RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Reno Rangan Another film based on the book of the same name for Ritesh Batra. Also second film to release in the same calendar year. Incidentally, both films dealt with aging people. The story was told from a man whose romance life has not that successful. He recalls his university graduate days, like how he met a mysterious woman and later went to meet her parents.Following, the other events, the film also told the present time developments. Where he has divorced and lives alone. Executing fatherly duty to his pregnant daughter, the tale begins to take a fresh twist. So he tries his best to uncover the truth. In the end what he finds brings an end to the narration.I love films abut aged people. This is one of my favourite themes that I enjoy watching them as I do for children's films. Wonderful casting. Of course it looked a bit long tale, but totally worth it. Slow in pace and not all the way to-the-point kind of narration.You might think some parts are unnecessary, but overall a nicely written screenplay. The end twist was simple. It was not very clear, because the film was almost a PG certificate. The difference is it talks about the grown up stuff. So it was understood with all the detailed clues what the twist is, despite not shown in the picture. A little underrated, but no masterpiece. I surely recommend it, mainly for the grown ups.7.5/10

The Couchpotatoes I have a few problems with this movie and that's why I just rate it as an average movie. One of my issues is that the movie is way too long. It could easily have been done half on hour shorter. Then the movie would have been better. Now the first 45 minutes are just boring to watch. I thought the movie was going nowhere at one point and yawning was the only thing I did for almost an entire hour. The best part of the movie is the end part. That was worth watching. You can't really blame Jim Broadbent for anything, he did his best trying to make it an enjoyable movie to watch. Too bad the beginning was so boring, because the revealing of the mystery was good. But that's just not enough to make it a good movie.

george-pawlyszyn I was skeptical that a film could capture the essence and the mystery of the book. However I found it very satisfying. I am not sure how I would rate the film if I had not read the book. It is a simple story and indeed one could complain that its focus on white middle aged Londoners but that would be missing the point of the universality of the story. We all create the story of our lives through our memories and by using the plot device of such a traumatic awakening of forgotten memories causes us to consider the things we have remembered selectively. I am still unsure what the significance of the twist at the end adds to the message or the theme, except to add to the tragedy of situation and increase the guilt of the main character. As a film experience, the acting was first class and the pace and use of music well matched. As a final thought I would consider whether we should also draw lessons from Adrian's actions versus his earlier comments about suicide. A film that gives you prompt and room to think. A rarity these days and to be welcomed.

TxMike My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. When it was over I commented that "it is sort of like reading a novel" and she agreed. That observation is neither good nor bad, depending on what kind of movie one likes to view.Old favorite Jim Broadbent always seems to create very interesting characters, as he does here. He is Tony Webster, retired but running a camera repair business in London. He also specializes in antique Leica cameras and sells them for handsome prices. This is not just an incidental detail, it has a connection to his college days and the girlfriend who introduced him to cameras and photography.The hook in this story is when the mother of his former girlfriend, Veronica, dies the will leaves Tony one item, the diary that belonged to Adrian, his former college friend who took up with Veronica when she and Tony broke up. But the solicitor seems to be having difficulty actually getting the diary to give over to Tony.Tony is persistent, he looks up Veronica's brother and finally finds Veronica, who is very mute about what all is going on, but when pressed she says she burned the diary. All this creates an air of mystery about the whole thing. What is going on? What is she trying to hide? Why is she being so cold to Tony, her old boyfriend?Charlotte Rampling is effective as the current time version of Veronica Ford, as well as Emily Mortimer who plays Veronica's mother back in the 1960s. The thrust of the story in the movie is that our memories are what we make of them, what we choose to believe, what we think the truth was. In his fading years Tony re-lives much of what has happened in his life and gains some new perspectives.SPOILERS follow: The movie uses multiple flashbacks to tell of Tony's past, and in one we learn that Adrian actually killed himself, using razor blades in the bathtub. In his sleuthing Tony observes older Veronica hugging a special needs man, also named Adrian, and he assumes it is her son. But it isn't, it is her brother, older Ardian before his suicide had impregnated Veronica's mother, herself a flirt, and we might assume the realization of that drove Adrian to take his own life. Plus the diary Tony never got to see probably had contents about Veronica's mother, things she didn't want others to read.