For Ellen

Joby Taylor (Paul Dano) is a failed musician who just got divorced. He is estranged from his ex and his daughter. Essentially he is a complete mess. He needs to work out custody of his girl Ellen (Shaylena Mandigo) and in the process hopefully reconnect with her.

Paul Dano is able to play this part well. However I think it took too long to get to the girl. It felt repetitive to see him as a loser for that long. It stagnated the film. For the film to work, it needs to get to the girl quicker. I hate to complain about a little girl's performance. But she added very little to the emotional feel. She is stone-faced thru most of her screen time. Although it could be argued that it is called for, it's hard to act back and forth without 1 side participating.

Paul Dano is one of my favorite younger character actors and I have decided to watch all movies with his presence - luckily, it is not impossible as he is selective in taking roles... I like his versatility as well as courage to accept roles not arousing compassion or expanding fame.

Joby Taylor is a de facto loser with personal and self-assertion issues without any ideas how to solve the status quo, thus, the pace is slow (often protracted) and events depicted are trivial, amplified by gloomy winter weather and interiors. Dano is constantly on screen, often alone, so the script is more suitable for a stage. Topics like children custody and personal coping are touchy, but it is still not enough for even an independent movie. As for the ending, I got ambivalent feelings as well.

To sum up, not bad ideas and splendid starring, but too bleary and daily grind.

I can see that some people don't like the movie. It is really slow paced and the main actor seems more passive than anything. But it's only the surface that looks that "boring". I think the main actor (I've seen him before in a few other features) is doing a pretty good job. And he has to, because he carries the movie on his shoulders. His drive has to be convincing (even though it's not that apparent as I said before) for the viewer.

Heder has a small role, but the character he portrays could easily be a Napoleon Dynamite offspring. Still he does have a few laughs to offer (laughs that might not sit well with some people I guess). I really like the idea and the execution, but try it, before you buy it

For Ellen (2012) follows a musician who neglected his personal life to follow his dream, who then ends up in a fight with his ex-wife for custody of his young daughter. This film was beautiful, and although slow, I was constantly engaged due to Paul Dano's flawless and heartbreaking performance.

This film is an intimate portrait of a man with no idea what he wants in his life, who feels truly hopeless. The protagonist (Joby) is deeply flawed but I still felt sorry for him. Paul Dano was incredibly and this film really shows his range. All the acting was very good, and I loved the interactions between Joby and his daughter as they started off very awkward but you could tell he was trying his best. The dialogue was strong as well and kept me invested.

The pacing was slow and steady, with a very mellow tone that made the film genuinely sad. It also felt brutally realistic and I'm sure will resonate with a lot of people. The ending feels refreshing whist also being melancholic and leaves a lot up to the audience's interpretation.

The themes were very strong and were a big part of what made this film so heavy and impactful for me. It really shows the negative elements of the music industry too, and how it doesn't leave time for family.

Lastly, the cinematography and visuals were quite simplistic but this worked well. The setting felt isolated, and added to the sadness and hopelessness the main character experiences. There were a lot of great long, slow shots that invoked a lot of emotional for me personally.

Why would you do that? Why would you filch the ending from an all-time classic when it doesn't even make sense in your own story and it's anyway only going to underline how vastly inferior your film is?

It's strangely maddening to me. But at least, at the end of a hopelessly pointless film about a sad guy drifting around entirely uninterestingly, it reminds us that slice-of-life character studies like this can actually work.