O Mistério de Stella

Why this title? It is the location, the Driftless Area is a region in the upper American Midwest that escaped the flattening effects of glaciation during the last ice age and is consequently characterized by steep, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and geology characterized by spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams. But it was filmed in Canada.

The story is not as easy to explain, it involves a young man, a bartender, attempting to grasp the meaning of space and time and possible parallel universes. Then there is the young lady who accidentally gets burned up in an arson fire. But she walks away nude past the oncoming firefighters. Then there's the robbery, the truck crash, the search to find and recover the loot.

It really has an all-star cast, the story bits are woven together very well in an interesting and often funny manner. I find the movie to be a bit better than its IMDb rating suggests. Young Yelchin met an untimely accidental death not too long after this movie.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

Life after death? Or rather drifting around after it? Does the movie deliver answers to some questions it has or rather the viewer will have? Probably not might be the right answer. The performances are great all around. Especially with the weird dialog that takes place throughout the movie.

So if you are into weird, not easily explained (if at all) things happening and watching them unfold, dialog that either is on the nose or very subtle and not telling at all, you may have found the right movie for you. Towards the end there may a bit more action than some would like, but the true ending is "making up" for that ... if you don't like that though, than it will break the movie for you. You should see it coming though, not just because what I used as summary line ...

A small human interest story in a small town in the geographic area in the title that involves, as a few others have already mentioned, questions and philosophies of life, death, fate, etc. I think the cast was great as is the cinematography and script.

This film tells the story of a young man who is in love with a victim of arson. He finds a bag of cash, and his life becomes complicated because the crooks who own the cash come after him in the quiet small town.

The plot summary sounds interesting on paper, but unfortunately the film is not at all interesting. It feels like a bunch of incomplete jigsaw pieces being forced together. I don't quite care for any of the characters, even Zooey Deschanel's character who is a victim of arson. There's no thrill suspense even when crooks hunt Pierre down. Events in the film are muted, and the film is pretty uneventful and non happening. There's no connection between the characters themselves or with the viewers. What is the point of the story? I find it boring and forgettable.

A really wonderful book by Tom Drury, converted into an aimless, confusing mess. Anton Yelchin's Pierre seems aimless and lost throughout, and Zooey Deschanel's character lacks the vigor of the book. The best character was Shane.