Uma Manhã Suave

My IMDB pet peeve... people who watch a movie for 15 minutes, turn it off, and then race here to give it a "1" and actually SAY they turned it off without finishing it. These people should be banned...

I bring it up because "Some Velvet Morning" is a film that infuriatingly plods along, with the brilliant Stanley Tucci as a horrible, bitter guy in a pathetically desperate mode. He is thoroughly unlikeable and the movie is cringeworthy. But if you stay until the end... there's a plot twist that "rescues" the film... it doesn't make it good, mind you. But it becomes salvageable... and you think "wow, didn't expect that..." and then you can respect the whole effort more. But if you bailed early and ran here with your "1" and your hate, you missed some solid acting and a crazy ending. So, let this be a lesson to all. Don't judge too soon, hang in there, respect the effort, and give the film the chance to be what it is. If you still think it's a "1" then so be it. At least you can judge it fairly. The plot twist here took this from a "3" to a "6." Not bad.

Watched this on the plane, could not get my eyes off it. Masterful theatrical performance , 2 people inside a townhouse somewhere in U.S. Big city. Plot reviewed by others. Camera action captures a plethora of emotions and takes you where the actors want you to go. You will love this if you like watching uncoiling emotions from interactions of both characters, if you don't mind the sexual setting (no nudity) but nevertheless it very sexually charged, and if you like small cast theatrical performances. The ending is indeed unexpected, but in a way may the best way to end this escalating very emotionally charged movie. Both actors make it very believable at every moment. Their dialog may leave you irritated at times, but it is very realistic.

... he's been there, done that time and again.. she is undoubtedly the wonderful surprise in this film. Beautiful and talented.. a very winning combination. It's not a movie that's going to get much mainstream recognition, but there's no doubt, she was absolutely phenomenal, exhibiting just how good an actor she truly is. A fan previously, but she's now amped it up to a new level of commitment. The storyline is as unrealistic as it can get, but you're not clued in until the final moments of the film. It's also a film that will benefit from repeated viewings.. what you might have missed the first time round will impress in added screenings.

The film won't be for everybody, and the twist ending might leave some perplexed. Despite this, the film is a decent dialogue-oriented drama. My only criticism is that it plays out too much like a stage play in its delivery.

Neil LaBute's work has always been raw in tone, frequently offensive, yet never lacking in punch.

SOME VELVET MORNING proves no exception to this rule. Set in a split-level apartment in a big city, is concerns an apparently unstable relationship between middle-aged lawyer Fred (Stanley Tucci), and his twentysomething former mistress Velvet (Alice Eve). Fred claims to have left his wife and returned to Velvet after a four-year absence, while Velvet apparently resents his unexpected appearance in her apartment.

Most of the film's eighty-two minute running-time is devoted to a roller-coaster depiction of the characters' relationship as it veers from protestations of love, false demonstrations of passion, and the more obvious depicting of male power based on strength. In the final reel there is an unexpected denouement that calls into question the entire basis on which the plot has been constructed. Some might consider it artificial; others a too-obvious elaboration of the film's basic theme.

In terms of style, SOME VELVET MORNING has much of the rawness of David Mamet's OLEANNA (1994), another two-hander based on the clash between a man and woman of varying ages, combined with the destructive potential of Mike Nichols's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF (1966), wherein the main characters tear emotional lumps out of each other in pursuit of emotional as well as physical mastery.

As director, LaBute refuses to let his characters out of sight of his penetrating camera. We feel uncomfortably close to them, especially Fred as he tries to ingratiate himself once again into Velvet's emotions. Yet there is a sense in which the film glorifies as well as condemns male power; Tucci portrays Fred as the initiator of most of the conversations he conducts with Velvet. Until he achieves his desired aim, he will never give up.

In truth the plot begins to pall as it unfolds, as we wonder why Fred is so insistent on achieving his desired aim. Is it part of his own feeling of insecurity; that he is an emotional wreck with a pathological inability to articulate his emotions? As Velvet, Eve tends to be too much of a foil to him; in Beckettian fashion she tells us she is going out but never actually takes any positive action.

It might be said that SOME VELVET MORNING gives an uncompromising portrait of modern relationships. In truth it actually reveals the bile at the heart of the writer/ director's consciousness, which manifests itself in a consciously sexist piece of work.