The Color of Time
The Color of Time
R | 09 December 2014 (USA)
The Color of Time Trailers

A poetic road trip through Pulitzer prize-winning CK Williams' life over the course of 40 years.

Reviews
Claysaba

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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Baseshment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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Erica Derrick

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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Kamila Bell

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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andrea-rockroll

A boring movie that the creators thought would be cool, just because of the cool actors. The movie sounds like and endless poem, which many times repeats itself. There's basically no story, everything moves extremely slowly and the music makes it sad for no apparent reason. Of course it's one of those movies, many people would say it's artistic, therefore you should watch it. I'd say, don't watch it.

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Hellmant

'THE COLOR OF TIME': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Biographical drama flick, based on the life of Pulitzer Prize winning poet C.K. Williams; told through flashbacks and narrated by the words of his famous poems. The movie stars James Franco (who also served as a producer on the film), Henry Hopper, Jordan March and Zachary Unger; as Williams, in various stages of his life. It also features celebrities like Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff and Bruce Campbell; in supporting roles (It might be interesting to note that Franco, Kunis, Braff and Campbell also all worked together on the 2013 blockbuster 'OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL', which was probably filming around the same time). It was written and directed by twelve New York University film students; including Edna Luise Biesold, Sarah-Violet Bliss, Gabrielle Demeestere, Alexis Gambis, Shruti Ganguly, Brooke Goldfinch, Shripiya Mahesh, Pamela Romanowsky, Bruce Thierry Cheung, Tine Thomasen, Virginia Urreiztieta and Omar Zuniga Hidalgo. I found the movie to be very beautiful to watch, and pretty moving at times, but ultimately unfulfilling.The film is an adaptation of 11 of C.K. Williams' most famous poems. Each poem is used to tell a pivotal story in Williams' life; from the 1940s to the early 1980s. Franco plays Williams at age 40; when he's married, to Catherine (Kunis), and has two children. As he prepares for a reading, in New York City the next day, C.K. sits down to write new poems. While doing so, he recollects on memories from his past. His memories tell stories of his childhood, teen years and current marriage. Most of his flashbacks deal with important women, like his mother (Chastain), from his past life.The scenery is breathtaking and some of the imagery is moving; and also disturbingly haunting, as well. We never get to know the characters, in the flashbacks, very well though; including Williams. So while the movie is always stunning to look at, and feels pretty emotional at times, it doesn't leave you with very much to think about, when it's over. It is worth seeing though, just for it's gorgeous visuals alone, and the performances are all more than decent. The film kind of reminds me of one of Terrence Malick's lesser movies; especially while watching Chastain, as a mother in the 1940s. I think these filmmakers have a lot of promise, and will do much better films in the future!Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/dJ7Sq2i4_Jg

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gradyharp

First things first: for those unfamiliar with the work of Pulitzer Prize winning poet CK Williams, the following may be helpful – 'CK Williams is especially known as an original stylist; his characteristic line is extraordinarily long, almost prose-like, and emphasizes characterization and dramatic development. His early work focused on overtly political issues such as the Vietnam War and social injustice. In his later work, Williams has shifted from a documentary style toward a more introspective approach, writing descriptive poems that reveal the states of alienation, deception, and occasional enlightenment that exist between public and private lives in modern urban America.' That this film is a project created by James Franco's class is another aspect of Franco's individuality in exploring all aspects of the arts. That it will not find a large audience is not so much the film as the concept that few viewers wish to become involved in a small introspective experimental film, preferring the big epics and apocalyptic ventures and coarse humor movies as escapes form reality. James Franco is a unique actor – quite gifted and wiling to take on difficult biographies (he has portrayed Allen Ginsberg, Hart Crane and others). Give him credit for paying homage to CK Williams. The Color of Time is based on Pulitzer prize-winning poet CK Williams' collection of the same name. The film blends together adaptations of 11 of the poems to create a poetic road trip through CK William's life. The film takes us on a journey through several decades of American life from CK's childhood and adolescence in Detroit in the 1940s and 50s to the early 1980s: CK and his wife Catherine are married with their son Jed. CK prepares for a reading of 'Tar' in New York City, and spends his nights struggling to write new poems, haunted by memories of his past. As CK drives to his reading in New York City, he remembers central moments of his life: we come to experience and understand both his relationship to love and loss, and how he found his calling as a poet through the women in his life. The film takes us back and forth between past and present, punctuated by voice-over from CK Williams' poems, recreating the experience of memory and exploring how the fragments of one's man life can be turned into poetic expression: his loving relationship to his mother, his first sexual experiences as a teenager, his first love and the struggle to preserve a form of innocence and wonder, the illness and loss of a close friend, and finally his life together with Catherine.The cast, though not individually used extensively includes Franco as CK Williams, Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff, Henry Hopper, Bruce Campell among many other bit parts. The music by Garth Neustadter and Daniel Wohl, contributes significantly and for a class project the 'directors and writers' deliver a moody quiet exploration of the genius of CK Williams. A bit of understanding on the part of the audience will result in a gently ekphrastic exercise.

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leonblackwood

Review: This film was totally boring! All the way through the movie, James Franco is quoting his own poetry, which sounded like complete gibberish to me and there isn't any talking at all. Kunis is only in a couple of scenes and the movie goes back and forth in time which makes it even more confusing. After looking at the cover for the film, it looked really promising, but what I didn't know was that there wasn't any script and its totally based on poetry. Personally, I lost interest after the first few minutes and the annoying music really got on my nerves. Maybe I didn't get the point of the project but I don't think that I missed much. Awful!Round-Up: What is James Franco and Mila Kunis doing in this movie? Franco is known for doing some quirky movies, but this one was really bad. I honestly thought that it was going to be a Rom-com or something in that type of genre, but its a deep drama about a man who starts thinking about his past and he begins to question his love for his girlfriend. Thats the only part of the film that made sense to me but it started to go down other avenues which were strange. Anyway, I think that you can tell that I didn't enjoy this movie at all and I found it a complete waste of time. I recommend this movie to people who are into there deep dramas about a poet who has flashbacks of his past. 1/10

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