Far Side of the Moon
Far Side of the Moon
| 09 September 2003 (USA)
Far Side of the Moon Trailers

After the death of his mother, a man tries to discover a meaning to his life, to the universe and to rebuild a relationship with the only family he has left: his gay brother.

Reviews
TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Syl This movie is an acquired taste. At first, I don't realize that Philipe and Andre's connection besides being brothers. Both are brilliantly played by the writer and director, Robert LePage. He is a visionary who has written, directed, and act reminds you of French Canadian Woody Allen. In this film, he plays Phillipe, a loner who wants to get his Ph.D. in proving men's narcissism and the quest for space. He has tried to argue it a few times before and been denied. In his quest, his mother dies. He and his brother have an estranged relationship. The film explores Phillipe's history especially his fascination with space. This film has its moments especially the spa scene at the gym where he runs into Carl. I can relate to Phillipe who I think is misunderstood. The ending threw me off completely and I didn't get it. We can all relate to Phillipe who has a dead end job answering phones for the government.
drifterrus I really enjoyed this movie, even better than No, which was also subtle and quirky. The dialogue is flawless. Both Lepage's sibling portrayals are spot on, the cinematography tricks are engaging and perfectly pitched, as is the supporting cast. My only quip is... boy, aren't there any literate Russians in Canada? There are at least two major misspellings, one above the entrance to Tsiolkovsky Institute in (presumably) Moscow (there is no such institution in real life). The other is on the poster at the airport towards the end of the movie. And the Aeroflot announcement on the plane to Moscow sounds just a little bit accented and un-Aeroflotish. Again, this is a great movie and should be widely seen.
robertllr I would have liked to have given this film a 9.99, since there were two scenes which I felt were just a bit too long. Since it is closer to a perfect ten than a perfect 9, however, I had to give it a 10."Far Side of The Moon" is an absolute gem of a film. Robert Lepage is another one of those depressingly competent people who writes, directs and stars in his own films. It is so enchanting that its length (under an hour and three quarters) seems even shorter than it is."Far Side..." is chock full of the most carefully constructed sequences I have ever seen in the cinema. There is literally not one frame that has not been carefully nurtured and coaxed into place--like a piece of a brightly colored mosaic--to create what must be one of the most seamlessly engineered set of images in film history.There are no "stock" shots in this film. Not one shot is ever simply thrown in to get on with the plot. Each scene segues beautifully into the next, each is composed with the utmost care. This is what film making should be. While the movie relies servilely on (often complex)special effects for the realization of its vision, these techniques are not there just for the "wow" factor; rather they are all in the service of a unified directorial vision, full of resonant symbols and painterly motifs that seem always to reach toward each other as if in a dance.You would think that this obsessive attention to setting and color and detail would make the movie stiff and formal. But it does not. First of all, Lepage (and his character Philippe) are full of such self-deprecating irony that there are almost as many laughs as there are sighs of wonder in the movie. But moreover, the film is a supremely dramatic and melancholic tale, . Lepage has created in his character Philippe probably the greatest sad sack since Nabokov's Pnin. You can't help but feel for the poor helpless loser, tricked by his hyperactive and poetic imagination into a failed marriage, a failed university degree, and a failed relation with the only two family members he has.Funny, tragic, witty, and visually splendid. Why don't more moves like this get made?Numer of car chases: 0 Number of gun shots: 0 Number of psychopathic killers: 0 Number of action heroes: 0
garz For people in the Theatre community, Lepage is a much heralded genius. But the nature of theatre is that you have to be in the right place at the right time to see his work. With this movie he has etched a beautiful masterpiece for world wide viewing (granted it gets a decent release). I'm not sure if it's just my enthusiasm from having seen the play but the story was just one that I felt I wanted to embrace again. The stage play was so cinematic that a movie seemed inevitable, and the transitions between scenes were even enhanced through the use of a camera rather than stage. This is really too biased to be a review, but if you haven't seen it, you really should.