This film draws you in. It's very slow but you keep watching. It reminded me at times of 'I hired a contract killer' by Karismaki or the dreary kitchen sink realism in Mike Leigh's 'All or Nothing'.
Gradually, as John May pursues his quest, his life improves, even though he is fired from his job in a despicable way. He finally finds the beginning of a friendship, perhaps even a romance but then, bam, that possibility of a happy ending is taken abruptly from us and we are given a corny, superstitious, spiritualistic closing scene instead, a choice the director apparently felt was incredibly deep and meaningful and which has indeed been approved by a good many other reviewers here. Shame... that brought my rating down from 8 to 6.
Review of Still Life
