Cardinals

Take me to your darkest room. Close every window and lock the door. This is kitchen zink realism. Wow! A film that actually tell you a story with the help of dialogue and images. Who does not want to dazzle you with artistry. Or trying to hide that the story is made up along the way. In "Cardinals" we are offered a story with substance. Plus a cast and a crew who knows how to communicate this and more to us, the audience. I am so grateful. This is the play Sam Shepard never got around to write. "It's also the best film that Atom Egoyan never made." (Andrew Parker TIFF)

Ok, I get it's a low budget movie. Acting was fair. The story line above average. However the movie was extremely slow. It never had an exciting moment. The ending was poor. Without spoiling anything, what you are led to believe happened at the end would not have happened by actual law. Can think of a much better ending but I think the person deserved what happened and they just wrote it in the story line. Only watch this if you are extremely bored.

You won't get the ending you may have been assuming in 10 mts towards the end. Not only assuming but expecting for the movie to clear out the feelings that tend to develop, during the course of watching it.

Could it have ended more conclusively?

No.

The movies like these are touching and need more discussions in the society, for how the things are put to an end.

The ending was left to the wisdom of viewers to decide.

Or the director could have brought in different endings in a snapshot, to make it easy for the viewers to decide what was the best "justice".

I know of two movies with two endings!

Cardinals takes us down the road of a family that has dealt with tragedy and now must deal with the next stage of reconciliation if possible. The release of the mother from prison. The pain of the son of the victim. Family secrets and how to deal with emotions and stress yet stay within societies structure and rules without losing yourself. So no exploding car crashes, mobs running through the streets or ray guns. Wonderfully Directed, Acted and Produced with focus on the story. Thanks for allowing the audience the time to adjust to real life on film which is so incredibly rare in films/movies. So put your adult pants on and see a very good film.

Sad, dark, expressive.... acting with expression was well done, characters spot on, this film held my attention easily, made me think, I really enjoyed its quality....