Downloading Nancy

The film has a different, thought-provoking and bold theme and this is a promising point. But choosing the subject of all cinema. This film has a problem with the narrative and this is a neural and superficial film. It is acceptable to show it at the Sundance Festival, but it is a question for me to be nominated for the jury and I would like to know the reason. This movie is based on the true story of Sharon Lopatka , who was killed in 1996. Belo has worked hard in the role of Nancy. In fact, the character of Nancy is based on the character of Sharon Lopatka which happened 12 years after that.

obviously has some talent attached, Maria Bello is always great. but this is just a dreary wast of time, portraying every character as someone to be loathed and exploited so someone could make a movie out of an 'interesting' story. well, i hope they got it out of their systems. unfortunately for the audience, there is no insight, no sensitivity, no context, and really no humanity. which would all be fine, except it has no humor, no horror, no context, and nothing constructive to say about the story it's trying to tell. bad things happen, you sit and watch it, you don't care, so what? 99% of the time, the words 'based on a true story' constitute an unintentional warning to the audience. it means the director and screenwriter are lazy and fascinated by some events they heard about somewhere, so they just throw them up on the screen and expect the 'true' nature of the story to make the audience feel something without the filmmakers having to do any of the work. i hope they had a great time making this movie. it stinks on ice.

The question is, Is this film worth watching? Of course it is, if for nothing else but to see Maria Bello's Indy Award nominated performance. Don't let the fact that it went straight to video dissuade you.

It is not a pretty movie. Watching the effects of child sexual abuse never is. Watching someone engage in self-mutilation to mask the pain is, in a word, painful.

Bello (A History of Violence, The Cooler) was, of course, perfect for the role. Rufus Sewell played the husband, who was more of an enigma. It was never clear whether he was just a jerk who was obsessed with golf, or if 15 years of marriage to Nancy (Bello) just wore him down.

Nancy finds Louis (Jason Patric), someone on the Internet she wants to kill her. They end up having a relationship, if you want to call it that.

In the end, I am not sure whether he kills her or whether she kills herself. It really doesn't matter. It was a dark, twisted film with very little music and washed out cinematography. It set the mood, but it is easy to see why this film would get no buyers at Sundance.

People don't go to the movies to get more depressed, and this one will do just that.

Crimelibrary has an account of a suburban Baltimore, MD woman whose story is markedly similar to this film in the broad facts.

However, the movie departs from that story when exploring the protagonist's psychology - Maria Bello plays a very different character from that of Sharon Lopatka. The film tries to link contradicting pathologies which weren't present in the real story, and which would be fine if there was a point - there doesn't seem to be. Unlike Michael Haneke's, "La Pianiste," there seems to be a poor grasp or care about the underlying chaos of this character beyond the dramatic possibilities. Maria Bello's performance is admirable but the narrative fails to draw significant meaning from the substance of her struggle.

While there is an attempt to create a dark, grim sheen to the film, the casting of two very pretty Hollywood stars (Bello and Patric) was an epic blunder. It adds an unwelcome 'allure' to a tale which should remain, frankly, indigestible. Marketable, sexy actors transform this fascinating story into something weirdly, sadly exploitative. Jason Patric is such a poor choice - it couldn't be any more distracting if it were Brad Pitt! (It might have felt more grounded with actors like James Gandolfini and Kathy Bates... ).

Rufus Sewell is captivating here and brings a needed realism in his portrayal of the bewildered husband.

It's hard to decide whether this is a failure or not. I finally came to the conclusion that it's not.

Nancy has been sexually abused as a child. She lives in a completely cold and dead marriage. She cuts herself. Then, she gets into this pact with a stranger on the net. What follows is a carousel of destruction. But is it really destruction? It's a fantastic acting performance here by Maria Bello, Rufus Sewell and Jason Patric. It's like a documentary with pale colors, no sign of hope, no sign of healing. It's a movie about existentialism, but it balances on a thin line close the ridiculous. But director Johan Renck brings it all home and you can only feel the pain. Or is that really what you're supposed to feel?