Apart

Granted, we downloaded this movie due to my husband's alumni status from Lamar Consolidated High School. However, I do not personally know any of the people involved in this film, nor does my rating reflect any bias of that nature. Sorry, wasn't my high school...

We watch a lot of movies, but we won't watch anything rated under 5 stars on IMDb. This movie should NOT be relegated to that category. In fact, the plot was quite compelling, the cinematography had some exquisite moments, and the whole idea is original at a time when we're surrounded by sequels and remakes. Could this movie have been better with a multi- million dollar budget? Sure. However, I guarantee you we've all been entertained by big budget movies with far less substance than this film.

I was fortunate enough to see Apart in Houston on the night of the premiere with Josh Danziger, the star of the film. It was shot in my home town and my high school, so I was going to see the movie regardless. However, I was truly blown away with the writing, acting, and cinematography of "Apart".

The film is a very mature, and dark film and a large undertaking for a freshman writer/actor like Danziger. However, the movie was pulled off spectacularly. The story is rich and layered, and while the non-linear, broken time line may be difficult to follow for some, it is integral to the story line. The way the film is cut and shot really envelops the audience into the storyline and into the psyche of the characters.

The film is an amazing psychological and philosophical journey into reality, sanity and what it means to love, exist, and what is real. This isn't your typical high octane thriller, but it is thrilling nonetheless. You will leave the theater questioning more than when you went in, and for this film, that is a good thing.

Within the first five minutes I wanted to FB "like" the lead male actor. He didn't come across as over-acting, but came close a couple of times. There were just a couple of familiar faces which allowed me to get into the characters. It was nice not knowing where specifically this film took place because it was irrelevant to the plot. And the closing credits, well the credits had me thanking the whole crew for getting TOGETHER on this film. A great tie-in to the flow of the entire film.

Is it hard to follow? Yes. And all the more rewarding when you do.

This is film offers cerebral stimulation rather than couch-potato viewing. If you prefer not to use your imagination to draw conclusions, if you worry about being too confused to enjoy a film, or if you would rather spend an hour-and-a-half watching plots as deep as "See Spot Run" then don't watch this movie.

However, if you liked "Brick" and enjoy well written scripts, excellent visuals, and a kind of supernatural component to your films, I highly recommend "Apart."

Don't take my word for it. Netflix instant this film.

I loved this movie! Simply put if you don't like art films don't watch it. You won't like it. However if you do like movies that give you a new beautiful experience, you'll probably like it. Phenomenal soundtrack! This is a very dreamscape esk film. Your not going to get the straight forward everything laid out from beginning to end experience like you do with most movies and that bothers a lot of people hence the poor rating. I thought the acting was excellent as well as the cinematography. I personally love the dreaming emotionally driven films(and music) so this movie was right up my ally. I normally don't write reviews but the poor rating that this movie was given on IMDb I felt was very unfair for how good it was. I understand it is a taste thing. It is just unfortunate that preference is mistaken for quality. If you like this type of movie, you can rest assured that it is of quality. This movie is kinda along the lines of Donnie Darko or The Butterfly effect as style and feeling and younger characters just with less of a budget. Despite the lack of budget though unlike some independent films you don't really notice. The film quality and acting If you like those movies I think you'll like this one.

"Apart" starts with the premise that two teenagers share the same psychological infliction: induced delusional disorder. Apparently, they are the only two people on the planet with this disorder. Based on that "fact" I assumed it was a made up disorder, and so I sat waiting for my way in to experience their reality. They never gave me any such connection. Afterwards, I discovered it was a real disorder, but one that only two fictional characters suffer from they tried to have me believe.

Although marketed as a psychological thriller, the romantic angle of teen love was really played up. And I was left wondering why they were trying to make that any more dramatic or mysterious when teenagers do a pretty good job of that themselves. But then again the entire movie is about wondering in confusion trying to figure things out.

Something occurred. What? We don't know. When? We don't know. Why, or how? Obviously, we don't know. Who? I assumed it was our two main tragic, teenage heroes, but the more I watched I got the impression that it was most likely disastrous events occurred to other random characters but which Noah and Emily observed.

The disorder that Noah and Emily have is one where they experience delusions, shared delusions, where they are seeing the exact same hallucinations. They can never be sure of their reality or their sanity. We can't be sure either.

But the problem is, I couldn't even follow what was going on. With lots of jumpy editing, we went from flashback to flashback to flashforward? Perhaps. I don't know what time frame the present was. The two youngest actors could be identified as our main protagonists in their childhood years, but past that, I couldn't always distinguish as to whether they were teenagers, older teenagers, young adults or slightly older young adults. For all I know, there could have been even more ages that we jump around to.

It was definitely dark, it could be thrilling if there was any narrative to hang on to, but "Apart" was mostly just confusing.