Strictly average movie

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

This is pretentious faux deep nonsense. It was designed so that pretentious faux deep pseudo intellectuals could watch it, then sit around, smoke cigarettes, and say pretentious faux deep things. The things they say will be gibberish, but they and their pretentious faux deep friends can pretend that they have meaning so that they feel sophisticated. Many of us knew them in college. I think a Saturday Night Live skit was made about these sorts of people featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I can't recall the exact episode. I heard that this was intelligent science fiction. It wasn't. It had a pinch of vague stereotypical psi phenomena so that it could jump genres, but the psi had nothing to do with the plot. I waded through the whole thing hoping that there would eventually be some point. There wasn't. It was just the same old annoying and sometimes creepy sexual tension and promiscuity mixed with a lot of emoting and confusion. I would give this movie one star, but that would be unfair since the acting was reasonably good. It's not the actors' fault they got dragged into this thing. They probably needed the work. The actors deserve some small concession.

Caught it at South-By-Southwest and it stood out to me as the true gem of the festival. So much of the programming I caught there didn't interest me. Although the films were solidly enjoyable, they ultimately seemed quite mundane and wholly 'uncinematic' - each one blended into the others. This stood far above the rest.I find this film highly engaging emotionally but also very interesting formally. It's a wonderfully crafted film. It has what's needed to be pleasing, but never forgets its true ambition as a cinematic work. Incredible first film that stands out in the modern indie film spectrum ... I give it eight of ten because you have to leave room for Bergman :)

It's pretty well described as "pre-apocalyptic drama" (though I'm not sure "drama" is the right word… it does have pretty hilarious moments too.), where a family finds themselves in a world sunk in environmental chaos, while still trying to cope with their own problems. The focus, of course, is not in the setting, but the particular ordeals that the incredibly diverse family have to face: a stressed out mother, Saura, a jaded daughter, Pam, and a reclusive younger son with strange paranormal powers, Tim. Also surrounding the family is Saura's manipulative boyfriend Wendell and Pam's recently outed best friend Scott, for whom she happens to hold deeper feelings than mere friendship. And fully closing the circle there's Tim's teacher and Scott's lover. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Scott's parents are zealous Christians?The movie manages to blend in live-action scenes with beautifully hand-drawn surreal animated scenes to represent the main characters' fantasy world, giving it a really unique and original feel. I was even told by the filmmakers that they spent three years on the animation alone, so basically most of it was hand drawn frame by frame!As you can see, there are A LOT of stories to be told, and Jennifer Phang's script does it wonderfully, not leaving a single detail out. The script is beautiful, even poetic, with the characters and their motivations tangible in every scene. But the movie is not just drama; like when Scott is talking to his father about 'reasserting things'. Scott's reply is just PRICELESS: "reassert what, my rectum?". And with some very laugh out loud moments like that one, the movie takes on an even more realistic feel.One thing I really enjoyed was the music: it just felt RIGHT for every scene and it was beautifully written.If you're looking for a beautifully told -and on top of everything VERY HUMAN- story, Half- Life may just do it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Probably the best film I saw this year at Sundance. The film is amazingly well crafted and profound. The type of film that you expect to see at Sundance. The film revolves around a family falling apart, personal identity, sexual identity, and religion, without being preachy. There are a number of very creative animated sequences, shot with the confidence of a real art film, the pace of the film is a welcome relief in our MTV quick cut era and had the best music of any film I saw at the festival (why do so many Sundance films have uninspired or just bad music) If your a fan of real art and cinema, this is the film for you!