Nancy

'Nancy' is a quiet, contemplative movie. Sound scarcely rises above a normal conversational range; it would be easy to emphasize strong emotional beats in a story like this, but the tone is generally even and reserved to the point of almost feeling flat. Performances are notably subdued from all involved, including star Andrea Riseborough most of all, but also Steve Buscemi, from whom we usually expect roles of much more lively personality. Well after the plot actively stirs it never truly seems like it's begun at all, and not until the movie approaches its very end is there a sense of something profound at hand.

I enjoy and appreciate films of all flavors, including the most low-key and unbusy. 'Nancy' is well made from a technical standpoint, with especially swell consideration for the way scenes are arranged. There's a deft nuance to everyone's performances that aptly illustrates their skill, perhaps all the greater a challenge given the restrained air about the picture. Despite all this, I admittedly have a hard time engaging with the movie. It never feels incomplete, or lacking in any specific element per se. There's just not really anything to hold onto, anything that meaningfully sparks our imagination. 'Nancy' isn't bad, but I watch it and just don't feel the impact I assume was intended.

Art is subjective. Clearly this has an admiring audience, and I'm glad for that. I'm just not it. 'Nancy' is a reasonably worthwhile view if you come across it, but temper your expectations, and don't go out of your way.

The beginning of the movie was absorbingly unhurried, drawing you into the claustrophobic confines of antiheroine Nancy's (Andrea Riseborough) white bread world.

We witness her dysfunctional co-dependency with undemonstrative mother Betty (Ann Dowd, even dourer than in Handmaid). A poor excuse for a parent, she is the antonym of empowering of her offspring, discouraging downtrodden Nancy from trying, convinced she'll never succeed.

Riseborough impressively blends vulnerability and an innate dishonesty as this lost child-woman floundering on the outskirts of society cooking up interesting life experiences to swap like recipes in work lunch breaks, in an effort to convince everybody else that she's just like them.

When she wishful thinks herself the child kidnapped from dream parents Ellen (J. Smith-Cameron) and (Steve Buscemi) as a five-year-old, you cross your fingers and pray she's finally found where she belongs.

Ellen for me was the revelation in the piece, a picture of heartbreaking hope and desperate desire that this pretender's story prove true. The bond they forge is beautiful and visibly enriches them both. Smith-Cameron's face, betraying all her emotions, and her developing unconditional love for this would-be daughter reduce me to tears. Paul Raeburn's music helps to destroy me.

The film is full of ambiguities that intrigue rather than frustrate. Not much happens, in fact but we're allowed to watch a family drama play out and a soul adrift's quest for a safe mooring.

The acting is spot-on, but this quiet film leaves much to be desired. The word anticlimax comes to mind.

Other reviewers describe this as a sad film, some going as far as to label it "misery porn." I could have accepted some misery porn. But once you've seen The Swerve starring the Incomparable Azura Skye, the bar for something to be called misery porn becomes so much higher than Nancy reaches. Nancy is far from a feel-good film, but it's also a long way from the opposite thereof. It is sad, and quiet, and I expect to be forgetting it within days.

I did'nt know what to expect from this based on the reviews.

It is'nt my type of movie at all , I am more of a thriller/horror/mystery person, but I can see how people did like it , for what it is , a deep ,thought provoking drama.

I found it very sad , and was disappointed with the ending , too many unanswered questions , I suppose that was probably the intention here, but I feel that because it was so intense , it deserved a more complete ending.

Not for me , but do watch if you like deep dramas .

This indie is an intriguing and haunting psychological "thriller", but not a thriller in the ordinary use of the term. There's just a constant air of melancholic uncertainty, so you just don't know which way the film is going to go.

The most talented Andrea Riseborough gives a terrific performance here as the introverted and depressive Nancy who's possibly a victim of abuse. She's been taking care of her ailing and carping mother (Ann Dowd), who has Parkinson's. Nancy is an aspiring writer, suffering through many rejection letters from publishers, while trying to earn money in temp jobs.

When her mother passes from a stroke, Nancy sees a TV news story about the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl from a shopping mall. When see sees an age progression picture of what the girl would look like today, it bears a striking resemblance to her. Add to that, the fact that Nancy cannot find her birth certificate in any files at home.

She calls the parents of the missing girl and sets up a meeting with them, after sending them a photo of herself on her cell phone. The father (Steve Buscemi) is a psychologist and skeptical whether Nancy is their daughter, while the mother (J. Smith Cameron) is more accepting and open to the possibility. Both Buscemi and Smith Cameron are superb in their roles here.

I won't go into more details or write spoilers, but I'll say I was very engrossed as to which way this movie was going to go.

Overall, not the easiest film to watch because of its constant melancholic tone, but the fine acting from a most solid cast and its suspenseful atmospherics drew me in and kept me there. An excellent feature film debut from Christina Choe, who wrote and directed the indie.