Wonderfully offbeat film!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This movie moved me so much that I had to get up and write this review. As Bosnian and Herzegovinian, I think that this story represents life and its details in Bosnia and Bosnian people before and post war. Details are saying much more than big things. Storyline is great and shows us how destiny can play with us humans. Also, it shows us how there is bad and good people and it doesn't matter who they are and what they believe in. It shows us how love can be really complicated and how people can sacrifice their life for other people. It shows us how system works and that we can't do anything to change it but we still can be humans. I haven't blink in 2 hours and 9 minutes of a movie. Actors couldn't been better. Adnan Hasković did his best and I loved it. I have no other words for this movie! 10/10

Twice Born tells the story of interconnecting parallels stories upon one within the context of a story art. The film toggles between present-day scenes depicting the mother and son's complicated relationship and flashes of the tragic love affair between Gemma and Diego (Emile Hirsch) in the early 1990s that led to Pietro's conception. The boy's birth was the product of rather bizarre and secretive circumstances that places his biological kinship under suspicion, and the point of Gemma's trip is to reveal to him the truth about his filiation, but it turns out that she herself only knows half the story, if not less.We are then later to come in between. We then see Gemma and Diego's love is the sort that only seems possible in Europe. The beginning of their story has the gravitas of the destine-bound love at the center of Julio Medem's Lovers of the Artic Circle, but none of its focus, as Twice Born quickly turns out to be more interested in reveling in the secrets of its storyline than in its sentiments. Gemma and Diego grow apart as she discovers she can't have children and is scared that her sterility will make him chase other women. Although it does spark some chemistry and connections, the later scenes have a separate distance from one another, and it appears to feel more so all over the place. Twice Born does extend and could have been a little shorter, however there are an audience of these type of films.

Deeply touching, thought-provoking and highly emotional, Twice Born explores themes of love and war in a story that depicts the brutal realism of the events that took place in Bosnia in the early 1990s. Penelope Cruz is remarkably captivating in the leading role, as she gives a tremendously tender performance portraying a woman that is reminiscing about her past love and the events that transpired during the Bosnian conflict. The film smoothly switches between the different timelines, and expertly uses poignant twists to create a story that is both romantic and utterly gripping, but above all else has a profound emotional impact of the viewer. Not only is the essence of the story immensely powerful, it is also underpinned by a very moving soundtrack, one that further adds to the intensity of the film, making Twice Born a very emotionally challenging cinematic experience.

To understand my summary, i would say that this movie is the mix between "Harrisson's flowers" (a love chase in the Yugoslavian war) and "Hindsight" (a crap movie that illustrates baby trade between parents). The result finally disappointed me as the story is unbelievable, too much baroque and the characters really antipathetic. I couldn't believe one second the lovestruck between Penelope and the photographer and their poet Yugoslavian friend keeps irritating me with his insidious attitude. Then, the story about Penélope's son isn't really realistic: all the twists and news about his roots really kill the emotion rather than make it appear! Worst, the Yugoslavian war appears above all like the necessary needed backdrop to raise the tension. In that way, "HF" was a much better drama about this conflict! However, the movie offers amazing make-up to age the cast: sure, it's about gray hair, change of clothes, but you could have a glimpse of what Penélope and others would look like in a few years. There's also a real effort to shoot on location as well. Now, regarding Penélope, she stroke me a bit as a female Pacino: kind, compassionate but ready to explode and shout as well when needed. Maybe it's the Mediterranean heritage that reached also the Adriatic coast!