It's all about love

Reading the plot of the movie and watching some wonderful scenes in addition to knowing that Preisner is making the score and Sean Penn is in it , i was so much intrigued to watch this film ; what a pity and what a waste of so much potential by the director . It all begins quite interesting , but soon enough you realize that the director tries so hard to prove nothing, Hitchcock, Lynch, Trier, all mixed up . It's not lyrical but tries to be , it's not poetic but tries to be , it's not a thriller but tries to be , it's not a love story but tries to be ; in vain .

'It's All About Love' is a true oddity. It feels almost like someone recorded all the strange ideas that came into their head for a week, and chose a common topic, i.e. 'Love', and wrote a screenplay from their notes.

But that's not to say it's a bad movie.

In truth, I quite enjoyed it, although I came out of it feeling like I'd woken up from a dream, or possibly a nightmare.

It's quite unsettling.

The plot is both incredibly simple and incredibly complex:

John (Joaquin Phoenix) goes to New York to get a divorce from his famous figure skating wife, Elena (Claire Danes). While he's there, he notices that Elena seems to be in the middle of a vast conspiracy, and together they try to escape it, rediscovering their love at the same time.

The film is set in the near future, although it doesn't really need to be. I like the future in this film, because it's not radically different (except for flying Africans...go figure) but feels like twenty odd years from now. In the near future, people who are lonely or suffer a great loss will often drop dead. And the people of the near future merely walk over their bodies.

John and Elena are Polish, although they don't need to be. It adds certain poignancy, two foreigners not quite in place in a world that keeps putting them out of place.

Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes, while both very good (I think...it's hard to tell in a film as strange as this) could possibly have used some accent work. At times they speak with no accent at all, and it seems to distract.

On that note, I would like to point out how brilliant Claire Danes is. Ever since I saw Brokedown Palace, I have been astounded by her acting ability (although, that said, she doesn't do heart-wrenching crying very well). I won't spoil it, but under the circumstances of what happens to her character(s), she's incredible.

Also thrown into the mix is Sean Penn playing John's brother. I honestly couldn't see why he was in the movie, except maybe to oversee all the weather changes (think a far more subtle, low budget Day After Tomorrow with more meaning. For instance, it snows in New York in July, and there are days when all the fresh water freezes) I'm not saying it's a bad point, but another end that wasn't loose, but still needed tightening.

As I mentioned, the plot is incredibly complex. It twists a fair bit, until it seems to cut all things loose and start a new movie some twenty minutes before the ending. Still another way this movie unsettles me.

Visually, the film is stunning. It looks like a far more mainstream film than it obviously is. And while the film is beautiful, it still feels hard to watch, like there's something dreaded under the gloss.

If this reads as an ambiguous review, that's probably a good thing. I like this movie, quite a lot. But I also dislike it. It's easy to see why the DVD cost me $10.

I also like the fact that I own this movie before America even get an official release date. As an Australian, always open to release dates getting pushed back by three months, or movies being on DVD in America for about a year before we even get a theatrical release, this gives me a strange sense of superiority.

An incredibly strange movie and most certainly not everyone's cup of tea, I'll have to be careful of who I recommend this movie to. But see it yourself, as it's a movie that deserves an audience, just a very select one.

7/10

I loved "The Celebration" and was very disappointed when I saw this at Sundance. In brief, this suffers from the same delusion as "Eyes Wide Shut": namely that implication = meaning. There is implied tension, implied sexuality and an implied conspiracy, none of which are delved into, and a barrage of imagery that is neither satisfactorily abstract nor clearly explicated. Joaquin Phoenix is too passive to be much of a lead and Claire Danes, while beautiful, lacks depth. The picture IS gorgeous, and kudos to the DP and design team.

I've seen much, I've seen many, but still i haven't seen it all. This "Plot" could easily fit into a japanese anime movie like the evangelion epic or other weird animes. To see it with real actors is disturbing. But, if you fade out the messy plot and all the weird things, you'll find a beautiful romance buried in the snow and the pre-apocalyptic setting. This movie polarizes and makes oneself a bit schizophrenic. It sucks, but in a great way.

Well

Where do you begin on such a film? First thing to point out, if you wish to save yourself £3.50, then read this first.

Several words can sum up this film. 'Pointless' 'Weird' 'Strange' the list would continue until I run out of negative expressions.

It all starts with a character called John, (Joaquin Phoenix) who flies to New York to meet up with his wife called Elena (Claire Danes) . The purpose of the meeting is nothing more then to get divorce papers signed. However he is met by two of his wife's entourage, and he is taken back to her hotel, and is forced to endure a night at the ice skating.

His wife is a world famous figure skater, last time I looked this sport was as popular as synchronized swimming, however for the purposes of the film, it's as popular as the world cup, and she as a sports personality has world wide fame and recognition that David Beckam would be envious off.

Anyway, long story short, she is well past her sale by date in the sport, and her team are replacing her with Elena Clones. Sounds stupid, and is. The reason for this is because without her, they are all unemployed and unemployable (just as they should be as a collective group of actors)

John is clueless to the entire situation until he meets one of the clones wielding a knife at him, and it's only when Elena's Brother called Michael, grows a spine and tells John of the Teams plans.

As for Sean Penn who plays Johns Brother in the film, well I am still trying to understand his part in the overall story, in my opinion Sean Penn is one of the worst actors I have ever seen, and this justified my opinion further.

In conclusion, Elena does not die at the hands of her management team, rather she opts to die with her husband in the middle of nowhere in freezing conditions, so, actually opting for a much more painful prolonged death, (her clones were all shot), her Husband John dies as well, again, freezing to death, her brother Michael also dies in the forest, but he dies alone. We can only assume and hope that Sean Penn's character dies in the plane he is a passenger off, with him ending any possible chance of a sequel.

For those who express such a film as ART, or creative brilliance, you need to lay of the alcohol.