Hideaways

it is only word who can describe this film about death and hope. a strange cold fairy tale about a boy, his gift and the bridges with world. virtue of movie - the ball of feelings. the powerful impressions. the burned grass and the need of the other of a young man. nothing else. because all is only puzzle of gestures and search. a ladder and a form of escape like wet drawing. it is a beautiful film but not a comfortable one. web of questions and delicate nuances. and nice acting. a film about solitude and its corners. and, sure, about love. as a kind of parable. or only invitation for understand world more than a wall. but as way.

Saw this tonight at Tribeca. The "love conquers all" message is certainly worthy, but this just isn't a very well told story. The scripts contains few surprises (no point even bothering to spoil the plot here - you'll soon guess where the story is heading), and the directing is flat. The film's point of view is a big problem. The director doesn't seem to be sure if it's Mae-West's or James's story, so in the end it's hard to care for either. The overblown score tries too hard to fill in the emotions that the script doesn't provide. Some nice effects work in places though. I can't imagine this will be a huge hit, but if you see it coming to your local cinema best look for other options.

Pay no attention to the sadly low ratings given to this very fine romantic tale. Of course the plot demands full artistic license but that is the essence of a fairy story and the stretched imagination needed to accept the setting comes easily enough.

James Furlong is born into an Irish family with very strange powers. His grandfather became blind for 37 minutes each time he thought of sex whilst his father caused complete electrical failure all around him each time he became frightened. James simply caused everything to die around him whenever he was attacked or given a blow. Naturally this had unpleasant effects on those unfortunate enough to argue with him or even be near those fighting with him. Accordingly he runs into the forest and lives the life of a hermit. Until that is a beautiful young girl happens upon his forest shack and a love story begins.

The photography is nothing short of splendid and there are some fine performances from all the youngsters involved - in particular James Wilson who plays the younger James. I hope we see more of him. Perhaps my greatest criticism would be that Thomas Brodie-Sangster who is given significant billing in the production appears in very few scenes and has barely three minutes of screen time. His character, a young lad bent on revenge against the hero, was indeed interesting and could have been developed much more. What a pity the producers gave so much time to romantic love scenes and so little to the jealousy that love often brings about on those rejected.

A very odd film indeed. It starts with some very funny dark gags that are laugh out loud brilliantly daft. It then abruptly turns rather dark and leads you down a path that the first ten minutes did not prepare you for. Subsequently you're not sure how to react for the next hour, is it a dark fable, comedic fantasy or just a basic love story overcoming intense obstacles of life? Thankfully the third act goes where you expect but still with the edge. What is though is well acted as you're expect from the cast, they've all gone on to do Hollywood budget movies or TV and you can see why.

Just saw this during the Tribeca film festival and found it great. I enjoyed the poetry, the incredibly strong pictures and the really original plot. Some of you may not agree but I have been hooked by this movie from the first to the last minute and what should I say about the actors that are beautifully playing and magnificently directed. This movie is full of emotions and the love story is very well treated, showing a real, pure love which is not going pathetic as it is in many movies today. Hope this movie is going to be seen by many of you and bought in the US to become a hit, not even in comparison to some other hits, this film deserves it.