Actually a fairly decent movie, delving into the morality issue of Canadian prostitutes hooked on heroin. All kidding aside this is a fairly well acted movie, with a good plot for a movie with a cult reputation. However there are some fairly significant problems that may drive me away from watching it again. First it is SLOW. Benefit - it isn't hard to keep jumping between real time and flashbacks. Problem - you kept wanting something to happen to speed this thing up - you felt every second tick away.
Second - my copy at least gave me a migraine trying to keep it in focus. Shots were swimming, blurry, and over all distracting from plot. I actually cleaned my glasses a couple of times really trying not to blame the movie.
Finally this film is another gun in my arsenal with very few exceptions, singers should not act, actors should not sing. I am sure Karen is a mighty fine vocalist, and it did give a haunting feel to the movie singing bible verses, but my ears were bleeding halfway through the movie. I did enjoy the chipmunk version of the chanting monks towards the end of the movie though.
The jury is still out whether the story is enough better than the technical qualities of the movie for me to watch this again. Probably will just buy the book.
