Strong and Moving!

Don't Believe the Hype

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I noticed that IMDb lists this as belonging to three genres--comedy, drama and romance. Well, this is a strange combination and the film is NOT a comedy. Folks should be aware of this, as the movie could seriously depress you and make you feel miserable when you're just looking to have a laugh.Wilbur (Jamie Sives) is a screwed up guy. Again and again and again he tries to kill himself but each time he's discovered and rushed to the hospital. It's happened so often that the support group at the hospital doesn't want him back! And, during all this, his very decent brother, Harbour (Adrian Rawlins) is there for him--and amazingly patient in spite of all this--perhaps too patient. Part of this might be because he loves Wilbur, but later you find that it might have to do with the reason Wilbur feels a need to die.Despite all this chaos, Harbour decides to marry and he brings a woman and her young daughter into the household. What's to happen with Wilbur? And, what's to happen to everyone when Harbour learns some very, very bad news?The acting in this film is very restrained but good. However, I cannot score the film higher because the script is so odd--starting off somewhat like a comedy and then leaving the viewer wanting to kill themselves as well! Dark, depressing and definitely a film that will only appeal to a narrow audience.

I liked this film but I would've liked it much more if the dialog had been kicked up a few decibels and the musical score had been nearly killed off. I watched on DVD, so fortunately, I had the option of pressing hard on volume up during the dialog and pressing hard and fast on volume down and sometimes even mute during the music. Not that the score was distasteful at all, in fact, I thought it was good and very appropriate for the film. It was just that the volume itself was inappropriate. Perhaps the sound editor was afraid moviegoers would drift off asleep and s/he felt it dutiful to blast the sound out to ensure viewers wakeful alertness. At any rate, movie-good, sound editing-bad, very bad.

Just watched this film for the first time this evening mainly because the brilliant Julia Davis was listed as being in the film. It took about 20 minutes for me to get into the general idea of the characters but after that I was lost in the world of the unfortunate situation the brothers had found themselves in.An amazing film. A real weepy. Shirley Henderson played a blinder. Can't say I was surprised after seeing her in Dirty, Filthy Love but I never recognise her name as an actress. I will do from now on.The only thing I wasn't sure about (ironically) was Julia Davis pretending to be Scottish. Her desperate character still comes across but the accent is a little dodgy to say the least.

Impressing; what the title proposes, I mean. You can't really expect anything certain with a title like that when you haven't heard about the film or its theme before. The United Kingdom has some good cinema, made with all the effort by people that, with movies like this one, get the shot they wait during their whole lives.Lone Scherfig, a Danish director and Anders Thomas Jensen, his writing partner, have accomplished an original fable about life; love, relationships, family and, well…Death. The tagline proposes: "The life he wanted to end, was just about to begin", in reference to Wilbur (Jamie Sives), who, when we first meet him, has just tried to kill himself."It gets more and more humiliating every time I try to do it and I fail", Wilbur tells his older brother Harbour (Adrian Rawlins), as they get out of the hospital. Both of their parents died, but Wilbur suffered his mother's death. He felt it differently and his parents loved him, probably more than they loved his brother.They are different persons. Harbour loves Wilbur and wants to take care of him. They have a bookshop and Wilbur doesn't care about t, but Harbour does. He maintains them both and tries to prevent Wilbur from achieving his only goal: end with his life.One of the magical ideas the movie has is that it won't let that happen. With a beautifully constructed screenplay, the authors and creators put a woman in the brothers' lives; Alice (Shirley Henderson). Harbour meets her first, and tells his brother about her hair and her smile. Wilbur meets her, then, as she saves his life when he was trying to…Soon, Harbour and Alice fall in love, and she moves in with them, alongside her daughter.They all seem happy until Wilbur tries it again, so we can meet very realistic characters, as Dr. Horst (Mads Mikkelsen), a psychiatrist with a good heart that's only trying to help, and some women that like Wilbur. But Wilbur doesn't see women, at least not until his brother ends up in the hospital, and he "meets" Alice. We understand the flames of love they feel for each other because the film has made the characters sympathetic until this moment.It's these three people story what turns around, and the performances. I'll try to catch Jamie Sives entire filmography. He is so natural and warm; with that innocent face and look that hides great acting qualities. Adrian Rawlins is very quiet but expressive at the same time, in the correct moments. He's just there as any normal people, without trying to call attention…Just waiting for the moment. The familiar face of Shirley Henderson is a big surprise. Shining in a role between to men, as the only girl…You got to have the presence.It goes like this. For Harbour, it is happiness he never felt, and you can tell because of how he sounds when he says "I'm going home with my wife and daughter". He lives for them. For Alice is the place she couldn't have; a safe home and company she was missing probably.And for Wilbur it is rediscovering a life he gave for done; it's feeling again…In the wrong circumstances and place, yes, but feeling; and the only thing life ask from us is that we thank her for being in the world, because there's nothing more beautiful than being alive. Well there's probably one thing, but that's life itself.