Best movie of this year hands down!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

I think most of the negative comments I read here are people mad at two things. First, they're mad that Una herself seems ambivalent about the relationship she at 13 with this man. Part of her is mad at Ray, but part of her clearly misses him. It even kind of looks like maybe she's only mad because he left her, not because he statutorily raped her. Second, it allows Ray the space to say that he's not really a pedophile, but just loved this particular girl at that time. It clearly wants the viewer to consider whether this was a truly loving relationship that was only complicated by the age issue. People justifiably do not want to consider such a thing and, if you're like my wife, turned it off. I came back to finish it because I was interested to see how it was going to resolve. And the acting and cinematography are phenomenal.Here's where the movie saves itself and proves it isn't what my wife thought it was.You get your first glimpse at true Ray in the warehouse when he starts saying stuff to Una like "You were just so wise for your years." That's the kind of manipulative crap that pedophiles use to "groom" their victims. It harkens back to past pedophile Ray. It passes quickly, but it's clear that there's more to Ray than he's been showing us.I'm skipping a bunch. In the end, they go to a garden party at Ray's house where Una discovers that he married a woman who has her own very cute 13 year old daughter. Suddenly Ray sees that he's in danger. He follows Una out and starts telling her again how special she was and how he's never been attracted to another young girl etc. He's clearly full of shit. At that moment, Una realizes that he's been full of shit for however many years. She realizes how stupid she's been for holding a candle for this guy, and she leaves, feeling disgusted. Ray turns around and everyone saw *something* happen. He's got some explaining to do and it's probably not going to go well for him.But here's why I love this movie. It turns the *viewer* into Una. At the beginning we're thinking this guy is a creepo, but maybe it was just this momentary thing and he's not *really* a pedophile. Maybe he even really loved her, even if having sex with her was wrong. The film forces us into Una's ambivalence. It's only in the last few moments that we do a 180 along with Una. She and the viewer realize in the same moment that Ray is and always has been a predator.If you don't watch it until the end, you might think it's defending statutory rape. It's not. It's just trying to take you on a journey with a woman who is still on a hard journey, processing her abuse. For that reason, it's a powerful film

Una is: Exploitation at best ~ movie making and writing at its cheapest. Badly paced: Shot in a very large factory warehouse so the camera can simply follow characters as they wander from one side to the other then down corridors - moving in and out of various rooms to painfully pad out the length of this 50min (maximum) story to full feature length. It's a sensationalistic story, where the audience is turned into voyeurs as we are forced to eavesdrop while the writer and director gloat over numerous vile situations - involving an older married man interfering with a 13yr old girl. Very little class on display here - simply movie makers attempting to add an arty veneer over some overripe paedophilia obscenities. Even the supposed shattering climax is not delivered but ends up looking more like another lame excuse. I suppose this gives academia and movie aficionados an excuse to psychoanalyse the 'lives' of artificial (spelt 'Fake') characters & writings. From the look of the low box-office returns - the majority of audiences need more than vulgar details to qualify for their time and money. Expect a few walkouts on this offering.

This film tells the story of a woman who confronts the man who had a three month sexual relationship with her when she was thirteen years old."Una" deals with a forbidden love that stirs controversy and provokes thoughts. Initially Una seems to want revenge, but the events lead her to examine her true feelings and desires. The man's thoughts changes as well over the course of the evening, and this dynamic interaction keeps suspense and engagement going. What the man did was wrong, and what he is suggested to be doing at the end is very controversial. It will keep conversation going, if you watch it with friends.

This review of Una is spoiler free*** (3/5)IT'S ONLY A short time into Benedict Andrews' flawed but powerful paean about the complications of life after child abuse. When we have Rooney Mara's tile character Una, walking into her former neighbour's workplace to confront him about their past, specifically to ask him questions about his leaving after a sexual encounter the two had when she was 13-years-old. Written by David Harrower from his own complex play Blackbird. First time director Andrews depicts a series of heart wrenching events from a beautifully sun drenched barbecue party, with a young Una meeting her neighbour, Rey (Ben Mendelsohn) for the first time (fantastic work by newcomer Ruby Stokes), to him sitting in a court room awaiting a hearing in a couple of the many shining flashbacks. He shoots these brilliant moments with gripping almost real results. Led by Mara's brave naked performance and Mendelsohn's unflinching persona Una is a riveting drama which succeeds in almost all aspects. It's not always an easy watch as Rey seduces this young girl, there's no graphic imagery on show but the words between Una and Rey physically describing what he did to her is enough to make you shudder. Physically she's damaged; she's been in constant pain for most of her life. Emotionally she's changed which her concerning mother (Fitzgerald) sees and tries to make amends by talking to her. There are moments when her intent to be a hesitant woman bringing the good-cop-bad-cop routine card into the game, sometimes making her a brutal force sucking in all the sympathy. Rey, however, is the opposite, he is a broken man he feels sorry for leaving her in that situation. Throughout their conversation he begs for forgiveness hoping for one last drop of sympathy. Mendelsohn is so brilliantly nuanced here that he somehow manages to at least evoke a semblance of pity from the audience. While this works for a while thanks to Andrews' powerful direction managing to hold nothing back from his understanding of the characters to the general impact of drama. It's not always on top of its game as there are buried problems - one is the pacing, some of the story fails to translate itself from Harrower's intelligent playwriting as some of it feels overly slow. And some of the flashbacks intertwine a few of the more important confrontation scenes. This unfortunately tends to be the bigger problem as it often can become difficult to follow a certain point of the story. Despite this Una is a riveting provocative drama with outstanding tour de force performances from both parties. Though uncomfortable in its material, it's a unique way of filmmaking which almost manages to be real - even after the credits have rolled it stays with you forever.VERDICT: Worth the watch for the magnetic lead performances. But some of it feels that the play isn't correctly translated on the screen.