Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Crazy_Gibberish For those of you seeking to view the entirety of the IMDb "Bottom 100", get a head start on a future contender with "The Singing Forest". It's on Netflix Instant and it's a howler. Oh man, is this ever a doozy. I warned of spoilers, and I don't think this film can be "reviewed" in any conventional sense though many linked on Metacritic have tried. It's basically 70 minutes of Super 8 footage about a middle-aged homosexual who had an affair with his daughter's fiancé in a past life. This past life involved one of them as an SS Officer and the other as a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Yes. The older one makes a number of sexual overtures toward the fiancé until he gives in to the "truth" of their situation and they sleep together. I kid you not, and it's every bit as laughably absurd as it sounds. Grab some Bad Movie Night friends and crowd around this instant camp classic.

distantimage My girlfriend and I borrowed "The Singing Forest" from the library because the DVD cover is two guys in Nazi uniforms making out, but the movie takes place entirely in modern times, they weren't Nazis anyway, and that scene never happened. In many scenes you can't hear the dialogue over traffic outside or the waves at the beach. Also, the next-door neighbor seems to have a dog. Judging by the dialogue we could hear, I don't think we were really missing anything groundbreaking anyhow. I don't recommend that anyone watch this movie for any reason. "The Singing Forest" has zero entertainment value in that it wasn't hilariously bad, it was just bad.

gradyharp Writer/director Jorge Ameer may just be another edgy filmmaker waiting for larger budgets to set his ideas afire (think Gus van Sant, Gregg Araki, etc). Reading all the comments and reactions to this film is fairly good evidence that he is a controversial filmmaker - and that will probably work in his favor. He has technical problems with his product: the dialogue, which is really fairly good when it can be heard, is drowned out by ocean waves, dogs barking, street sounds, and the worst pastiche of heart-tugging micro-excerpts from classical music (Adagio from Mahler's 5th, Albinoni, Tchaikovsky ad infinitum); he fails to adequately introduce his characters' motivation which would further the storyline; he opts for some pretty cheap effects borrowed from the archives of WW II.But given all that, THE SINGING FOREST has good thoughts about reincarnation, a stable cast some of whom show real promise, and an overall feeling of commitment that is so often lacking in these startup movies.Christopher Hayes (Jon Sherrin) is an alcoholic man in mourning for his lost wife, who decides to attend the wedding of his daughter Destiny (Erin Leigh Price) and upon meeting her fiancé Ben (Craig Pinkston, eye candy in looks and with signs he just may become a good screen actor with some body language training). Christopher has met with a psychic Elvia (Toni Zobel) who has confirmed his thoughts that he is a reincarnated spirit of a lad named Jo who while protecting the Jews from the Nazis in WW II fell in love with a lad named Alexander: they both died in the war. When Christopher meets Ben he immediately knows that Ben is the reincarnation of Alexander. Destiny is a hard working girl, giving Christopher and Ben sufficient time together to talk, get loaded on drugs and alcohol, and act out on their hidden sexuality. Many confrontations occur, some including Destiny's discovery of the two men en flagrante, the psychic is re-consulted and the concept of reincarnation and the questions of reality/fantasy/fiction/illusion are addressed. The ending is a bit abrupt but the point is made.Many subplots are touched upon (a rape scene that has more significance than we are allowed to understand, adequate exploration of the father/daughter relationship or the childhood histories of Christopher and Ben) and it is obvious that budget restraints prevented development of points that should have been clarified. But Both Pinkston and Price prove promising talent that needs developing.Accompanying the film are several shorts that, while crude in nature, are funny and irreverent and again show some clever thoughts underdeveloped. In all, for a first film this is not a bad outing - if only there were some way to Dolby out all the background noise so we could actually hear the story Ameer is trying so hard to tell! Grady Harp

Monica Latorraca If you believe in reincarnation, I highly recommend this film. It is very strange, but poetic. I bought the movie off the internet because I was told the director is from here. In as much as the film can be very off putting...it has lots of twist and turns that may or may not resolve itself, it is thought provoking. The main actor is very handsome and electric. I like film that deal with the sole and transcendence of where it might go after death. What happens when you love someone so much and cant let go? Those are all questions that we cant answer but are nonetheless worth discussing. I specially liked the music at the end. I will keep this copy for one to try to decipher the filmmakers thoughts behind this idea.