Touches You

Just perfect...

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Greetings from Lituania."This Must Be the Place" (2011) is the kind of movie where you simply watch without following or taking the plot very seriously, although it touches some very serious themes like holocaust. Sean Penn gives a superb and unusual performance. This man could act anything, seriously, he's is brilliant. Other performances are OK, but basically we don't see them much as this is Sean Penn tour de force in this road movie while trying to bond with himself.This picture features superb song and full performance by Talking Heads and their song "This must be the place", which is superbly performed at the end by singer Gloria - great song, great voice - sounds very positive and created this special mood at the end of the movie.Overall, "This must be the place" has some pacing issued in the middle section, movie is a bit long, at 2 hours it drags a bit, and that just because it's plot isn't really focused. The main character visits many places and find many people, which distracts from main plot. But "This must be the place" has very good things, that finally makes this a good movie, definitely worth seeing.

There's a new master filmmaker in town! If the devil--or drag queen--is in the details-- this three hours of drama slams it out of the park with its use of inanimate objects and color as characters, embedded numbers as methods of communication, and--ultimately a psychological choreograph of the life of a man struggling to reconcile rejection from his father and vein idolatry from the masses while retaining inner sanctum. Viewers are bound to the screen as they watch the main character - -and his five mirrored images--move through the phases of life and resolution for family honor all without compromise. You won't watch it once--but have plenty of frozen pizza and orange juice on hand when you do.

Retired aging rock star, Cheyenne, leaves his boring life for one hell of a diversion: tracking down the Nazi guard that persecuted his recently deceased father. As a result of his quest Cheyenne metamorphoses from a melancholy child-like moppet to a self-assured man.Cheyenne (Sean Penn) has kicked heroin and no longer gigs. Without his heroin Cheyenne is like a child: quiet; sensitive; speaks his mind; is thoughtful of other's feelings; is quickly apologetic. Yet, like a sage Buddha he always chooses his words wisely. Even more interesting, Cheyenne moves like an old, stiff man, but looks like his former self all decked out in red lipstick, white-powdered face makeup, heavy black eyeliner, and Johnny Thunders' mane of hair. With not much to do except shop at the local supermarket, play handball with his wife of 30 years in their empty swimming pool, play the stock market, and meddle in a young Goth girl's life, Cheyenne announces that he is depressed. His friend corrects him by telling him that he isn't depressed, he is bored and needs a diversion. And so begins Cheyenne's quest not only to find his father's nemesis, but to find himself.This Must Be the Place is a cerebral movie that puts the audience in the rafters like interns in a teaching hospital looking down on a patient being healed. So, if you prefer entertainment over enlightenment and transformation, then this is not the movie for you. Pros: Sean Penn as Cheyenne. How Cheyenne handled the Nazi Guard. All the unexpected scenes.Con: Would have liked to have seen a little backstory on Cheyenne's early years.

Set in both Ireland and the continental United States, This Must Be the Place is a sweetly weird meditation on love and death. The protagonist, Cheyenne (in a standout performance by Sean Penn), is equal parts glam-and-gloom rocker and modern-day mystic, offering, through dialogue, insights into the human condition without overstepping into the territory of pretension. Sorrentino's direction is exquisite here, as is his timing. The humor balances out the despair at just the right moments; the pacing of the film feels balanced, as well. In addition, Byrne's score is both eerie and warming (and adding Will Oldham always brings positive results).This is a film that poses the question, "How do we make right the wrongs from the past?" and genuinely attempts to answer it with a unique perspective that doesn't rely on conventions or expectations. It's one of those cases where the correct mixture of people got together and made a memorable piece of art that reminds us how to feel.