also said that "Godless" is a jewel of a movie. And then he asked if I understood how hard it is for an actor to perform the understated character of Trent in the production, and how completely Garrett Young had precisely nailed all of the nuances of Trent. Of course I had to agree that Garrett Young was outstanding in his performance, and that I too hoped to see much more of him

A film of actors more film of story story. Not because the story remains a sketch, useful for atmosphere, but because, except the first and the last scenes, it is only the frame of acting. Only a frame for a gentle , precise and profound inspired portrait of brotherhood, emotions, love in intense form, loneliness, jealousy, the others, family, relations, affection, a room and a house and people around table at dinner,m talking, and the past, and the fracture almost like a womb. The details of house and definitions of small, ordinary things are the basic virtues of this film beautiful, in some measure, for different motives, against itself. A beautiful film about loneliness, the closed other and the way to define as yourself.

A taboo subject, which could've made for an interesting movie. Unfortunately, the pacing, dialogue, acting and editing are God-awful.

This movie has one speed...plodding. There's no variation in scenes & actions (fast vs. slow), everything just plods along with virtually every line delivered in the same wooden manner.

As bad as the pacing and script are, they still don't mask a lot of wooden, terrible acting. Most of these actors sound like they're reading from the script. Delivery is flat & one-dimensional.

Would love to see what could've happened with better talent, script and direction.

I disagree with others who have said the movie was slow or had slow parts. The film progresses as it should, a slow simmer, not a quick boil. I like the actors that play brothers Nate & Steven - I bonded with the characters- perhaps that led me to like it more. I can not touch upon the movie without giving spoilers- so I will say this: go in with an open mind, enjoy the acting, the actors, summer with the pace - you might find that you enjoyed it.

If you liked the film - you might care to watch, also on Amazon - From Beginning to End 2009, from Brazil.