kaylenns
Joined Aug 1999
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kaylenns's rating
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kaylenns's rating
This film is excellent. Top-notch writing, entirely driven by strong characterization without contrivances. The acting is excellent, and the dialogue is believable, natural, and honest. This is not your average romcom, and it might not even qualify as a romcom at all, because although it asks many of the kinds of questions that romcoms try to ask, it answers them with far more maturity than most do. This story has themes that resonate and an ending that delivers. There are moments of the transcendent alongside moments of the awkward, and that gives the experience a ring of realism. The personal mysteries are revealed at a good pace, and the story never becomes saccharine, boring, or entirely predictable. I appreciated the good use of silence. I was occasionally annoyed by the unnecessary shakiness of the hand-held camera or the blurry focus of foreground objects, but that only happened a couple of times. This is otherwise a beautiful, thoughtful, quiet, poignant, and true character piece, and it's well worth the watching.
I liked the narrative structure of this film; by the end, it had me thinking deeply about the nature of Story itself. What started out with the promise of a lush romantic tale eventually both did and did not fulfill that promise, in the most intriguing way. This movie was very well acted, emotionally resonant, and occasionally breathtaking in its cinematic techniques (e.g., a single panning shot against the backdrop of a massive set filled with a couple thousand people and animals, complex in its execution; a lighting change that achieved a powerful emotional effect). The costumes were gorgeous and effective, the settings were a perfect complement to the characters' emotions, and the character interactions were compelling. An experience you'll never forget!