I just finished watching this film, and it was absolutely beautiful. This is a film you don't just watch, you experience it. From the way each scene is stunningly shot, to the sounds, the poetic and lyrical script, it transported me there into the heart of the story. This is a story of love, loss and deep deep grief, that I feel in some way or another we can all relate to. Heartbreaking and incredibly beautiful performances by Chris Stack, Samantha Soule, Merritt Wever and all the cast. I found so much of myself in Beth's character, but I feel as though there are pieces of each character we can all see bits of ourselves in. This is a film that stays with you, and I cannot recommend it enough.
2 Reviews
Peaceless near Seattle
bedds9 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
If you are looking for a Marvel Universe, CGI top-heavy, superhero movie; if you are looking for a Nolanesque convoluted plot line , temporally distorted mind-twister; if your looking for an international murder-spy mystery, Shaymalanian plot-twisted ending fare, or a heart-lifting rom-com, this is not the movie for you. This is a movie that explores tragedy, grief, and suffering at a deliberate pace-as mentioned in the movie, because sometimes things require time to develop, like a Polaroid picture.
What purpose tragedies? One answer is that almost all of us experience the "tragic triad" of pain, suffering, and death. Well, the latter all of us do. Frequently, in an effort to cope with and salve such issues we replay them; sometimes ad infinitum, sometimes accompanied by rumination and self-recrimination.
Ian (played with authenticity by Chris Stack) is inundated with grief centering around the loss of a love; a contradictory one in that it is both requited and unrequited, with elements of devotion, but also frustration and compartmentalization. Liv's (Samantha Soule) character is in essence a virtual one: she is embodied by Ian's reminiscences, in several scenes a quasi-dual reality. In some scenes Ian is an observer of his (perceived) past, in some he is an active participant, in some he is hallucinating events that never occurred, and in others he likely had no direct knowledge of the events. One of the most poignant scenes was a dance sequence to Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", where the cinematic technique suggests they are at their closest in intimacy, yet corporally independent and disconnected from each other.
It's possible this is not innovative, but the actors and crew captured it seamlessly.
There are strong supporting cast performances in addition to the lead's stellar efforts, haunting cinematography, and I'm partial to the shooting location in the San Juan archipelago islands (specifically Whidbey Island).
After viewing this movie you will not feel joyful or exhilarated. You will not experience an epiphany that erases life's woes. You may find it cathartic. Over time, as you think about it, you might develop some insight into the darker exposures of the human condition, the beasts we must grapple with and try to endure.
What purpose tragedies? One answer is that almost all of us experience the "tragic triad" of pain, suffering, and death. Well, the latter all of us do. Frequently, in an effort to cope with and salve such issues we replay them; sometimes ad infinitum, sometimes accompanied by rumination and self-recrimination.
Ian (played with authenticity by Chris Stack) is inundated with grief centering around the loss of a love; a contradictory one in that it is both requited and unrequited, with elements of devotion, but also frustration and compartmentalization. Liv's (Samantha Soule) character is in essence a virtual one: she is embodied by Ian's reminiscences, in several scenes a quasi-dual reality. In some scenes Ian is an observer of his (perceived) past, in some he is an active participant, in some he is hallucinating events that never occurred, and in others he likely had no direct knowledge of the events. One of the most poignant scenes was a dance sequence to Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", where the cinematic technique suggests they are at their closest in intimacy, yet corporally independent and disconnected from each other.
It's possible this is not innovative, but the actors and crew captured it seamlessly.
There are strong supporting cast performances in addition to the lead's stellar efforts, haunting cinematography, and I'm partial to the shooting location in the San Juan archipelago islands (specifically Whidbey Island).
After viewing this movie you will not feel joyful or exhilarated. You will not experience an epiphany that erases life's woes. You may find it cathartic. Over time, as you think about it, you might develop some insight into the darker exposures of the human condition, the beasts we must grapple with and try to endure.
See also
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