The Protagonists

...wanna see a mesmerizing movie? try this obscure italian docu-fiction starring miss Tilda 'Orlando' Swinton. It alternates cinema-verité and fictional reconstruction in a deep intense, experimental way. don't miss it if you like wild visions. music is stunningly beautiful and the editing is now fast then slow then fast again. I saw it in a festival and will look for a dvd release of it, it really touched me deeply. Paco

I think the 5-minute-long intro song gives a clue as to the time you would waste watching this movie. It's disjointed, awkward, and dull. I enjoy Tilda Swinton's acting in all of it's quirky glory; however, in this movie, it doesn't even feel like she's acting. It's more like "Tilda Swinton plays Tilda Swinton in a boring, poorly made documentary." I generally enjoy odd quirky films, but this one doesn't accomplish anything interesting. I think I know what the director is trying to convey (the juxtaposition of the banality and horror of murder) but it's done in such a clumsy way. It doesn't hold my attention. I say this as a person with a long attention span for documentaries and films.

The short version of this review is: don't bother.

A film about people making a film about a senseless murder sounds complicated, but it isn't. Using documentary and fantasy sequences along with the basic premise, it just works. The editing and cinematography create a visual treat that challenges you with great reward, the soundtrack complements the visuals so well and Tilda is her usual perfect self. The story is heartbreaking and handled with complete respect and honour for the man and his family. If you think The Princess Bride is the best film ever you won't like it, but then you don't deserve something as interesting and beautiful as this. I admit, it made me cry.

How many times did they have to go through the scene of grisly murder to tell almost nothing about people who were actually involved in this real life story? What was going on in the heads of the criminals who murdered a man at random? What about victim's wife and children? Police detectives who solved the case? Jurors? Instead I watched an endless parade of pretentious beautiful people having a good time.

A random single page of any of Dostoyevsky novels tells more about inner state of protagonists' mind than almost two hours of this torture.

This is probably one of the worst films I ever saw.

A documentary? A docudrama? A music video? Whatever it was, it seems to have run about an hour too long. There is apparently a true story underneath the singing and moody driving-around-at-night visuals, but it failed to fight its way to the surface. And I don't know what to make of this silly culprits-who-cannot-by-law-be-named thing, as the info is out there in the free press: Jamie Petrolini and Richard Elsey. But this watch-us-make-the-story-of-the-story-and-hey-doesn't-this-singer-look-cool-and-the-audience-is-swaying-to-her-singing stuff?

Dude, just because you had a new idea doesn't mean you had a *good* idea. Two thumbs down.