the audience applauded

Simply A Masterpiece

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The blurb for this film is interesting; apparently it is "a dark, hypnotic mystery that transcends the limitations of traditional narrative."My opinion is slightly different and can be summed up in two words;Pretentious Pish.

This film is a compelling though flawed experiment in utilizing a dreamlike/hallucinatory narrative. An ordinary seeming young couple, Scarlett (Jena Malone) and Alex (Douglas Smith), are driving across the country to LA, but she gets ill while they're in the Southwest, and they check into a shabby chic motel (the sign shifting between reading "motel" and "hotel" is one of the first clues that you're in the realm of the subconscious). Scarlett then tells a horrifying story about her systematic abuse of a helpless, paralyzed cousin in her care (before laughing it off as though it were a joke). This story, which initially seems like a weird detour, is actually the key to the whole movie.Like An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Jacob's Ladder, or Mulholland Dr., Bottom of the World depicts the hallucinatory final thoughts of a dying person. Scarlett, driven to suicide by guilt over her inexplicably cruel and violent acts, has deliberately overdosed, and the events of the film, until its last few moments, are occurring entirely inside her head. Consequently, Alex isn't a real person, but the kind of strange, fluid composite character you often encounter in dreams. At different times, he is her boyfriend, her ill-fated cousin, a fictitious assailant, an angel of death, and, above all, an emanation of her guilt. Likewise, a strange televangelist preacher (Ted Levine) that Alex encounters along the way is really Scarlett's father, whom her dying mind has transformed into someone giving sermons about guilt and redemption--themes that are particularly relevant to Scarlett at that moment.Overall, I thought it was a flawed film that is worth watching, but I don't think I'll want to see it a second time. I enjoyed Levine's performance. I liked Malone, too, though I didn't quite get how someone who committed such horrifying crimes would have enough of a conscience to be overwhelmed by guilt, but that was more of a writing problem than an acting problem. I thought Smith seemed a bit too young for his role, though he was effective at times. I also appreciated the attempt to recreate the weird, fluid quality of dream narratives, but, strange as it may seem to say, I don't think the filmmakers went quite far enough in that direction.

I liked this movie, though I am glad I didn't pay money to see it in a theater. Somebody who reviewed the movie alluded to it being like a David Lynch film. I can see the analogy; there is a non-linear, dreamlike plot and some truly odd characters. However unlike many Lynch movies, this one does wrap things up in the end so that the viewer isn't obligated to watch at least two more times before things start to make sense. This isn't for everyone, so if you are somebody who needs to have a linear plot, then it's best to scroll through the offerings at Netflix for something more orderly. However for viewers who are intrigued by mystery and do not need to have the answers fed to them at every scene along the way to an ending that truly does explain everything that has transpired before, then this is for you. The message to take away from "Bottom of the World" is that actions do come with consequences and guilt is a heavy, destructive psychological burden.

I hate long drawn out reviews, so i will make mine short and sweet. The movie isn't going to win an Oscar, hell if you are impaired it might keep you attention. It is just OK that is it. In my opinion if you are trying to find a good movie, something that made you say wow. This isn't itSpoiler and my interpretation. She obviously killed herself, hence the pill bottles at the end scene. So we didn't even know who scarlett was until Alex woke up back in the real world not the hotel, that was scarletts real life. She was an alcoholic trying to kill the memories of her childhood and the torture and murder she committed against her cousin. Alex was just merely a face. He was her next door neighbor who scarlett had a fantasy about. So while she is dying from an OD her mind is seeing her with him. This is why Alex half way through the movie says to his wife," we are all just her dream, if she dies we do too." So she kills herself and is basically in purgatory and wants to die that's why she asks him to kill her and as he is burying her , his face changes.