How sad is this?

Excellent but underrated film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

In this garbled mess of a film that tries to be more intelligent than it is, a 40 year old computer technician goes into hospital for what should be a routine colon scan, only for things to get trippy, man... No, seriously.With competent acting, not much seemed to happen as the hot nurse - and she was hot - proved not enough to deter my growing resentment as the badly handled mystery eventually began to unfold, boring my to tears in the process, before things turned incredibly nasty towards the end.I reckon that somebody watched Miike's Audition and thought, "Hey, let's do an ending like that," failing to realise how out of place it was given the lack of warning in the set-up.It's difficult to go into any further details about this bag of crap without somebody sticking a SPOILER cuss on this opinion (since I don't actually write "reviews"), but the only thing you really need to know before watching this film is this: AVOID.Or, you can listen to your gut after the terrible opening and awful dialogue of the following bedroom scene, and turn it off not even 5 minutes in.Believe me, you'd only be sparing yourself from sitting through a very bad film.

I would just like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It scared me the whole time and even had me laughing while in fear at the same time... awesome! The "ride" down the East Wing where viewing some of the oddities/horrors of medicine and some of his own insecurities from his subconscious reminded me of the "ride" through the park "highway to hell" scene in the Machinist with Christian Bale. Of course Jacob's Ladder was the earliest film I can recall using this kind of imagery.This film was not however just like Jacob's Ladder which is about someone who finds redemption before his death. This is more about someone being "brain dead" and what that could mean... It could mean you are trapped in your own private hell created by subconscious. This hell could be created by the brains ability to still draw from the outside world if this is possible in someone who is considered brain dead would they want to be free... which means to die or continue living on in this state. That's the question it raises.

To me, it was a very thought-provoking movie that really played on my fears(about potential evils that can happen in a hospital or even life).I read through some of the posts in the IMDb discussion board for this movie. Some seem to have analyzed the movie well & others overdid it. Well, I can't say I know for sure what the writer of the movie intended to convey but I'm happy to be left with my own interpretation i.e. the character George(performed very well by Tom Cavanagh) had lot of fears which he imagined to be real(the shelves full of files, dark corridor, the black nurse etc) and finally he found a way to tackle his fears once & for all. Other mentionable performances were Katherine Cunningham-Eves as the stunning nurse or Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs who was wonderfully sadistic as the black nurse tormenting George. This movie kinda drags or slows in some places otherwise it could have been a thrilling drama. Verdict: A very good portrayal about some of our deep life fears. Disturbing.

This movie is very watchable,yet provocative and also slightly irritating-all at the same time. The latter because the way it is presented is somewhat obscure and must be highly confusing for some people. Rather like a painter on canvas the work which is created may be obvious to the artist, but others can see it differently or simply not see the same as the artist or indeed not see it at all. Nevertheless I found this film generally good and interesting.A middle age successful man is shortly to go into hospital for a routine procedure but is troubled by a recurring dream. After he awakes from the procedure he is subjected to a series of horrendous events in the hospital. Are these events really happening or as I interpret it: is he simply going through a nightmare and experiencing his fears etc?All the performers are excellent, the design of the film is first rate and the music is often brilliant. I myself consider this movie more like a black comedy/horror and overall I conclude it deserves: 7/10.