User reviews

I am blown away by Matt Damon's portrayal of an Oklahoma oil rigger. From start to finish he was Bill Baker. Every film, year by year, Matt just gets better and better. The rest of the cast followed right along beside him, equally amazing. They all seemed so real. I hope this film does well streaming. It's an adult drama - The kind of film lacking in today's mass of marvel-esque- comic book movies. I will be going back to see what else this Director has done. Bravo to all.

...an adult drama.

You just don't see this kind of movie in theaters anymore. Incredible acting makes this well worth seeing. Damon plays against type as a roughneck looking to free his daughter from a Paris prison.

Not an action movie but a deliberately paced drama, this is not Jason Bourne.

Yeah so this movie can make you doze off if you don't focus, a bit slow but has some very powerful and emotional scenes. Matt Damon's performance can't be compared, he did so well making everything seem natural and flawless. This story has lot's of lessons and can bring the human in you. Highly recommend it.

This is a deeply engaging film. The plot and the characters draw you in. Matt Damon is very good in this. I enjoyed it a lot.

It was a good movie, its long true but not necessarily boring this is why always watch at the theaters, not for everyone, great performance by Matt Damon AW worthy ? Maybe. Also dont forget Maya she stole the show.

Amazing story of a father, going to France to visit with his daughter, who has been (he believes) wrongly imprisoned for killing a friend. Staggeringly good acting by Matt Damon, playing against type, as the inarticulate, poorly educated, blue-collar worker, out of his depth in a foreign country, but committed to helping his daughter, regardless.

Shows just how alien France can seem to a non-French-speaking American, not understanding the culture or the issues. Beautifully dramatised, with grit and heart, inching forward to a final denouement. Don't miss the final line of dialogue from Matt... it completely reveals his journey. Delightful acting from the french actress who becomes his friend, and her daughter Maya, who brings out his genuinely caring side.

Although it's a little slow at times, I found it deeply satisfying - another tour-de-force from Tom McCarthy.

Matt Damon is excellent and thoroughly convincing as Bill, an unpolished roughneck from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Essentially, this is a fish out of water story, when he finds himself on a prolonged stay in Marseille in southern France, trying to prove his daughter innocent of the murder of her girlfriend. This, right here, is the movie's weakest link: Abigail Breslin is completely unsympathetic as the daughter Allison. When you should be rooting for our hero to succeed in his mission, you really don't care one little bit whether she rots in prison or not. Conversely, Bill's relationship with local woman Virginie and her adorable daughter Maya is when this movie is at its best. Their Franco-American culture clashes also provide all of the humour. I also liked how no effort whatsoever was made to show either Marseille or Stillwater in a good light. Both are portrayed as gritty, shabby and uninviting. Sadly, for all it's promise and tension, the ending feels rushed and unsatisfying.

I was expecting more action as this was categorised as a thriller/drama/crime. And being used to seeing Matt Damon in the Jason Bourne role, I expected more on the thriller side. However, there was much more on the drama side and exploring the different relationships between the main characters and how they develop. Matt Damon was great in his role and really carried the film. The child co-star, French little girl and her mother were great too! I honestly didn't care for the girl who's criminal case the film revolves around. I didn't find her likeable in the slightest. Overall the film was watchable and engaging despite being slow paced, and you become really invested in the main characters. Happy and sad ending at the same time. Worth a watch.

McCarthy's body of work is stacking up and it is moving him into the neighborhood of all-time great film directors/screenwriters - If his only film was 'Spotlight', that would be enough, but 'Stillwater' just adds to his growing portfolio of brilliant work that also includes the endearing indie film-festival favorite 'The Station Agent'.

Stillwater is a difficult film to watch...a film that resonates a theme that "life is brutal" cannot be confused on any level as a feel good film, although there are some moments when that is the direction it seems to be headed.

Under the surface of this story flows tragedy, and a feeling of inevitable sadness unfolds out of truth as the film progresses. This is not a typical story you will find captured in movies. McCarthy was brave to take on this project and the film stays with you in a way I cannot recall ever feeling after seeing a movie, outside of an Ingmar Bergman film (never easy to digest).

