Lost Art house drama about a few people whose lives are far from typical representatives of urban society. Closed and insecure boy – a morgue worker who is afraid to meet and every day faces death, almost kills the lost dog, which then nurses, sheltering at home. Almost an old man, a man released after twenty-five years in prison, is looking for his daughter, about whom he knew almost nothing. A priest who has lost faith, pestering almost everyone he meets with an offer to take $50,000 and pull the trigger. And finally, a stripper who gives all the money for treatment to her son. Not all of these lines have a traditional entanglement at the end, but each of the stories is quite interesting and each original is a non-standard type of central character.
The film tells about a lot, about the eternal: the themes of the search for one’s own happiness, the search for faith and the very theme of loss / gain are revealed through the relationships and personality of each of the characters. Very different, with dissimilar characters, they are little people lost in the endless social bustle, for someone special, for someone even invisible and not at all interesting. Perhaps we encounter such people every day on the street, you will never know which of the passers-by girls stripteases at the club, and which of the people going to the meeting dreams of suicide. It’s interesting to see what people are like.
Contrary to traditional bootlegs and boring realism, the director skillfully adjusts scenario situations to the most original motives. True, the expanded banal meaning, often found in such dramas, covers up all the highlight of what is happening, slipping into some ordinary. The technically built scheme, focusing on quality acting and the presentation of non-traditional characters, collapses long before the culmination of events, since the confused alternation of storylines simply does not reveal something more rich and sensual. It was a very traditional drama, but it was not about traditional people. The incomprehensibility and irrelevance of certain plot elements at all looks just an additive to increase timekeeping.
For lovers of such dramas, perhaps there is something here. At least traditional motifs are played by pleasant famous actors, but it is impossible to say that due to them the film has become more touching and strong. Everything is rather gray, gloomy, monotonous for all its seemingly originality. And the expectations of something more interesting and outstanding are concealed before our eyes, lost in this routine of predictable events, with a very different outcome.
The film clearly did not seek to pick up the bar, and it initially does not claim any high titles. And the finale will be a classic set of such production: something sad, somewhere romantic, sometimes even sublime. But in principle, the outcome is guessed quickly, and there is no need to expect a miracle. And to reproach that there is no one, the actors look decent, there is something to admire in the frame, technically everything is measured and dosed very correctly. Maybe the choice of such characters makes the film less interesting, maybe it is in the story of each, which turned out to be some disposable. If you want to watch movies like Burning Plain or Poker House right after the finale, it’s a one-time movie. It is definitely worth watching, if only for the sake of Patrick Swayze and his small appearances in scenes, but you do not need to look for revelations, wait for miracles and hope for something fascinating.
Just watch the movie when the mood is on this topic. On the drama about the relationships of different people, where there is a lot of life, ordinary and not glossy happy endings, although this film is also not called a gloomy and tearful work. So it is, gray, unsightly, with a discreet name, for 1 view. But it deserves attention.
6 out of 10
Original