oceanjewel

I'd seen a lot of bad reviews of this movie, but I watched it anyway. I think the reason it was not well received is that the marketing for the movie created expectations that it was a very different type of movie than it really is. It's sort of billed as a thriller about a murderess and a man who is obsessed with her, but it doesn't have the fast pace and the same level of gruesome violence that many popular thrillers have these days. It's really a much more thoughtful and slower paced film that's more about obsessive attraction and loss than it is about murder or anything like that. I was surprised how much I liked it. It really should have been marketed to an art house audience and not a mainstream theater audience.

The movie was nicely shot. The characters were interesting people on the edge of insanity. Ewan McGregor's portrayal of a man starting to lose his mind was subtle, but convincing. It wasn't the raving madman stereotype you see so often in movies. The emphasis on the characters' astrological sun signs was an unusual and refreshing touch. The movie didn't go deep enough into astrology to really explain their motivations, but if you know astrology, you will see that the characters did reflect some of the keywords associated with their sun signs. As a student of astrology, it was really fun for me to see an astrological theme in a movie.

By the way, in case you don't really like violent movies (as I don't), close your eyes through the one pretty gruesome scene near the beginning of the movie, and the rest is not that bad.

Even though I do live in Santa Cruz, I'm not particularly interested in surfing or surf movies, but still, I really enjoyed this one. The theme of being at a stage in life where you start wondering what you're going to do with it other than partying, what's really worthwhile in life, and what your values are struck a chord with me. It's a pretty universal one. I certainly know a lot of people that have dealt with it or are dealing with it right now.

The scenery of Cornwall was gorgeous. So was a very young looking Catherine Zeta Jones. The movie is beautifully shot. It was also very humorous, especially when you know lots of people like the characters in this film. It struck me as very true to life. Ewan McGregor really made me laugh as a drug dealing hippy dude who secretly just wants to be respected. I kept thinking "didn't I see that guy at a Dead show once?" The whole film kind of reminded me of Santa Cruz with an English accent.

This actually is a very well made, suspenseful thriller. It started off kind of innocent and funny and the story built until it twisted into something rather startling and horrible. The acting was wonderful.

With all that said, I didn't really like this movie. I don't like violent films, especially when they have no hero but just a bunch of rather despicable characters. From the very beginning, it was rather clear that the "friends" in the movie really didn't care all that much about each other and were rather heartless, so it was kind of hard to care much about their fate anyway.

Actually, the only reason I watched this movie is because I'm a huge fan of Ewan McGregor and I liked the other Danny Boyle films he's been in, "Trainspotting" and "A Life Less Ordinary". Ewan's acting was top-notch as usual in this film, but I really didn't need to see THAT. It would spoil the film if I said what THAT is referring to, but you'll know if you see it.