The acting was excellent - subtle, invisible, believable (certainly not a Bergman film trait). McCarthy has a way of connecting with actors that allows their craft to rise to the occasion of the scene and the story with total buy-in, evidenced by Damon delivering one of his greatest dramatic performances. It's like this in every one of McCarthy films. Perhaps Tom is leaning on his days as an actor, or his unique screenwriting methods (McCarthy wrote the parts specifically for each of the three lead actors in The Station Agent), but whatever he is doing, it is working REALLY well.

McCarthy's truly special filmmaking prowess was realized by many when 'Spotlight' was released in 2015 (best film of the past 25 years imo). Even at a relatively young age, his work points to filmmaking genius - without any reliance upon special effects or even Hitchcockian filmmaking techniques taught in film school (at least not noticeable).

Few achieve this level of film craft by seemingly just turning on a camera and pointing it at actors, and that is sometimes what it feels like - being put in the same place as real people and being able to just watch the moments unfold. Perhaps that is one of his greatest film-making "tricks".

Brevity in scenes is also one of his trademarks - just the right amount of time - not dwelling too long nor going too quickly - this cannot be as easy to do as it sounds - McCarthy does this really well. His brilliant editing prowess has always been a strength, and in this film allows one to be encased in a story that could easily run 3 hours, but comes in at 2 hours 20 minutes. His efficiency is amazing.

This movie does NOT neatly tie up the story in a Hollywood bow, and that is clearly by intent. Reading some other reviews, I can understand why that may lead to giving this film a low rating.

But have we not seen those movies a hundred times before? Stillwaters (and secrets) run deep, and sometimes what we find when digging a hole is not what we expected when we first started out.

Life indeed can be both beautiful AND brutal. This film illustrates that paradox. Just be prepared for something atypical with Stillwater, and Matt Damon with an Okie drawl.

It certainly suffers a great deal from a lack of focus; there is a LOT going on here for Damon's character. But the nuanced portrayal of its themes and the incredible execution of the story's tragic events make this an incredibly investing drama.

Just know that you're not going in for a crime thriller and you'll find a great deal to love in this complex drama.

As a person who lived in Marseille for many years, this film portrays the city and it's inhabitants perfectly! Mat is great, story is fine, the director did an amazing job, supporting cast is doing a great job! This is cinema at its best!

Greetings again from the darkness. It's understandable if you are taken in by a trailer that hints at a movie featuring an unknown dad going non-stop in cold pursuit of justice for his daughter (those numerous Liam Neeson references were for my own pleasure). In fact, this father has his own particular set of skills: he's a master at carpentry and electrical, he speaks the Oklahoma version of English, and he owns two guns (neither of which he has with him). And yes, this film is billed as a crime thriller, but you should know, we see very little crime, and the thrills are mostly non-existent. Despite all that, I connected with the story, not as a thriller, but rather as a character study of a flawed man trying to do the right thing by his daughter and find redemption for himself.

Oscar winner Matt Damon plays Bill Baker, a quiet out of work oil worker whom we first see on a clean-up crew after a disastrous tornado. Not long after, he's on an international flight to Marseille to visit his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin). She's been incarcerated for five years after being found guilty of stabbing her French-Arab lover, Lina, to death. In a highly publicized trial, Allison held fast to her claim of innocence, and still does. Her father visits regularly, delivering supplies and clean laundry. Although they hug on the visits, a definite chasm exists. We later learn that Bill previously struggled with drugs and alcohol and never received votes for Father of the Year. Allison asks her father to deliver a sealed letter to her attorney claiming there is new evidence in her case - she heard a guy named Akim had bragged at a party about committing Lina's murder.

You likely noticed the similarities to the 2007 Amanda Knox case. The differences being that was Italy, this is France; and it was Amanda's roommate, not lover. In this movie, the media fascination is derived from the 'rich' entitled American white girl brutally murdering her minority working class lesbian lover (a textbook Hollywood rendering). Allison growing up poor in Oklahoma mattered little to the media.

