Uma Noite no Lago

A woman has parked her travel trailer in a Colorado park, waiting for a childhood friend to meet her there. The woman proceeds to meet a collection of odd residents/workders but no childhood friend for quiet a while. The film started out as a kind of Waiting for Godot setup, but it became a study in loneliness of people whose past lives seem to be disappearing. The film reminded me of Nomadland with its haunting loneliness and hopelessness of its characters, but A Love Song took a different turn and avoided the hopelessness. Still, the two main actors (Dale Dickey and Wes Studi) are recognizable from their innumerable background acting roles in past features and come across and relatable and true characters--i.e. Real human beings. This quiet indie film offered a lot of subtle thought-provoking ideas, particularly to people like me who are entering our 60's and 70's. It was a sweet film.

Looking over other reviews, what I see in the negative reviews are the things that make this movie so good. Is it slow? Absolutely. And on purpose. Not much "happens?" I guess so, if you think life is the place where nothing happens. I do wonder whether most people under the age of 40 or 50 will get this movie. Which makes the age of the director a bit of a surprise. My wife and I (both in our 60's) found this movie to be a lovely, lovely thing, inside and out. It's pensive and moving and joyful and sad and magical..you know, like life. And one scene (to avoid spoilers I'll just call it the first gravediggers scene) is so funny I had to watch it again twice. Quirky brilliance, that. See it on a big screen if you can because the setting is one of the characters. (I'm astounded that one review calls the scenery boring. Compared to what? Exploding Death Stars?) If you need CGI and sharp snappy dialogue, go elsewhere. If you can watch the unfolding of a small story that's really everyone's story, this movie could well be for you.

This is a melancholy, impressionistic movie about aging, loss, and the mystery of solitude. While the story line is simple and thin, the handful of characters who inhabit it convey the ambiguity and uneasiness of real life so naturalistically that it almost feels like a documentary. Not all viewers will be interested in experiencing this level of lonely introspection set amid the stark barrenness of the American west, waiting for "something to happen." But another type of viewer will find the relative wildness of the setting calming, reminding us of our own actual journeys and mental escapes into the almost incomprehensibly large landscape of this part of the country--a place where you can be both undisturbed and nearly forgotten. And in this movie the landscape itself seems to be an inquisitor, stripping bare civilized pretensions and routines with the oppressive gravity of solitude and unlimited time. Aside from being drawn with laughably impossible mechanical skills, the lead female character comes across as both frighteningly realistic and distinctly unappealing. Though she shows positive traits like self-sufficiency, curiosity, and generosity, she also seems uncomfortable in her own skin--making the viewer squirm and wonder if she's always been this way or whether grief and advancing age have made her so tense and enigmatic. The pacing and feel of the thing is so sober and bare-bones that it's surprising to find a touch of Wes Anderson in some of the incidental characters who momentarily break the silence.

While the cinematography showed nice views the picture was not that great. However, this film absolute blew me away; each scene was special! If you are not looking for action then please check out this film (if you are expecting action then this is not the film for you). It moves at a snails pace throughout while the set never much really changes. If you don't like camping then go watch this movie instead;)

It's a 7 but it gets a bonus point for just being so damned sweet. The writing is dear. The direction tender without becoming syrupy. The acting is heartfelt perfection.

Elders reunite with all the same adolescent awkwardness of their youth. Time may have weathered bodies but their hearts are fresh as spring.

She says, "Come inside." So we get to go, go inside lives lived. Hearts beating. People gently reconnecting.

It's playful and tender and quiet and touching and beautiful in ways I did not expect.

I love a good story well-told. This is a good slice of life story told so well it captures the exquisite joy and sorrow, expectation and disappointment, truth and beauty, of life.