Un'improbabile amicizia

Novice director Christopher Cantwell creates an inviting sense of tension and interaction, always preserving the human side of the story to best retain viewer attention. This film is a great example of a beautifully crafted and photographed, low-key thriller that doubles as a terrific character study about marginalized people. They easily could have turned this setup into a thriller, but instead, they've made a quiet, thoughtful film. Every frame is filled with significant, illuminating details. Bravo to writer Darren Lemke for not over-Hollywood-ing this story. The casting was excellent, and Paul with the young British deaf actor Danny Murphy were terrific together, with Paul playing a wounded bear growling his lines and Murphy delivering a fully realized performance. The critics were too hard on this gem. It's a well deserved 9/10 from me.

It's the difficulty of growing up due to parts of yourself that you lose in the process specially if you're physically impaired. This is the point that the film drives home quite well.

Great acting by young Danny Murphy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott McNairy and Aaron Paul. They make sure that we get it. The interaction between Aaron Paul and Danny Murphy (who's really deaf in real life) is so heartwarming more so because Wesley is hungry for a father's affection. You wished it would've ended differently. But that it did the way it did makes it more memorable.

It's shot in winter, and the drabness heightens Wesley's passage to a new life stage, gloomy but wiser.

This scheme of a friendship between a boy and a fugitive is not new at all, we already have seen this before. But this little movie is really well done, with convincing acting and directing too. This is a psychological drama and a character study. I would have easily imagined Mathias Schoenaerts in the fugitive role. Maybe because he is so in love with horses - why not a tribute to Sterling Hahden's character in ASPHALT JUNGLE - as Schoenaerts was in NEVADA.

Danny Murphy portrays Wesley here, a lonely, hearing-impaired, and bullied 10-year-old boy who bonds with a wounded fugitive (Aaron Paul) after Wesley finds him in the snows of North Dakota. Wesley offers the fugitive shelter and food while he recovers and in return receives much need life's lessons.

The pacing here is extremely slow and some of the plot elements are nonsensical, like how can Wesley's mother (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) have seemingly no clue that her son is gone for long periods of time. Although the acting is solid, with Winstead being one of my favorite actresses, the lack of energy in the film hampered it greatly, in my opinion.

Overall, although I was interested enough to stay with the movie to see how it would eventually turn out, it just became too much of a slog.

A new Aaron Paul movie 2 days before the release of "El Camino" helps the anticipation a little bit - without a shadow of a doubt he proves again that he's a great actor. This time, a great actor in an otherwise decent and potentially (depends on the viewer) emotional drama.

I can't help but feel like the story of "The Parts You Lose" feels very, very familiar, all the plot points and themes have been explored before, probably more than tens of times. However, it doesn't make the movie any less enjoyable. Not only Aaron Paul, but the whole cast commits to their characters, strong performances all around. It was nice to to encounter Mary Elizabeth Winstead again whom I hadn't seen since 2016's "Cloverfield Lane 10". I think it'd be fair to call the movie a character study, although maybe not the deepest or most original one. The themes of abuse & bullying are explored, and the movie has an equal amount of bitter and sweet moments. I can't deny that "The Parts You Lose" managed to move me, there were those glimpses. The main character we follow is a boy with impaired hearing, speech, low self-worth and troubling life, and he befriends a criminal, portrayed by Aaron Paul. Of course there's going to be strong emotions involved. On a side note, I'm a little confused about the fact that the movie has the genres action and thriller listed for it here it's not really an action movie & it's a drama way before it's a thriller.

"The Parts You Lose" is not an essential viewing expierence, not inovative either, but it is well made in every aspect of filmmaking & has a little bit of that "Fargo" feel. Slightly. Probably partially thanks to the wintery and rural setting... If you like Aaron Paul or enjoy stories like the one this movie offers - go for it. My rating: 6/10.