Surpresas da Vida

I just picked up this movie off the shelf because the title was interesting. I had never heard of it before. So I didn't know what to expect. It was really a surprise to find that it was good. We enjoyed it very much. The two main characters were very likable. I wish that they had gone into a little more detail of the circumstances of why they were at the factory but overall a good story about learning to deal with your fears and moving on with your life.

In this world of the big movies with lots of action, drama, sex, it was very sweet. Great family movie with lots to discuss after it is over. Give it a try.

My son and I really enjoyed this film. We went to this movie quite by accident - had never heard of it - but was rated PG! How rare is that in this day and age?

The subject matter is deeper then most kids movies - the understanding of pain, losing people we love, and taking that pain to live life and love life to its fullest, not closing up to die. While this may sound like a downer it is not, the characters learn to embrace and recapture their lives in a very upbeat way.

I think one user said sappy - true. But, personally, isn't it nice to watch a film that is uplifting and makes one think about life, and pain, and living - whether you are 9, like my son, or an adult?

Also, this movie has a certain forgein film quality to it. In my opinion.

RELEASED IN 2004 and directed by Eric Small, "The Dust Factory" is a drama/family/fantasy about two young teens (Ryan Kelley and Hayden Panettiere) and the boy's grandfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who enter into a strange dimension parallel to the real world. Will they live or will they die?

Imagine mixing "Carnival of Souls" (1962) and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1983) with DC Comic's Strange Sports Stories and you'd have a good idea of this movie. Being a family-friendly film, it lacks horror, but there are enough strange things going on and it arguably borders on horror.

The relationship between Melanie (Panettiere) and Ryan (Kelley) is the heart of the story, with Gramps offering sage counsel. While it's neither great nor bad, seeing Panettiere when she was so young (14 during shooting) is a treat. She's just a joy to watch. Moreover, there are some imaginative visuals, like the teens in the field with the circus tent in the background, and the story certainly reaches for depth in its reflections on the nature of death and bereavement.

THE FILM RUNS 1 hours & 20 minutes and was shot in Oregon (Portland, Hillsboro & Mount Hood).

GRADE: B-/C+

Fantasies created by a child to cope with traumas and heartaches too young to understand (not that I know any better), but the film misuses the fantasy for a totally artificial sweetness. Nothing has an emotional grounding, nothing feels remotely genuine.

Hayden Panettiere is a charming ray of energy even if her quirkiness is constructed-in-a-lab-fake. Other than her however, the movie is unrelentingly desperate to be sweet, but is instead emotionally hollow and visually lifeless.

This was slow, overlong but carefully crafted film. Saw on the credits where it was financed by Oregon Lottery money. What's with that? Can I have some? Anyway the acting was a high point as each of the principal characters is capable of delivering tears, quivering chins, furrowed brows, etc and have a good range of emotions. They also have physical skills beyond the usual pretty face as demonstrated by the dance numbers, the skating and hockey sequences, the trapeeze and other physical scenes apparently not done by stunt doubles. It did have a foreign touch to it; Oregon isn't that far from Canada and the scenery and flavor matched several obscure Canadian films. 'Reflecting Skin' comes to mind, and a British film 'Paperhouse' matches it in having much of the film take place in a sort of dreamland. The plot was almost a match too.