Sorry, this movie sucks

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This has to be one of the most intelligent moving all encompassing films I have seen in many years. It was a movie about survival in a world that is morally bankrupt. There are so many aspects of it to dissect but I'll focus only on a few. Having an underlying storyline of end of life for dogs was a perfect metaphor. At the point that they come to the shelter, everything has irrevocably changed for these pups and it happens most times due to no error or fault of the dog. It's just that inevitable stage of their lives when no matter how happy or unhappy their prior life, this is now. There's no going back (a line used later in the movie - how clever) The scene where the protagonist comforts a newly arrived dog is very powerful. As forecasted by the dog storyline, the movie is also about broken systems and their impacts on human life. How they bring you to the brink. But there is, if not healing, then redemption. I appreciated the distinction made about 2 of our primary religions. I don't have to delve further because I'm not searching for a religion, but I appreciated the insight into what Islam at its best and most personal can mean. There's brokenness everywhere, and sadly often at the hands of white men, who seem to act with impunity and arrogance. But here's the surprise -the protagonist is white and he is the antithesis to that stereotype. Elizabeth Moss was amazing - so much depth over and beyond her Mad Men days. I get the love story although at times it felt implausible or rushed. But otherwise, truly excellent movie. I hope there is a book behind it somewhere.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I believe that the film has a tacked on ending, to appease the people who insist on relatively happy endings. You get the sense from the voice-over that "the film ends here", yet we come out on the other side and everyone is smiling. I believe that the same thing was done with The Crying Game. If you end both films on the "fade to black", you have a masterpiece. If you go past that, you have a great independent film that has been Hollywoodized.

I am at a lost for words. Any word that I utter will not describe this movie. It was brilliant. It was heart felt. The movie had every emotion in it that one could describe. It was: dramatic, funny, adventurous, suspenseful, and made you want to watch more. I could watch this movie over and over again. The writer, director, actors and all of those who were involved in the making of this move should be commended. Am Oscar will not do this film any justice. It deserves so much more. This movie is a must see.

"The Free World" is an American 100-minute movie from 2016, so relatively new still. It received several nominations, for example at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The writer and director is Jason Lew, who was mostly known for writing the Mia Wasikowska movie "Restless" so far. This one here is his second effort as writer and very first as director. And taking that into account, it is a pretty decent outcome. This is the story of a man who was released from jail and apparently he got convicted for something he didn't do. Anyway, he is free again now, in the free world mentioned in the title, but still struggles, mostly because of police officers who try to make his life a living hell. This refers mostly to Sung Kang's character who keeps following the protagonist throughout the film, even shows up at his workplace. His interrogation scene with the protagonist being the dog in the cage and him being outside was one of my favorites from the entire movie. Nice metaphoric value there. Kang and Octavia Spencer play the most significant supporting characters and you can see them somewhat as the contrary parts of goodness and evil when it comes to how they treat the central character. The latter is played by Boyd Holbrook and I think he does a really good job, especially in the more quiet parts which are really 85% of the film. His character runs into Elisabeth Moss' character and it turns out he needs to help her in hiding something terrible that could easily backfire at him. But the compassion he learned while in jail and also the strong influence of his conversion to Islam only allow one result: He has to help her. of course, physical attraction also plays a role, but how can you not be attracted to Elisabeth Moss, especially in that dress she wears in the second half. She once again manages to be awkwardly stunning as she always is, also on "Mad Men for example.So the cast is actually really good, a Golden Globe winner is on board with Moss and Oscar winner Spencer does what she has to do, even if admittedly it is just her usual shtick and she really feels almost the same regardless of where she is in, at least judging from what I have seen her so far, which is not everything, but still quite a bit. Kang was also a good casting choice, even if his character is as gimmicky and one-dimensional as Spencer's. He makes the character work somehow. I am also glad that his character does not sit int he police car at the end because this would have been really unrealistic to be honest. Instead, the film manages to go for convincing realism on all occasions basically and I never ever had the impression that I was watching actors instead of characters. Of course, there were a few scenes that I did not like as much for example the one at the very end shortly before they get caught and the way he takes all the guilt while she runs away did not really fit too well, especially as she liked/loved him and would not want him to be charged for what she did. Then again, maybe she was already too far away to hear it. The very final scene was uplifting once again and while I have no problem with going for unhappy endings (possibly him dying from the gunshot wounds), I still believe that Lew made a wise decision in ending the film the way he did. I enjoyed the watch and if this film hits theaters near you at some point in the future, you should check it out. Most likely, you will not regret it as Holbrook and Moss are really tremendous and they also had great chemistry I think. It's easy to care for the story and characters and what would happen to them, even if they may have lacked real depth or shades on some occasions. Thumbs up from me.