Reviews

This is a story about a British woman who struggles to keep her children. Ken Loach's movies are always good and they always deal with sad and gritty subjects. The thing that struck me most about this movie was that although I initially felt sympathy for the main character, Maggie, I quickly lost it. She's so upset she is completely uncooperative with the social services people, who are often judgmental and unlikeable, but who are only trying to do their jobs. When Maggie finds a lover who does not abuse her as her earlier partners did, she refuses to appreciate his steadfastness, his decency and his loyalty to her, and she tries to drive him away. I was surprised to find myself so unsympathetic to Maggie. My frustration with her grew, and I found myself saying, aloud, "God, she's impossible!" Even though I didn't like the character, the movie is so good, I could not tear my eyes away from it. Ken Loach is a genius. I think the hardest works are those with unsympathetic main characters. If you still find yourself fascinated, even though you find yourself detesting the protagonist in a movie, it makes the viewing even more memorable. I sometimes feel sad that I have no children; yet, when I see this story, I feel better about it. I also wonder why I cannot muster much sympathy for Maggie, even though I have things in common with the character. Society is especially unforgiving when dealing with parents. In its well-meaning interest in the welfare of the children, it often fails to reach out to the parents who are sometimes quite good people, but who are struggling to cope. Almost everyone could benefit from seeing this movie. It's highly instructive. It makes you think about the roles we, as adults, play in society, and what our responsibilities are. None of the questions and issues raised by this movie are easy to deal with. There are no easy answers. I think both great objectivity and subjectivity are necessary toward finding solutions, and both are seldom possible at the same time; hence, mistakes are made, all around. The character of the good man she finally finds is beautifully played by an unknown actor. I wondered how he could continue to be so good, and yet I felt myself completely frustrated with him and annoyed with him when he tried to explain his reasons for being a political exile from his country of origin in a court hearing. He was so upset that for once, he couldn't think clearly and couldn't express himself adequately. This showed me that despite his "good" qualities, under extreme pressure, he could be as hard to understand and to help as Maggie is. This movie is based on a true story, which is, sadly, not hard to believe. This same type of situation is played out again and again. What to do? Leave children in questionable households, or take them away? Try to see this movie and to share it with someone who is troubled, who has been abused, and who has had problems dealing with administrations of almost any kind. It's very instructive, even though, as I've said, no answers are given.

Two Irish men with wives and children find themselves on the dole. One of them buys a large van and turns it into a "chippy." Naturally, he asks his best friend to work there with him. These two approaching-middle-age men have to work incredibly hard, but do have some success at the venture. It doesn't take long, however, for the friendship to get in the way. The one who fronted the money for the van is the boss, and the other one who didn't put up any money to get the small business going is the employee, who eventually becomes bitter at drawing a weekly paycheck from his best friend, who joins a union and begins antagonizing his best friend about labor laws, and whose insecurity in life shows clearly -- after all, the job isn't glamorous by any means, and of course, the reality of it is far removed from his dreams, we should imagine. The tension grows between the two. Set in Ireland during a World Cup Finals competition in soccer, this film gives us an intimate, grungy peek at the everyday realities of the poor in Ireland. It's "grand" to venture forth and set up one's own business and get off the dole, but of course, things are unlikely to run smoothly.

I am pleased to rate this a ten out of ten! I do not go for "odd" movies much but this one is different. There are several story plots and you have to sit patiently and watch them play out. The theme is relationships and love. The colors are beautiful, it is well acted, and the music is gorgeous. I did cry a lot though. If you don't want to get out your handkerchief, then don't see this one. It would be good to see this movie with a lover. If you are lonely and don't have a lover, this might cheer you up, because it shows how relationships can be sad, negative and even fatal things. I am perhaps swept up in the emotion of just seeing this film, but really, I think it deserves a "ten."

Problems? You think you have problems? I'll tell you who has problems. People in Armenia have lots and lots of problems. In fact, their main activities seem to be centered around visiting a cemetery in the middle of a snowy, unforgiving landscape, which eventually will thaw only to bring on horrendous mud. There isn't much life here. Some people live with memories of when there was a Soviet Union and things were actually better. Now, they have tiny pensions and hope that their surviving family members who got away can at least send back some money. If no money comes back, people just starve. That is pretty much all that goes on in this movie. As long as you know in advance that it is about desperate people in an Arctic wasteland, and you don't expect much more, you'll like it! I actually liked this movie. I was having a bad week. My refrigerator died, then my front tooth fell out. I still have it a lot better than these Armenians do. For that reason, I feel happy and grateful, if not a bit shellshocked by the stupefying lack of plot, action and dialogue in this movie. Don't get me wrong. There are some very funny scenes in this movie. If you like Jewish or Slavic humor, for example, and you wonder why it is always so black and so bleak, you might want to see this as a kind of modern view about a place where nothing changes, ever. Things are bad, and they stay bad. And then a horseman goes galloping by. In the middle of nowhere. And we can have a cigarette and a shot of vodka, until we run out of cigarettes and the vodka concession closes. Enjoy.

I, too, was lost in Manhattan, and a few other places, so I liked this a lot. It doesn't have the outrageous explicit sex and violence some might seek -- it's mostly black humor. Sue is very fragile and can't seem to manage her own life. She's painfully lonely and a great conversationalist. I found that this was very sad, but very funny, too. So bleak, it cheered me up. If you think you have it bad, you might want to see this to help you realize that you and only you can bail yourself out. I give the filmmaker(s) a lot of credit. This is exactly the type of movie I would make if I could get it together. I think a lot of people, especially women, will be able to relate to this one. If you've never spent time in New York, you might find the actual locations, such as the Odessa Restaurant in the East Village, interesting, and if you know the city, you'll remember a lot.

If you've ever been in a love triangle, or were kind to someone who loved you but you didn't really love them in return, you'll appreciate the sad dance of the three main characters in this film. A young man and woman are lovers, and she is watched by her neighbor, the unpopular Mr. Hire, black sheep of a Paris near-suburban nabe. They begin a friendship, and even a relationship of sorts, while a cop tries to pin the murder of a young local girl, also an odd duck, on Mr. Hire. Not wanting to spoil the story for you, I won't say more, except to say that the slow parts are tolerable if you know in advance that this is a very thoughtful, haunting movie and you've got to be a little patient for the wonderful reward, which comes right at the end. Very pretty music, beautiful colors and details, lots of sad little moments that remind you of the loneliness of daily life. I wouldn't actually recommend this to most people. I don't think they'd tolerate the lack of Hollywood flash. If you're smart, you'll watch it though. I got it on DVD at a public library and wish I could see it on a big screen, though the DVD images are very lovely.

The very lack of comments and the neutral rating for this movie should be an indication to you that it's worth seeing. People are probably too shocked or stupefied by its content to even bother seeing the whole thing, and if they do stick with it, they are probably too disturbed to say anything. This movie is authentic: it uses either actual STASI tapes, or recreations using actual artifacts, such as rooms, furniture, etc. The most disturbing aspect is the behavior of the people being interrogated and asked to rat out other people. They are all resigned, very shut-down, and seem hunched over and ashamed. Every household had a STASI file, and everyone knew the name of their section chief if they felt they should report something. Of course, it makes you wonder what kind of surveillance we are under NOW. Not exactly a feel-good movie but totally real and quite shocking. I had no problem sitting through it, and I'm fidgety and easily bored by nature.