Damon plays Bill as a stoic, Heartland of America man who'll do anything for "his little girl". But he's no Jason Bourne. He's the proverbial fish-out-of-water on this mission. He doesn't speak a bit of French, and depends on the kindness of local actress Virginie (Camille Cottin, ALLIED, 2016) to be his interpreter and cultural guide in a world he doesn't comprehend. Bill quickly bonds with Virginie's precocious daughter Maya (a sterling film debut by Lilou Siauvaud), and soon a platonic family unit has formed. Bill's frequent prayers and odd American manners are the perfect cultural clash with Virginie's artsy French ways. Of course, this ultimately leads to a shift in the platonic nature of their relationship.

The film is directed by Tom McCarthy, an Oscar winner for SPOTLIGHT (2015). I highly recommend two of his other films, the excellent THE VISITOR (2007), and his sinfully under-seen directorial debut THE STATION AGENT (2003). McCarthy co-wrote this script with Marcus Hinchey, Thomas Bidegain, and Noe Debre, which explains why the French details are so spot on. Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi delivers brilliant camera work to go with the story's methodical pacing, and Mychael Danna's music adds intensity and depth to situations both quiet and fraught with emotion. Damon does some of his best work here as a man burdened with his own past and slowly becoming aware of possible personal and family life redemption. Ms. Breslin burst on the scene in 2006 with LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and she has transitioned well to adult roles ... though this role is somewhat abbreviated, she still does nice work in her scene with Maya and Virginie.

Bill and Virginie and Maya have some terrific segments together, including a dance to Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make it Through the Night". I'm guessing the rousing applause the film and actors received at Cannes was due partly to its French setting, and also to the depth of Bill's character (and Damon's performance). There are elements that seem far-fetched and maybe even overly complex, but viewed as the story of one man, it delivers some thought-provoking topics to the big screen. And yes, "life is brutal".

Opens in Theaters Friday, July 30.

A movie where one quickly wishes the daughter stayed in jail, guilty or not.

Okie Matt Damon departs his home state, as he has before, to visit his daughter, Abigail Breslin, in prison is Marseilles for killing her lesbian Arabic lover. She says she didn't do it. He believes her, but during the trial he got drunk and punched out a British journalist, which didn't help Now she has a possible lead, but her defense attorney says it's too speculative to bring to the courts. So he stays to do some sleuthing on his own , and gets involved with actress Camille Cottin and her daughter, Lilou Siauvaud.

The two main strength in this movie are Damon's performance, which is as seething under a facade of Plains States good manners as I could imagine. Two thirds of his sides seem to be "Yes, ma'am", even while the audience can see his anger and despair and yes, self-loathing simmer, never quite raising the lid of the pot. The other is Masanobu Takayanagi's beautiful camerawork, whose color palette transforms the 3000-year-old city into a watercolor.

Matt Damon is excellent as the widowed dad determined to prove his estranged, ungrateful and imprisoned daughter innocent. Stillwater has it's moments with splashes of much needed humour, but ultimately the film felt like it failed to achieve it's potential due to a 2 hour runtime of character development and relationship building let down massively by botched and rushed ending!

Very loosely inspired by the Amanda Knox case of an American student convicted of murder while studying abroad Tom McCarthy's STILLWATER follows it's own path for the majority of his screenplay (co-written with a trio of writers). Not only is the action transported from Italy to Marseille, France, but the focus isn't on the imprisoned young woman here named Allison (Abigail Breslin), but on her single father Bill (Matt Damon). The other main characters are Virginie, a single French woman (Camille Cottin) and her young daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud) who befriend and assistant the American as he tries to find the real killer.

