The Emperor's New Clothes
Added 4/27/2009
! I suppose that this might be appealing to someone who would first self-medicate to induce an, ahem, zoned out state for the duration...
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The Best !
Added 6/12/2008
The best movie I have seen in a long time. This movie is for those that don't think at the "shopping mall level". This is what real life is like.
For others that don't want to see-----try a Julia Robert movie.
"You can't awaken a person that is pretending to be asleep"
Indian saying
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Spoiler alert. Seriously. I'm going to spoil this whole damn movie for you. And I'm not kidding here, you keep reading this you might as well just pack it in. Okay? All right then. Here goes... This movie has no damn ending!!! (Whew, thank you. I feel much better now.) Cyndi Williams stars here as Julia Barker, a housewife besieged by life. She's overweight, her job sucks, she can't pay her bills, her husband doesn't think she's hot, her teenage daughter sneaks out of the house at night and on top of it all she has migraines. Seriously, her very very best day is, well, not very good. But then Julia starts passing out for no apparent reason and whenever she does she has visions of a large, empty, warehouse like room. What is this room? What happened there? How is it connected to Julia and why is she having these visions? These are the questions that drive the story and...pause for dramatic effect here... none of them are ever answered! (And seriously, how screwed up is that?) Julia, in an act of desperation, steals some money, flies to New York City and begins looking for her mysterious room. She meets some people and has some adventures but at the close of the movie she's learned nothing and is left sitting on a rooftop in the cold, depressed and confused. So, here's my thing. Maybe this is art. Maybe I'm just not smart enough or sophisticated enough get it. (It's possible. I'm not all that bright.) And maybe there's some great esoteric message here I'm just not getting. But to me it mostly looks lame storytelling with a sort of college level "Ooo, look how smart I am." ending.
The tough part here is that Cyndi Williams does a nice job. And in truth, overall the movie is nicely shot and directed. Hopefully everyone involved with have better material to work with next time.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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A bold and beautiful experiment in cinema!
Added 8/9/2007
I think this film offers an interesting ride for any film lover that's looking for something different (i.e. - a story that promps the viewer to think about the story instead of force-feeding him/her the entire plot in easy-to-digest portions). The story has a life to it that's quite intoxicating, if you can get into it.
The performance by Cyndi Williams is very raw and couragous and is the glue that holds the film together. We get a glimpse of her painfully ordinary life and its daily struggles. By some twist of fate, she finds herself on a bizarre journey of constant discovery with no easy answers or conclusions.
After sitting through the usual dumbed-down Hollywood summer blockbusters, it was refreshing to see a film that required a little effort on my part. Honestly, it wasn't much of an effort. I was quickly taken in by the wonderful and honest performances, the great cinematography and the haunting score and ambience (Justin Hennard, who directed the equally wonderful and enigmatic MOONLIGHT BY THE SEA, worked on the sound design for this one). Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I was saddened by the bare-bones DVD. I would have really liked to hear a commentary on this one.
Recommended for adventurous movie-goers looking for something different.
3 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Nothing in the Room
Added 3/24/2007
Like the loft that the lead character envisions, this movie is a big empty space that could have used some furniture. Like a plot, or motivation.
What the movie does have is a brave performance by Cindi Williams, some good supporting acting, and an occasional flash of noteworthy imagery (watch for the two creatures in white handing out rave invitations).
But that's just not enough to sustain 80 minutes of unexplained misery. Pain without meaning or redemption is like a toothache. Dostoyevsky might have liked this movie. You probably won't.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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