Pretty Broken

For once I don't agree with my wife about the rating of a movie. Most of the time we have the same taste and ratings but in this case I liked it more than my wife. Pretty Broken is a low budget movie, so no spectacular scenes or big names in this movie, but instead actors that did a pretty good job to make Pretty Bones worth watching once. Not that I will watch it again in the future but I certainly didn't regret watching it this time. Some reviewers scored it a ten, and that's ridiculous, as are the reviewers that scored it the lowest possible score. Pretty Broken is easy to watch, nothing difficult to understand, a story that is entertaining, maybe not with alot of action but that's not what you expect when watching a movie in this genre.

This film is quite simply an amazing example of what brilliant writing, directing and acting can achieve on a film that relies on a powerful, human interest story. Lindsay Lou and her family are at once endearing and compelling as individuals struggling to make sense out of tragedy. As a psychologist, I see the fallout from loss regularly in my practice and the way in which loved ones cope with it. Instead of accepting and grieving, we see Lindsay embark on a mission to make sure that she has done everything possible to find out her fathers' true fate. It's a mission that pulls you in deftly and you can't help but root for her. If you look deep into her character, what's revealed is a young woman who consciously acts on her beliefs but their is a subtle realization that she may be just coping with denial. It's okay though as Lindsay has to know that she has done what she could. I personally love films that rely on the strength of the story and don't really care for bells and whistles. 'Pretty Broken' is a warm , heartfelt film that very carefully navigates the issue of loss in a family that sooner or later every family deals with. Bravo!

I enjoyed the development of the characters throughout the movie. The ending, where it all comes together, was particularly powerful.

I see a lot of low budget indies, so I have dubious expectations most of the time, going off mostly the trailer but sometimes not even that. In this case, I had not seen the trailer prior to watching the film. That said, I loved it! Really well done. I'm sure it was low budget since there were no real names in the cast, but it looked expensive. The script is very strong. The characters all felt like real people and the acting was terrific. Jillian was awesome, Tyler was awesome, Stacy was awesome. The music was really good. I liked the soundtrack a lot. And the sound itself was top notch. That's what made it feel big budget. But it was also shot well, felt like a confident film of an assured filmmaker. It was also funny and touching. I thought Brett and the team did a tremendous job. It really exceeded my expectations. There were some minor logic questions that made me raise an eyebrow, but nothing to stifle the enjoyment of the film. This would've been a mainstream movie if it had a movie star cast and in the heyday of Sundance (back when they accepted actually independent films), it would've been a Sundance film that people would've taken notice of. I'll be interested to see if this film catches on. I look forward to seeing the filmmaker's other films.

Who is laying reviewers to leave anything more than 1 out of 10. Slow, poor cinematography, zero humour and on and on. Just terrible.