Return to Sender

First of all, I liked this movie. Connie Nielsen, Adain Quinn and Kelly Preston are all terrific actors (especially Nielsen, who's been a favorite of mine since Gladiator) and all do supreme justice to their roles. That said, I didn't know much about this movie (nothing actually) when I rented it and was very disappointed to find that it was just another message movie which told us, the ignorant, just how evil capital punishment really is. The crowds at the prison just before the execution were all stupid redneck types shouting obscene comments. Nowhere did you see a Mike Ferrell type and his equally moronic crazies. Also, many of the comments made by the actors were about as subtle as a sledgehammer. I wish Hollywood would go back to making movies that tell a story and quit trying to sell their left-wing agendas.

This was a movie that OK. The acting was OK, the story was OK, everything was OK, but not more than that. I wasn't p***** off about the time I spent watching it, but there were a lot of other ways (better ways) I could've spent that time. Bottom line, it's a good movie to see if you've got NOTHING else to do. The other thing to mention about the movie is that it had been done before. Not the exact same movie. But you can't help saying to yourself "haven't i seen this one before". It's just one of those movies that has that feeling about them. That being said, I'll go home and watch cartoons. Yeah, cartoons kick a55.

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.

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.

Listed on IMDb under the primary title of Return to Sender (2004) by pretty much unknown to me Danish director, Bille August (except for The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones), is about a woman on death row who is going to let herself be executed in order to protect some one else. Excellent performances by Danish stunner, Connie Nielson (the reason I rented the movie) who never looked better than here in understated prison makeup, and Aidan Quinn (as a letters from death row inmates bounty hunter) in a tight script that starts off like it's going to be an evils of capital punishment vehicle, but turns into something else, which I can only call the value of truth without giving too much away.

It was only released in the US on DVD last November, but set here and filmed here and in Denmark. There aren't any external reviews in English, and only one review on IMDb that panned it. I'd have gone to see this in the theater. 7+/10.