Cardinals

This is an exceptional piece of film work. A very tight, very smart screenplay and an excellent cast make for a terse, intense, complex movie.Sheila McCarthy really is so much of the film's strength. The title role called for a strong, seasoned actor, and McCarthy shows she was more than up to the task. So much is expressed by her without a word; which can also be said of the other expressive actors. Don't pay any attention to the 'Short Attention Span Theater' types calling this film 'slow', 'boring', or how nothing happens. They need to stick to Vin Diesel, Adam Sandler, and rom-coms. The movie's only 84 min. How can it be too slow if it's not even an hour and a half? I'm guessing several were too confused by it much of the way through and were pissed that they couldn't figure out what was up before it was fully revealed. Don't blame the film for being smarter than you.

Let me just say the storyline or plot for this movie was phenomenal Kudos to the writers it was a calm and steady pace not slow or boring so I was entertained through out the film, But it never climaxed or hit a high enough level to get my juices going and that's a tragedy to waste such a great storyline & sequence. The actors performed well and the dialogue was sufficient it just wasn't enough. Too many scenes had the actors staring each other down, At times it felt like pulling teeth. They don't speak when they should and they get loose lips when their mouth should be sealed tight. To me that killed alot of the realism the directors or creators were aiming for. This film also had many layers that it never peeled back confining this psychological drama to being a one trick pony. The ending played out and it wasn't the worst ending by any means it was at least understandable but what it didnt do was entertain. That's a no no. I waited the whole movie they give us only one flashback and then just talk minimally to each other and stare back and forth instead of talking while a life hangs in the balance.

All in all I wouldn't recommend this movie to go out of your way to watch because it left so many points on the board by not maximizing the potential of each scene. I would say this film is a little better then average but it's definitely near the top tier independently. This films gets an OK rating.

You won't get the ending you may have been assuming in 10 mts towards the end. Not only assuming but expecting for the movie to clear out the feelings that tend to develop, during the course of watching it.

Could it have ended more conclusively?

No.

The movies like these are touching and need more discussions in the society, for how the things are put to an end.

The ending was left to the wisdom of viewers to decide.

Or the director could have brought in different endings in a snapshot, to make it easy for the viewers to decide what was the best "justice".

I know of two movies with two endings!

Ok, I get it's a low budget movie. Acting was fair. The story line above average. However the movie was extremely slow. It never had an exciting moment. The ending was poor. Without spoiling anything, what you are led to believe happened at the end would not have happened by actual law. Can think of a much better ending but I think the person deserved what happened and they just wrote it in the story line. Only watch this if you are extremely bored.

Take me to your darkest room. Close every window and lock the door. This is kitchen zink realism. Wow! A film that actually tell you a story with the help of dialogue and images. Who does not want to dazzle you with artistry. Or trying to hide that the story is made up along the way. In "Cardinals" we are offered a story with substance. Plus a cast and a crew who knows how to communicate this and more to us, the audience. I am so grateful. This is the play Sam Shepard never got around to write. "It's also the best film that Atom Egoyan never made." (Andrew Parker TIFF)