TeenzTen An action-packed slog

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

thesiouxfallskid Somewhere here someone mentions that you should see this film knowing hardly anything in advance. I agree. Better no idea, but how can you know you should see this film to begin with? Not a film for a lot of people. So I shall constrain my review so not to spoil it. I do not see any allegory as some apparently have. It tells a simple story. A man and a women stay in a motel in 29 Palms, California, and take drives out in the desert. They are lovers. They speak in both English and French. They make out and have their spats. Much of the film is slow moving. We get a heavy dose of drab reality as life is for so many of us, and what eventually later happens is another heavy dose of reality of something which does happen to a few of us. A film of nothing really beautiful. Drab, petty, slow, and then something happens. In a sense there is a certain meaninglessness throughout the film, but isn't life like that? Not a film for those depressed seeking something with which to feel good. Now there is matter-of-fact graphic nudity, which is the nudity most of us are familiar with more from life than from film. One thing it did for me is that I have resolved to have certain something with me when I go driving out in lonely stretches of desert. Definitely an art-house film, not for most of us, and not for sheer entertainment. More a film for those in a life of escapism who can use a heavy dose of reality.

fraghera I seen this movie yesterday. In fact translated English subtitle to Turkish and it finished yesterday :) Anyway it was very fearless movie witch broke the rules of cinema, i know have been broken before by other directors but nowadays i haven't seen a new shoot movie which has this kind of sex scenes after Ken Park (2002).The other interesting point was an unconditional fidelity and love of the girl (Yekaterina Golubeva as Katia) to the man.Katia's acting was awesome. Especially there is a scene which is very funny, she says "i love you" while man talking a lot about how he cant understand her.This is a kind of movie which u like or hate.Also this is a movie that u cant watch with your family. Cos it contains really hard sex scenes, sometimes like a porn.The directors note at the end of movie's trailer was interesting and so true.

lcky7strng I don't ever write bad reviews because I think people should have their own opinions about films. But this is literally the worst movie I've ever seen and felt it my duty to help steer people away from wasting part of their lives watching it. Manos The Hands of Fate has a better plot line and acting than this pseudo-intellectual drivel. Please, if you value your time stay away from this film. If it were possible to give this 0 stars I would. The movie is mostly just the main two actors driving around not talking and just showing the landscape. The very little that actually does take place happens in the last 5 minutes of the film and even then makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

writerasfilmcritic If you put a video camera in the hands of someone with little experience who has no idea what to photograph and why, you might come up with an effort similar to "Twentynine Palms." There's nothing wrong with allowing development of a film to take its own course. Some interesting results may emerge in the hands of an experienced photographer who understands his subject matter, has a good eye for composition, lighting, and action, and who is a genuine artist attempting to communicate something about the human condition to his audience. That goal is not achieved in this film, which the director pretentiously advertises as some sort of minimalist artistic enterprise investigating "the myths of America." One might be reminded of "Deliverance," but that movie attempted a grander subject involving not only the dark side of human nature but Nature, itself. We see here a supposed photographer who painfully tries to evoke John Lennon and who with his French/Russian girlfriend attempts to explore the Mohave Desert in Southern California, supposedly scouting locations for a future shoot but strangely without any cameras along (some photographer he is). He's specifically interested in a section of the desert that is reputed to have some real nutjobs roaming around looking for trouble (a few of whom hail from the local Marine Corps base). Despite the stringing together of numerous interminable takes, nothing of interest happens and the setting is not particularly inspiring, largely because the director doesn't seem to know where or when to shoot his indulgently wasted footage. The couple "enjoys" several sexual interludes in their motel room, in the dumpy motel pool, and in isolated places out in the middle of the desert. They drive around in his brand spanking new Hummer, the wheel of which he turns over to his silly girlfriend rather casually. Ultimately, their pointless wandering gets the two of them into a real pickle because they are doing it in a potentially dangerous place with no way of defending themselves. When they are bushwhacked out in the middle of nowhere and he is brutally dealt with by three wayward scuzbuckets who strangely leave her almost unscathed, we can't develop too much sympathy for him because he's a jerk who has been sexually exploiting her the entire time. We can't develop much sympathy for her, either, because she's obviously nuts and has been acting out at the slightest pretext over the course of this boring non-story. But when she saves his life and he responds by assaulting and brutally killing her before killing himself, we are left with even less than we had before, which is a big fat zero. The shocking conclusion has obviously been tacked on just as the gratuitous sex scenes were, to make something from nothing with minimal effort. This movie didn't have to be made, probably shouldn't have been made, and hasn't added anything to our appreciation of the new French cinema, much of which is brilliant, beautiful, innovative, subtle, and artistic. If this director would like some lessons on how to use all the money he obviously has at his disposal to far greater effect in the American milieu, I'd be happy to lend a hand. He certainly could use it, and frankly, were I employed by the Customs Department, I'd be going over his case with a jaundiced eye. The guy appears to be more than a little twisted.