This Must Be the Place

I'm a DVD man.Films are my most important relaxation methodology. For me, the whole purpose of a film is to transport me into another reality, even a 'factually historic' film does this, for that reality was never subjectively mine. Occasionally a film comes along that is so incredible in it's ability to 'transform my reality' that it becomes embedded not only in my memory but leaves laser-like traces sparkling in my consciousness.

This was such a film for me.

No spoilers here, but some aspects of the photography are amazing,simply beyond surrealistic,more glowingly minimalistic in their utter magnificence. How the hell can you make a supermarket shopping trip into an adventure journey through a time-warped window of photographic beauty? Watch out for the car at the gas station scene. It's a visually structured scene that hit my eyes with astonishment.

The acting is superb.Yet, that word seems so inadequate to describe Sean Penn's utterly mind-blowing performance. I had to keep reminding myself that this was Sean Penn and these continued reminders simply made his performance all the more brilliant.

In the manner of an 'old Master',Paolo Sorrentino places layer after layer of subtle strokes to compose a mesmerizing work. He takes his time about it, as though each stroke of his brush must be precisely executed so that the whole may be that 'other reality' I seek in my film watching.

If you will watch this then you must prepare yourself to surrender totally into ' it's reality'- I found it well worth the capitulation.

How refreshing it is to sit through an inspirational and yet entertaining story. If you fell in love with Sean Pen during the trailer, you will definitely be happy to know that those two hours will not disappoint you.

"This Must be the Place" brings back Penn and his wonderful talent to depict a strange character that doesn't seem to connect with the world around him. It's a delicious journey through the ups and downs of life and the numerous ways of facing them. It's about love and family, courage and determination in searching for what makes sense to you in spite of what people may think. Penn is extraordinarily funny in a simple way, unpretentiously humble and somehow adorable as a man who sees the world differently from everybody else. I had a wonderful time watching this movie, without that feeling of betrayal left by so many deceitful trailers.

It's very difficult to get a handle on Sean Penn's aging rocker character. One thinks he has fried his brain. He speaks and acts slower than anyone I have ever seen. He looks the same as he did in the 80s, including makeup, but has lost interest in his music.

Cheyenne (Penn) is married to Jane (Frances McDormand). They have been together for 35 years. Not only is this the opposite of what one would expect of a rock star, but she works as a firefighter. No, they are not broke, it's just what she does.

The two of them are surrounded by some interesting characters in a film that moves at a snail's pace.

You never really know where it is going, but at the end you realize that it was good for Cheyenne to get out of his world and grow up.

I thought this would be a better movie. The premise is quite interesting and I usually like these artsy dramedies. This one on the other hand tries to be more artsy than it really is.

At first I didn't like how Sean Penn portrayed Cheyenne, but later on in the movie I completely forgot that I was watching Mr. Penn. So I guess the performance is good, and maybe I just didn't find the character to be a very interesting or likable.

This movie is slow, and I don't even mind slow movies. Hell I usually think the slower the better, but this just drags forever. The plot doesn't take off until half way thru and even then it feels like you've already watched this movie for hours.

There's an insane amount of camera trickery, almost every scene uses some camera dolly or crane thing, even if it serves no purpose other than moving the camera around in an "imaginative way". It was really distracting and I didn't find the camera work that fun to look at.

The script leaves a lot of stuff untold. There is talk about people who are seemingly important, but they are never explained who they are and while you have ideas, it's not something you'd like to spend any energy guessing. Some movies make these mind games fun, but here they're just annoying. I noticed myself thinking all the time if I had missed something, but reading at the forums here, I don't think I missed anything. This movie just doesn't inspire you to figure out those loose endings at all.

In the end I gather I just don't like the directors way of making movies. The story is quite interesting, but the way it's told just wasn't my cup of tea.

It took quite a while until this movie comes to the US, I do not know why it took so long, yet I hope it gets the response it deserves (I saw it in Europe months ago already).

Sean Penn is just amazing and the whole movie is something you don't see much in US cinemas. Its so different that there is almost no comparison. Of course it will be a big hit within the Gothic scene, but also the regular movie fan should give it a try. Its very slow paced road trip, but Penn carries that overwhelmingly with his outstanding performance of the character, who reminds of course of Robert Smith, but in a superb way. The story is very simple and so I leave that totally out, since it would spoil it right away.

My favorite scene is when he visits the show from David Bryne playing "This must be the place", keep it in mind and enjoy the show! Its certainly an experience for real movie fans!

(That it won't be a huge box office hit, most likely, should not hold anybody back who wants to see a good movie!)