Every Thing Will Be Fine

Everything Will Be Fine is a small intimate movie, but suffers from an average screenplay and you can almost feel Wenders trying to bring intellectual depth to the movie. Although the center ultimately is the grieve and guilt following the death of a child in a car accident and coming to grips with that, it touches many themes which leaves the viewer purposively confused about the center and where to root himself in this movie in the first place: Broken relationships and families, stalking and a writer offering almost everything for success and coping with his remorse.

The use of 3D in the movie is sometimes quite effective. For example, the first two scenes worked well, showing dust and then snow creating a haze in the image suggesting the troubled mind of Tomas. In addition, there are other clever movie techniques at work: turning the camera in directions where you would not expect it to go (turning the camera away from the action or showing a wider angle of the situation); also making effective use of time, hopping forward frequently so the viewer has to adopt his frame of reference. Although the cinematography is not bad, you start missing the collaborations with Robby Müller producing his best movies in the past.

Gainsbourg (illustrator) I think is one of the oddest actresses around as she doesn't (or maybe can't) act. Franco (writer) is consistently clever and restrained in the movie, although you see him struggling in the first scenes. The score of Desplat is very apt for the atmosphere of the movie.

I hope Wenders finally wins his deserved first Oscar, not for this but for the excellent Salt of the Earth documentary.

An artistic film about everyday life focusing on the popular writer Tomas Eldan and other artists and their close-ones whose paths cross upon each other when tragedy hits, unfolding a series of events that span over a decade. A small and realistic film by director Wim Wenders using brilliant 3D techniques centering around time and light that makes huge waves with the storytelling, the breathtaking cinematography and scenery with impressive performances, especially from James Franco and rising actor Robert Naylor. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams, Peter Stormare, Patrick Bauchau, Marie-Josée Croze and the young Julia Sarah Stone, Lilah Fitzgerald and Jack Fulton also feature. There were a few question marks in the script that stood out for me but the overall film-production and the skills they used satisfied me totally.

Writer Tomas Eldan (James Franco) almost hits Christopher who sled onto the snow-covered road. Tomas carries him back up to the house where his mother Kate (Charlotte Gainsbourg) comes out looking for her other son. Tomas realizes that he had unknowingly ran him over. He is haunted by the death despite not being responsible. His relationship with Sara (Rachel McAdams) struggles as they clash over her wish for kids. Eventually, he finds love again with Ann (Marie-Josée Croze) and her daughter Mina. He tries to help Kate while Christopher is obsessed with Tomas and that fateful day.

The movie opens with a great incident but then it goes off into a series of rambling flat scenes. Everybody speaks in that flat Quebecois accented English. The story keeps skipping ahead a few years and jumping over the emotional flow. It's flat tonally. It's disjointed. There are one or two great scenes with McAdams but it's all very fleeting. The story would be more powerful staying with Sara and Kate.

Wim Wenders became known as one of the leaders of New German Cinema in the 1970s. His work includes "The American Friend", "Until the End of the World" and "Buena Vista Social Club". "Every Thing Will Be Fine" is a very different turn for him. This look at the effect that a tragedy has on a writer (James Franco) takes a while to get going. Wenders's previous movies often looked at political issues, but this is more of a psychological drama. It comes across as flat. It's not terrible, but I expect more from Wenders.

Basically, I recommend Wenders's other movies. "Until the End of the World" is his best. Probably one of the greatest movies ever made.

This film tells the story of a writer who accidentally kills a boy in a traffic accident. He spends many years of his life dealing and coping with the tragedy he caused.

I find the story non-happening, the pace super slow and the acting poor. The script is so poor that I rolled my eyes at the scene where Rachel McAdams slapped James Franco, then when she did it the second time I laughed because it was like a mother slapping a child. Even with Charlotte Gainsbourg's supposedly open heart, it is still very unbelievable that they could spend an afternoon together in embrace.

The actors and actresses all look lethargic and emotionless, even in supposedly emotional scenes. They look more like sleepwalking than acting. Rachel McAdams' fake accent is quite a pain to the ears, I don't know what that accent is supposed to be or what it signifies, but it does not add anything to the film. "Every Thing Will Be Fine" is not fine, in fact it is really horrendous. You should consider yourself lucky that you have not had a chance to watch it.