egajd

Basically, this is a movie that for all intents and purposes, doesn't quite exist. I don't remember having heard anything about the movie, but came across it by accident while flipping through the movie listings on TV. And that is a shame! Okay, it hasn't gone completely unnoticed, as the tumblr blog people have an extensive post about it.

Synopsis: young brilliant musician goes into a deep depression with the death of his wife and stops music. Instead he spends his time in the hotel room where he first met her, waiting for her to call. A young woman, who doesn't want him to see her face and who lost several years of her youth to being in a coma, forms a friendship with him through the bathroom door. And, like magic, and with the help of the kindly chess playing hotel desk man, the two eccentric people tentatively and quirkily begin to live. He, again, she for the first time.

And it is the quirkiness that I can see being a thumbs down for some. Why? I've been struggling to articulate my thoughts, but it comes to what may be an odd split in the human population between those who delight in Magical Realism versus those who delight in cartoon violence or the un-magical realism of saccharine sentimental (happy / sad) movies. The emotional life of the characters is brought forward in the storytelling through exaggerated setting and character. So the young woman struggling to find her place in the world hides in the bathroom of the man having lost his place. Each have erected a wall between themselves and the world which, by the magic of life, is embodied in the locked bathroom door.

And thus we see a visual metaphor dance around the theme of finding/losing/rediscovering one's voice. The metaphor is re-enforced with the subplot of the young musician who has to struggle to keep his own musical voice while it is being excoriated by the good-intentioned father.

And, in the best of a magical realism typical of many Canadian writers, such as Barbara Gowdy and Margaret Atwood, the theme is explored in different ways. The young woman begins to find her voice using mute media: she uses film frames clipped from the movies she's paid by a theatre company to project and, with a kind of homage to Timothy Findley's novel Famous Last Words, journal writing on the wall of her loft that she would paint over until the day she met Sam.

This is a fun movie. The directing kept it light, and the performances by the leads are engaging and don't fall into maudlin sentimentality. Forest Whitaker as their unassuming spiritual guide was perfect in the role. The filmography is good and contributes to the story with its own subtle quirkiness. And the music is also excellent. As is noted, Charlie Winston contributes perfectly to the sound track, including Rupert Friend's extemporaneous blues/jazz 'hit' I'm in Love With a Bathroom.

Post Review: This movie participated in a delightful little synchronicity that, for the curious can be found at egajd.blogspot.com

I watched this, by accident last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I turned to it, I didn't know anything about it, but quickly realized that it was a Canadian film. There is some weirdness in how Canadians see sex/love, and this film captures that in spades. There is nothing clearly explicit, except for a couple of naked buttocks. However, the scenes of sexual exploration are invariably just slightly off centre and very funny. Does Sammy learn the difference between sex and love?

The acting is excellent, and I enjoyed the quirky characters and pacing of the film. In typical Canadian fashion, the denouement is surprising, but ends hopefully. Sook-yin Lee, with the delightful Cristin Milioti as Sammy Smalls, makes this a gentle film with a crunchy satisfaction to it. A surprising delight.

I have watched this movie several times through my idiot box, without having any awareness of how it did at the box office or of its reviews. (I don't remember even noticing it or anything about it when it was released.) Even before seeing the director's cut, I thought it very good.

Tonight I watched what I didn't know existed - the director's cut. Even having seen just the box office release I would have rated TCOR about a 7 to 7.5, mostly because of the excellent special affects and the quality of the action sequences, but also because of the intensity of Diesel's portrayal of the anti-hero struggling with his feelings for Kyra.

The director's cut completes the story's continuity, and removes what had until tonight puzzled me. And so the 7 easily becomes a 9 or even 9.5.

The only thing that keeps me from giving it a ten is that the parameters set out for the atmosphere of Cremotoria are quite blatantly violated. A small quibble, I assure you, but just enough for me to keep it from a 10.

It is a very dark, and funny, and sad, and very entertaining sci-fi action movie. A fully satisfying movie.