Michael's Movie Grade: A+
A truly beautiful movie from Ireland.
Thid movie is disarmingly simple. The storyline is quite basic and not that much actually happens. Yet within this simplicity there was a deep beauty that moved to tears when the film was over. It shows that sometimes you don't need a big stakes storyline or a complex plot to create a beautiful movie. Sometime all you need is a story about a little girl who goes to live with distant relatives. Sometimes a story like that can convey both great joy and great sadness. The mixture of joy and sadness is honestly a huge part of what makes this movie so effective. This is not your typical tearjerker or your typical feel good movie. Despite the simplicity of the story, this movie turns out to be something that transcends either of those types of films. This is because we simply get to experience a slice of life from our main character. We get to feel the joy of her bonding with her distant relatives and experiencing the love they give her. We also experience the coldness and lack of any comfort she gets from living with her parents and siblings. This movie does a great job of conveying the sheer difference between being a child who is loved and nurtured and being a child in a cold and distant home. This not only perfectly conveys an important message but also creates an incredibly emotional bond with the story. Helping very much is our main character. She is an incredibly likable and sweet girl and yet at the same time she never becomes too overly sweet to be unbelievable. This is helped greatly by an incredibly moving performance by child actress Catherine Clinch (amazingly enough in her first film). She brings such an effortless charm and humanity to this character that is simply wonderful. What also makes this movie work so well is its slower pace. This is the type of film that has no problem taking its time and has no need to rush from plot point to plot point. This is perfect for this type of movie, because it creates a more real and atmospheric feeling and allows us to feel that we are experiencing everything alongside our main character. This film is also not afraid to have stretches without much dialogue. This allows us to experience the type of quietly beautiful moments that say so much about than any dialogue ever could. Yet when this movie focuses on dialogue the type of dialogue differs from your typical movie dialogue to something much more naturalistic and down to earth. Sometimes the characters are having simple conversations which a lot about the story and characters without ever saying anything directly.
This is simply a beautifully profound and moving movie, that needs to be seen by anyone who truly appreciates film as an artform.
No comments:
Post a Comment