| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
C |
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| Acting: |
C |
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| Direction: |
C- |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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Artsy Tear Jerker
by (movies profile)
Mar 22, 2008
4
of
6 people found this review helpful
Starts out well enough: A witty depiction of the horror of locked-in syndrome, if a bit heavily dependent of graphic stylization, visual tricks (a very self-serious “Scrubs”).
But somewhere past the middle things deteriorate -- time to get your hankies out. Elderly women, sitting together in the audience, were literally crying along with the protagonist's father and son. Hospital staff turns into saints. Nary a petty, mean, or careless gesture in sight.
Very "cultured": Uses literary detachment and devices, metaphor and allusion, the nicely turned phrases of the book on which it is based (“Diving Bell” reminds, of course, of “The Bell Jar”).
Definitely NOT comparable to "My Left Foot," as claimed by A.O. Scott of the "NY Times." Bereft of the ennobling effect of suffering, the courage of the human heart, the moment-by-moment struggle to maintain hope against all odds.
No, this about the rich and famous, the beautiful perfect people. Trop precieux, as the French say. |
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