A very strong performance from Aidan Quinn is all that this anemic story has to recommend it – and it's not enough. The film is really about a relationship between Ciaran Hinds and an author visiting a local writers' conference, Iben Hjejle, but it takes too long for the story to declare itself. As a result, except for Quinn's portrayal of another successful writer who once bedded down Hjejle and wants to do so again, the story meanders with incidents about Hinds' character missing his dead wife, and the odd ghostly appearance of a specter that appears related to the dead woman's father.
The film is well shot and mildly engaging but could have been so much more if the writer knew how to structure the real story. Melancholy is a mood, not a plot device and the screenplay offers too little too late any real drama, and then ends with a mushy coda that feels more like fantasy than an outgrowth of what unfolded to that point.
Again, not worth the time – but Aidan Quinn's performance is wonderful. His range has been woefully underutilized to date. If that changes, this slow, slightly morbid story will have been worthwhile – for at least him.
Viewed on Amazon VOD
The film is well shot and mildly engaging but could have been so much more if the writer knew how to structure the real story. Melancholy is a mood, not a plot device and the screenplay offers too little too late any real drama, and then ends with a mushy coda that feels more like fantasy than an outgrowth of what unfolded to that point.
Again, not worth the time – but Aidan Quinn's performance is wonderful. His range has been woefully underutilized to date. If that changes, this slow, slightly morbid story will have been worthwhile – for at least him.
Viewed on Amazon VOD