How sad is this?

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

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.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

A criminal stays a criminal? Or can he change? Especially when he so desperately tries to reconnect with his family. Well both of his families. His parents but also his Ex and their kids. But Ghosts of the past are not so easily shaken. So this movie carries a lot of weight (or the main character in this case) and it does weigh heavy even on the viewer.Not an easy task or the most pleasant movie to watch. But one that is intriguing. Does the movie have flaws? Yes it does and some will absolutely dislike that ending. But it is what it is and even without saying too much, it gets the point across at that moment. And while some may have wished for a cut, the camera has to stay and give us the whole picture and the whole - let's call it solution ... Whatever you think, there is Drama, there is tension and it all is played by very fine actors to a degree that make this more than watchable

This film tells the story of a disgraced policeman, who served years in prison for killing another man while he was drunk. After his release from prison, he has to live under the ghost of his past.I'm not sure why the film is called "Small Crime", as none of the crimes displayed are small. The way people treat each other in the film is horrendous, as they insult, physically and emotionally hurt each other all the time. It's full of negativity, and I don't like the film.

To tell you about this movie might affect it's impact, because a good part of its impact is the backstory it doesn't give you until the moment it is needed, creating a process of discovery in a careful unfolding of story for the viewer. This is one indication of the filmmaking craft at its best.Small Crimes is the story of a narcissistic ex-cop, now ex-con, released from prison after a six-year stint for slashing a DA in a drunken brawl. Turns out that his crimes were worse than that, but from the get-go we have the impression that Joe Denton, in a nuanced portrayal by the inimitable Danish actor Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, really wants to turn his life around, even though he's cursed with a taste for whiskey, and the small town he returns home to is populated by his nasty old crowd.Virtually all of the performances are spot on, but, for me, the film was anchored by Molly Parker, Robert Forster, Macon Blair (the co-writer) and Gary Cole, in addition to Coaster- Waldau in the lead. This film has an evenly-paced start, and I kept wondering when it would click into another gear, though it was intriguing from the first frame; and I loved the way the filmmakers didn't show their hand early, they don't forecast how very dark the movie will become, they just unfold it for you with a sure hand, never getting fancy or "filmic" with the camera. They are letting the story do its work, without forcing anything or trying to wow you with gimmicky visual candy or a score that calls attention to itself. Another sign of solid, sure-handed filmmaking.Small Crimes reminded me of a Cohen Brothers film, or my own film, Lake of Fire. It has a bit of a Gothic feel with a dark-comedy thread, is definitely fatalistic and rather brooding, but also crisply realistic in look, dialog, and acting. I must add that the music does provide some guidance in terms of accentuating some sense of comical irony to what Joe Denton has to go through.At the end of it, I felt that I had experienced a good dose of small town nihilism, but the fact that Joe Denton has a narcissistic, self-destructive personality type isn't revealed until near the end of the film. That detail didn't even need to be provided, but, when it is, you are given a nice clue to his behavior throughout the story — this is the kind of detail you would get in a novel, and I would guess that the rich story fabric of Small Crimes might be due to the novel on which the screenplay was based, and, of course, the screenwriters' talent for knowing how a story should work.For screenwriters, there's a good lesson about the value of using backstory to fill out a story as you go, using it as a story layer to provide a richer understanding of the drama. I think that must be why I like this movie so much: it simply doesn't follow a typical, as in typically contemporary, filmmaking formula. It's an original story and an original, fully realized filmmaking vision. Bravo to all who helped make it happen.I should also mention the power and depth and light that Molly Parker brought to the film in the role of Joe Denton's girlfriend. Here again, you feel the tension of knowing just enough to be intrigued, to sense there could be some hope for Joe, before the final sequence pulls the rug out from under whatever it was you thought might happen.I recommend this film to everyone who loves original indie films and filmmakers who take the craft to heart.

I HIGHLY recommend that you read the novel before watching the train-wreck of a movie.At first opaque, later vague, a bit further it's confusing, and after 40 minutes in I have no idea of just what is going on. Before we have any freaking idea of what is happening, or what happened, or what will happen we are served something of a romance. I just think that you need to put your cards on the table a little sooner than way later. It reminded me of the children's game of telephone and by the time the story got around to the viewers it had turned into quite a mess.What we are left with is a shell of a story and a broken individual. Just how he got this way and why are things lost in the oblique telling of what led up to the events in the film.I'm kind of tired of all the ex HBO or wherever hack actors sneaking in to movies. They may have been good the first time around and it was great because they were fresh. Now they aren't so fresh so go and find new people, please. But this is just me talking and I hate movie stars.P.S. I wish that I had read the book first; the movie would have made a lot more sense.