It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a quiet movie. The motor on a sailboat is called an iron genny not an iron spinnaker as Lucas refers to it in the movie. Genny comes from the word genoa which is a sail, like a jib, only it's leach extends aft of the mast. Also, no sailor spins the dock lines in a spiral like Lucas does. That's a stupid habit of power boaters. Anyway, I watched because I like sailing. Not much to glean about sailing though from this movie. The point of the moving has nothing to do with sailing. I liked it though because Lucas was trying to find the answers at the bottom of the bottle. I can appreciate that. If I were to sink into a depression and come to grips with loss I'd make sure it was in a warm place. The Great Lakes are not a recommendation for a long sulking and healing.

OK, good job of showing emotional anguish Josh. Nice location and photography. But....In Castaway with Tom Hanks, I didn't mind the lack of dialog, because someone's attempt to adapt to a lost island was at least mildly compelling. But I don't want to watch a guy drinking and repairing a boat for too long, without more character development.In Castaway, we knew who this guy was before he stopped talking.When there was a little talking in Hide Away, it was pretentious, accented, and oh so boring.Who the hell was that waitress woman? I guess she had a sailing past on the same boat that Josh was repairing, but why was she stuck in a remote cafe, and reciting old poetry? Isn't she a bit young to be that world-weary? Why use an Israeli actress for a character in Traverse City, Michigan? A young blonde cashier seeks refuge at the boat after being abused by a husband or boyfriend. She had already seen that Josh was a drunk and a recluse. She confessed to having followed him home once. Did she think he would relate to her pain, or was she attracted to this train wreck? If there was a deeper meaning, I missed it.I don't want to have to guess everything.I like the basic concept of repairing a boat, having a project, as a metaphor for repairing one's broken life.Sorry, nice try, but I needed more character development, and a tad more happening to keep me engaged.

Two excellent actors, Josh Lucas and James Cromwell, headline this deeply moving and interesting movie. It's a simple story of overwhelming guilt and grief. An intelligent executive who is reduced to a helpless shell of his former self through an extreme tragedy. It seems he has come to this semi isolated place in upper Michigan to blank out horrific memories and in the process even contemplates suicide more than once. Beautiful Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, the waitress, feels his pain from afar but seemingly does not want to interfere and just watches during most of the movie.Being a hopeless romantic I am puzzled by two aspects of this movie. The first is the blond employee at the supermarket, Helen (Anne Faba). Having seen him at the supermarket a few times and apparently noticing how messed up he is, she comes to visit him one night and stays on the boat with him but sleeps in a separate compartment. She seems to have been abused and he comforts her. Nothing is ever explored with her beyond that instance. The second is when the waitress finally ventures down to his boat and climbs in bed with him to comfort him and to make love. Again, nothing is explored beyond that one time and for the rest of the movie they both seem as strangers to one another. He eventually sells the boat and returns to the big city (I'm thinking Chicago) where he worked and lived. He does not even say goodbye to anyone when he leaves.I would recommend this movie to people who are deep in their understanding of life and how we are each only one step away from tragedy every day in our lives. Although the dialog is limited the movie does move along going from one scene to another and one season to another rather quickly. I got cold just watching the fall turn into winter in upper Michigan.

well...lets see. i admit to being an avid movie-holic. (i am currently on a 12 frame program). i honestly don't know what movie the other people found in their DVD container. the only way i could rate this movie on the high end of the scale is to drop massive amounts of ecstasy and view the entire film through rainbow colored glasses. what an insult to waste the talents of such experienced good solid actors with this drivel. i am the first to admit that the cinematography was solid but most of it was a little too derivative. i would like to think i understand the concept of still photographic images on film, but after awhile it became rote and lost its initial impact. i pretty much had the film figured out in the first 10 minutes. (i did not know the car accident where the lead character loses his entire family was due to an illicit affair he was having.) just about everything that transpired was telegraphed way ahead like when you fighting someone that pulls their arm way back before they strike. don't get me wrong. i like thoughtful, insightful, quiet character driven movies. just don't mistake this leaden, draining, bloated jackwagon of a film as one of those kind. if i had a choice between watching this movie or paint drying, i would definitely go for the wall. if you are still not deterred from wasting any of your precious time and still wish to view this throughly turgid affair after reading this piece, don't forget to go to the hardware store first and pick up a few gallons....just in case.