just watch it!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

That's the tag line on the VHS tape box...I just bought and watched this delightful film. I had seen it before and I just had to have my own copy (you'll see in almost any movie I review that I repeat this habit...and my room is now bursting with films....) You can tell that this film evolved from a stage play. It is contained and moves only within the confines of the pairs of actors that constitute the simultaneous stories. We are never distracted for a moment with something that comes across the screen that is even remotely tangential to telling these stories. Like a well written play we find ourselves absorbed into the warm human drama, feeling in our hearts time and again a sense of identification. Have we lost a loved one and mismanaged the mourning process? Have we been adolescents who just drop out of the boredom of everyday school life to play at a few hours of hooky? Do we feel frightened growing old as we watch our own children age and grow even more remote from us? Rickman handles the various plots with tenderness, giving each act, even when spliced on top of another, cutting back and forth, a sense of respect and purpose. As in films I have come to really love, this is a quiet film, stripped of pretense, special effects, artifice and overindulgence. We gain a birds eye view of the small scale turmoil of each character, without being overwhelmed, with just enough to urge us to come back for more. In the quiet of this film is an achingly beautiful theme by Michael Kamen. This is an excellent film, even though his first film, and we can only pray that Mr. Rickman finds himself in such artistic frames in the near future. A total delight.

I will admit that the only reason why I decided to watch this movie was because of Sean Biggerstaff. I was curious about what kind of real talent he had (his part in the Harry Potter movies was way too shallow to let anything show). Well, on that front, I was not disappointed. He, along with the rest of the cast, gave excellent performances. I felt that they were all very natural. And that's great, since the backbone of the film is more or less a series of character sketches. Without good acting, this film would have fallen flat on its face.As far as plot and storyline goes, there really isn't any. But that doesn't bother me- sometimes instead of focusing on a story, I like to focus on moments. The Winter Guest is full of moments; many were melancholy, but there were a few amusing ones too, thanks to Tom and Sam. I came away from this film wanting to see it a second time.

Like any great film, this is close to the essence of life. In four poetic,hearthwarming scenes, different generations of characters are entangled in alonging for protection and affection. Two woman wait at a bus stop for a day out to a funeral, but behind their apparent, casual view on death lies a hidden fear for their own end. A new girl in town chases after a local boy, both searchthrough their mutual attraction towards each other. Two schoolboys are playing near the frozen sea and talk about their future. And all this is bound by the main story of a mother-daughter relationship. From the first flight over the seascape, to the final scene with one of the boys walking into the mist, everything is filmed and directed with the same sense for intense images and esthetic realism. And when on the tones of Liz Fraser, lovingly singing the end-credits, the filmends.....and there's a certain sadness that one already has to leave this beautiful universe behind. "The Winter guest" is again (if their ever was doubt) the prove how superior European cinema is compared to the Hollywood-counterpart. I rest my case.

The Winter Guest is a beautiful film, which looks at the rejuvenation of life after a death and the continuation of love and life in society. The setting is unusual but hauntingly beautiful (Scotland in winter) and the employment of some of the best acting talents of today all help to make a movie which causes a viewer to consider life and death, a reflective film beautifully done.