This movie was not brilliant (spoilers)

Though it tried to be, and had some very intriguing aspects, it was not brilliant. Mostly, it was confusing. And, well, I began getting a little impatient with it. Maybe I've seen too many movies, and knew that Gosling's character had been in car accident that had killed his parents and his "girlfriend," and that all of the discussion and confusion was just a psychological mask that he was using to cover this up.

They kept reshowing the scene little by little and finally I'm like, "Just show the whole damn thing already!"

Also, for a while I thought that Sam was going crazy. We are lead to think that, or that he and Henry are the same person, or that one of them is not real at all. But then the focus switches. We go from Sam's perspective throughout most of the film to suddenly switching to Henry's. That threw me. I can imagine Sam having a breakdown and imagining all of these bizarre things happening, but when they happen to other characters too, that throws things off. Further, if the story is really about Henry's death, then why does so much of it focus on Sam? Doesn't make sense. Why have scenes where Sam and his girlfriend are arguing about things that don't even affect Henry?

Also, I think the director sort of over did things in this film. Having a few, innovative, disorienting moments would have been enough. This film was chock full of them. After a while I starting thinking, "I get it, already. You're trying to say that what I'm seeing is not reality."

This film would have been much better had the director (and possibly the writer) not tried so hard.



She's not naked. She's holding a gun...strategically.