Undescribable Perfection

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Perfect cast and a good story

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Director Coppola's comeback Movie didn't break any Box-office Records. The Fact that it is an Intellectual Exercise meant it would have limited appeal. But it seems that even its pretentiousness kept it from being embraced, mostly, by Intellectuals.It all becomes a tedious, but compelling and complex Story with Paranormal Overtones and an Artsy Production. The Movie looks wonderful as the jugglery lineage unfolds with Time Warps and Mutant wandering through a "Normal" World of War and Hydrogen Bomb Experimentations.What brings this down is its confusing Narrative and gobbledygook grandness with more Words than necessary (especially Foreign and Lost Languages). High Minded Philosophical Insight is rushed and remains elusive. It is a Noble failure as it rides its High Horse and fails to connect with the Proletariat and it seems to be OK with that.The Film is Fanciful fun at times but the best parts are discarded quickly, and trying to make sense of the nonsensical can make for a less Friendly Film. More rewarding than not, it is a Magnificent Muddle that is so far from the Mainstream that it gets lost in the translation.

Firstly the film is based on a book, we're not here to judge the book or its narrative.Let's start with the only thing I think is bad about this film... the "Brief Encounter" moments. I'm grasping at straws as to why such stylistic dissonance could have been seen as acceptable... except as a way to lighten the tone for American audiences. That's the only thing I can think of and those moments diminish the film. I don't know why he would do that, he's certainly in a position not to.I don't share many of the perspectives shared from the book through this film but I share enough to have greatly enjoyed it. The book, like the film is informed by Faust.I didn't mind the occasional upside downness... yes that word is not in the dictionary. I took it both as a metaphor for duality and a metaphor for childhood... when was the last time YOU stood on your head and looked at things upside-down?Tim Roth is truly great in this and that's a shame because the film could have been greater.It's still better than 90% of the movies I research and then watch though and none of my time was wasted.I'm hoping at some point someone will re-cut the soundtrack to the "Brief Encounter" moments (I know they are not all Rachmaninov but you see the style getting repeated later with different music). Maybe just remove the music altogether for those scenes.It's like sticking a "50% OFF!" sticker on a Mark Rothko.

I would rather be enticed by a fascinating failure than a wholly successful mediocrity, rather see an Orson Welles than doesn't quite work than sit through a predictable romance with a pretty ending; everyone has something they want from a film--comfort, entertainment, escape, and sometimes stimulation--a film that takes you places you ordinarily wouldn't go--sometimes physically--like Malta, in this film--or a human mind unchained from reason, free-flowing through the centuries. Coppola's brilliantly colored time-travel tale is not always clear and is often frustrating for many reasons, but it is impressive craft, and shows a master filmmaker attempting something beyond the ordinary. This film is not easy entertainment, nor always satisfactory, but is often beautiful, is convincingly acted, especially by Tim Roth, and is worth watching twice--a couple of months apart, perhaps.

I'm stupid enough to be really honest here. I didn't completely understand all of the film. I didn't. I know the film is about perception and time but there is more here and I'm human enough to say I can't quite put it all together. The acting is excellent. The photography beautiful. The locations used were fantastic. I did enjoy the film but I really didn't find it all that engaging. Perhaps that is because I didn't grasp all of it. Not a bad film by any means but it got a little bit weird in certain parts and I don't think everyone is going to love it. I'm glad I saw the film but wouldn't sit through it again.