BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Nonureva Really Surprised!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

hermatician Although, it may seem to many about loneliness and melancholy... its much much more than that. The movie shows a mature examination of the effects of technology, industrialization and almost everything which describes the 20th century human life, narrated by the central character Prof. Walter Zarrow. Some of the scenes are written and directed wonderfully by Tim, especially the one where Kristen Stewart shouts out loud how lonely her life is and Prof. Walter is probably just mesmerized at the young raw intelligence in so much grief. The movie also shows how inconvenient and difficult it can be to even call a friend in need, and how easily a stranger can buzz in a stranger in a tragic situation. The writing is so philosophical and intelligent that not a single sentence should be missed without digesting it. Surely its all bagel platter for philosophy and psychology students, but so it may be for others as well. The drug addict cites Augustine and Walter cites Montaigne before death and as a compliment, this movie can be and I am sure will be cited (at least by me) in many practical situations.

Argemaluco Anesthesia offers various pros, but I have to say it didn't leave me totally satisfied. On the positive side, the performances are excellent. From veterans such as Sam Waterston and Glenn Close to youngsters like Hannah Marks and Ben Konigsberg, everyone makes a perfect work, and there isn't a single weak link in the cast. My favorite character of the film was the one played by Waterston, not only due to his intelligence and humbleness, but also because he says the powerful monologue which encompasses the multiple themes of the movie. However, I think director and screenwriter Tim Blake Nelson (who is also part of the cast) wasn't able to integrate the sub-plots into a consistent story. I guess that, as an actor/filmmaker, his main interest was capturing honest dramatic moments, bringing the necessary material to make the actors stand out. That's a valid strategy, but, at the same time, I think he sacrificed the narrative cohesion of the whole movie, and as a consequence, the individual scenes are much more interesting than the whole experience. Despite that and the occasional artistic pretensions, Anesthesia is deep and entertaining enough to capture the audience's attention. In the "interlocking stories" movie category, Anesthesia is definitely far from the level of Magnolia, Crash (2004) or Pulp Fiction, but I would place it on par with other indie productions such as The Air I Breathe, 11:14 or Playing by Heart. Like those films, Anesthesia can be enjoyed for a moment, in order to immediately become trivia we will eventually forget.

Esme867 What's the point of life? The film begs the question. Tim Blake Nelson has made one of the most pretentious and bombastic films, pandering to pseudo-intellectual movie "buffs" to converse over their vegan, 5-calorie, triple shot macchiatos. Every character is too self-aware of their existence. They all question, rather than investigate the point of life, which is lazily done through characters reflecting out loud why they do the things they do.At the beginning of the film, Walter asks why we continue bringing children into a world so cruel. Why bring children into the world and not teach them respect so they can't say lines such as: "So dad can be gone all the time and you can be drunk all night?" This, by a 10-year-old. In another scene, teenage kids tell their parents to "F off" and that smoking weed every day is less potent than the parents' 4 glasses of wine at night. Right.Throughout the film, Kristen Stewart goes on various diatribes informing us pseudo-intellectuals how unhappy she is, because she is alive and can't stop being alive. She harms herself with a curling iron and when asked why, she says, "to remind myself of why I'm here." She's mad at the world that they can't change and even more mad at herself that she can't change either. That is exhausting to try to translate. I half expected her to take out Romeo's poison and drink it as a last "screw you" to the world, but alas, she will have to endure the curse of life like the rest of us. Also, don't do drugs.

Dave Nesbitt Wow. Just saw this horrible movie. What a waste of time.Hey go see it if you want to:1) hear little kids telling their parents to f off.2) hear parents telling their little kids to f off.3) pretty much everybody telling other people to f off.4) watch a group of people who embody the absolute moral bankruptcy of our country.This movie is the Hollywood masters last laugh at what they have done to us.But hey, why not go see it. Apparently your brain is already fried, according to this movie.