A Disappointing Continuation

A Brilliant Conflict

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

People are different, as is this film. Some won't like it, others will get it almost immediately as it's designed to extract from an emotional pathway some simply don't have. Now that may sound like pretentious crap, hell! It sounds like pretentious crap to me & I'm writing it. Nevertheless, I stick by it.Having lost a partner (girlfriend / road accident) I come from a place of experience when discussing life cut-short. Nevertheless, I would never claim to know anything, as each individual case is different, albeit similar.The film manages to beautifully weave the chaos of this kind of loss into a functioning narrative, which is damn near impossible. Sitting watching it I got that deep sense of unease, the visceral coil round the oesophagus which is/was my physical reaction to emotional distress. My point being, the film does its job. I found it both difficult & perversely soothing.The human mind is incredibly complex. Our emotions are tied to reality with thin thread & we adapt to almost any distress.

Much as some cannot understand how this film received a high rating I cannot understand how some have given this a low rating. The film was excellent. True it started with a lot of dis-jointed flash scenes of varying tenses and it did take a little while to get one's bearings. So much so that I did consider leaving it. How glad I was that I chose to persevere. After about 10 or 15 mins the whole thing became clear and from then on the film was riveting. It was gripping, emotionally provocative and real. Music was good and acting excellent but most of all the story was real and touching. It requires a small degree of concentration and is not something to be passively entertained by but notwithstanding this it is not complex or complicated and is easy enough to follow once your in. It's essence is its references to our own emotions which we will all see and relate to as the story explores the common manifestations of grief. Great film.

Could not stop watching this drama. Recommend as a must see to all!! Matthew Goode and Bojana Novakovic at their best. Incidental view of this non-linear narrative while flying back to Australia on Qantas. Fairly close to home for me personally, but showing the common emotion of grief up close and very intimately personal. I give this a higher score than Descendants, addressing similar issues. Hope this is available in other countries, and should be high on the recommended viewing list for friends (perhaps not families) of people dealing with terminal disease. It's not the typical suffering of a cancer victim that is portrayed here, it's the distress of the carer, a very busy chef, and his son. And of course Bojana is a jewel in the crown!

I love Australian films and I usually try and see as many as I possibly can as the Australian film industry is a struggling industry, usually Aussie films are either good or bad, no in between, and this is a good one. Matthew Goode puts in a rather excellent central performance as a man struggling to overcome the grief of a loved one passing, I'd love to know what attracted him to an Australian project, whatever it is I'm glad because he is a very fine actor and very nice to watch.The way the story unfolds is non linear and at first it takes a bit of time to get your head around it but once you get the hang of it it's easy to keep track of, and when everything comes together in the end it all makes sense. :) The city of Sydney is used expertly in this movie, so many times I was trying to guess where it was filmed, it's always fun trying to guess, and the cinematography is terrific.Bojana Novakovic is exceptional in the later parts of the film, she is simply amazing in her portrayal as a woman loving life but facing death, just exceptional, i put money down that she's nominated at the afi's next year.The only criticism I would have is that Matthew Goode's character come so close to being hated so many times, I kinda had to stop myself from hating him, and also it's about 15 minutes too long, but it all pays off, its certainly worth seeing. Let's hope lots and lots if people go and see it, I would certainly recommend it.