Bad Acting and directing

oh well. threre is more to movies than realism, you know.

Most cliched?

Have you seen many films?

Bad directing and acting? Dude, you just showed off your extremely witless ignorance. Go watch crap dumb movies like Armageddon and AVP:R again, for it seems that's the only kind of movies you can appreciate, and leave proper movies for those that can appreciate them.

"This are Nice shoes! Couldn't you afford some real Nike?"

i don't know whether i'd say the ending is cliched--though i find the entire film to be, in some ways, a bad rip off of schlondorff's the tin drum--but it certainly is terribly acted and directed. i am frankly amazed at the raves that the young lead gets--i find him to be alternately wooden and shrill.

i saw this film when it was first released--and i'm ashamed to say that my twenty-year old inner film critic enjoyed it--but i picked up a copy recently, rewatched it, and was amazed at how poorly done i thought it was. it was a bad imitation of a david lynch or a terence malick film.

throwing a bunch of 'creepy' or 'unusual' setpieces together in a movie doesn't mean it's going to be done well, and this movie is a prime example of that. i give it a two of ten for some nice cinematography, but it's a poorly done film.

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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

I rented this bc it was on the Recommended By Our Staff shelf along w The Celebration and Heavenly Creatures. Big mistake. Viggo Mortensen isn't half bad, though. Maybe it's just his hotness, but I thought his scenes were much more compelling in general than those of some of the other actors. It may have been the realism of his particular storyline, in contrast to some of the bloated acting/hysteria from the rest of the boy's family. And the last scene? I have to say, I laughed too - I couldn't help it! It practically *defines* cliche - a child falling to his knees and screaming with grief? Throw in a sunset and some dirt falling through some fingers, and some heavy orchestration, and well...it's kind of a recipe for chuckles.

I love this movie. I thought the acting was superb... every scene perfect.
I don't think it's anything like David Lynch at all. It is it's own genre - symbolist, and heady. The themes are underground, complex and dark, yet right out there in the open for all to see... all who can see - within (the characters) the film and without (us, the audience).

It is a difficult film to "get." That's the way it should be.. and those child actors, for the year in which the film was made, and the period in which it was set,did an excellent job - timeless.

It is tragic and beautiful - innocence and loss - interwoven, and the answers are
not easy to come by, just like life.

As for the ending - primal.

This film had some excellent ideas, but ultimately they didn't go anywhere.

I agree that much of the acting was distractingly bad -- particularly the parents and the boy's friend.

But I did think much of the direction was remarkable. Clearly the director was influenced by Ingmar Bergman, and though this is a weak attempt at that style the film is beautiful in spots. I just wish it wasn't so self-conscious in going out of its way to shock or provoke and instead just let the story flow a bit more smoothly.

7 out of 10 stars for me.

I can't tell about the directing for sure, but the acting ruined the visually beautiful movie. Cinematography and music are amazing, but the acting is beyond terrible. You can almost see the kid actor reading the lines from a cue card that's been held for him. Everything he says and does feels forced and false. His friends are just as bad if not worse. Usually I'm a sucker for visual craftsmanship, but it's unbearable to sit through this movie. Maybe I should try the german or spanish dubbed version.

"You and me we are fµckin done, professionally!"