Bill's dogged pursuit of freeing his daughter may seem to have the makings of an international thriller, but, McCarthy is much more interested in creating a slow burn drama. Bill is an uneducated 'ugly American' who has a history of personal failure. He roams around sporting a trucker hat even after temporarily moving to France to work on his daughter's release. At one point, one of Virginie's friends bluntly asks if he is Trump voter. Damon gives a strong performance as the determined Dad, even if he chisel's down the rough edges a bit too much at times. Breslin is good as are the pair of French actresses. The final scenes are quietly powerfully played by the quartet.

McCarthy will never be considered a stylist, but, here, as in THE STATION AGENT, THE VISITOR and SPOTLIGHT he frames the actors well. Masanobu Takayanagi camerawork is solid in capturing the local color without being picturesque and Mychael Danna's score is effective without calling attention to itself. The movie could have used some tightening in the script and editing as the movie occasionally loses the focus of where it's going. Set aside the tabloid details of the true crime case and appreciate the understated presentation in STILLWATER.

"Stillwater" is a Crime - Drama movie in which we watch a father visiting her daughter in prison and starting searching for the truth about a murder her daughter claims that she didn't commit.

I liked this movie because it had a very interesting plot from the beginning until the end of it and also contained some plot twists I did not expect. The interpretation of Matt Damon who played as Bill Baker was simply amazing and he made the difference in this movie. Some other interpretations that have to be mentioned were Camille Cottin's who played as Virginie, Lilou Siauvaud's who played as Maya and Abigail Breslin's who played as Allison. In conclusion, I have to say that "Stillwater" is a breathtaking movie that will keep you in tense through its whole duration and I highly recommend everyone to watch it.

This is a very thoughtful piece, one which still pops into my mind in the days since watching it. A central character that at first seems stubbornly dull is crafted into something more and more intriguing via an excellent Matt Damon, while the story itself is shaped by the people within it rather than Taken-style tropes about troubled European spots (from a US pov).

It's a bit of a sprawl and could definitely have done with a trim on the running time but stick with it and there are surprising rewards.

First, this film was incredibly acted. Truly was an amazing piece of cinema. Although beware, this isn't a thriller or a crime drama, although it had some seasoning of such. At the film's core the story is truly a tragic love story which is portrayed in many relationships from romantic to parental (both ways) and more. By the end one will find themselves perplexed, moved and struck with a sense of terrible loss. Betrayal, love, anguish and loss are deeply reflected through this film, I highly recommend watching. Anyone giving it a low rating didn't truly grasp the point of the movie. Sure, it wasn't an easy watch, even haunting, yet everything is superb about this movie.

No spoilers here. Go see this movie before reading about it. This is a very interesting, well written, directed, and acted movie. It is well worth the time and price of admission. Ignore the critics who nibble at the edges of this fine piece of cinema. The audience in the theater indicated that we were all enjoying it. This is why, pandemic or not, I love watching movies at the theater.

I thought that this would be some sort of Taken, which would have been disappointing. Instead, I got a slow burn film about a redneck father coming to Marseille to try to find ways to save his daughter from wrongful imprisonment. So I thought it was going to be a detective story or maybe something about how tough is to work the legal system when you can't understand a word of anything people are saying. But it wasn't that either, because it shifted again to the guy living in a house with a French beauty and her little child and forging a connection while the daughter whines and mopes in prison.

At this moment I was really confused. Where is this going? Then it becomes a thriller, as some action does happen and the police get involved. And I have to give credit to Matt Damon, he inhabits his role so well and creates this image of a slow thinking hillbilly trying and failing to do the right thing for his annoying daughter. I mean he tries, only he messes up. Repeatedly! And he plays the guy flawlessly. Too mad it's not that interesting a character.

Bottom line: it's a movie that is all over the place. I loved the acting and it was at least a refreshing thing, a movie unlike any other recent one. Unfortunately, it was also really slow and having to watch this guy speaking at 0.75 speed and being all American no matter how much time he spends with French people was annoying. Kept waiting for something to happen, only to have the genre of the movie shifting all the time. I am torn between classifying it a good movie with a pacing issue or a decent film attempt, but ultimately failing to provide an entertaining story.