Better Late Then Never

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

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

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Maybe Phillip Pullman's novel is better, for my own sake and consideration of Pullman, I sincerely hope so.But this movie is not particularly great. I really wanted to like it. It has the flavor of an Indie film, and I was hoping it would be a great Indie film. But it isn't.The swirling thematic presence of Romeo and Juliet lays out a fairly straight plot line, so if You are looking for surprises, You are bound to be disappointed.All the technical elements (acting, cinematography, etc) are well within acceptable limits, it just doesn't deliver a very profound experience.I can see how some people might LOVE this film, but I think that they must be reaching and wanting to like it so much that they have convinced themselves it is really much better than it is.It isn't a BAD film, and maybe my mediocre score is simply because I wanted to like it so much more than I did. It isn't a waste of time, but nor is it one that You walk away NEEDING to talk about, or even remember for that matter!

This story was well acted, it was just not a story worth acting. The people you should be sympathetic toward end up making so many stupid choices that it's difficult to have sympathy for them. This could be called a modern day Romeo and Juliet, but there were no families involved, just two people from different walks of life that come together and fall in love, if you can call their brief time together love. Their relationship was sweet to watch come together, but you don't get involved with someone and let them know so little about you that they can't locate you and think that you have abandoned them along with other poor assumptions. The only person I felt sorry for was Barry. He seemed like a person with his heart in the right place that had turned his life around and was thankful for it. This movie dragged things out for too long and made the boy seem like a complete moron that acted before he thought anything through. Love does odd things to us, but this boy apparently lost all logic and reason over not being able to find someone. I found this movie disappointing. I did not think it was heartwarming and came away more irritated than anything else.

This movie was very well put together. The characters came across with sincerity, delivered very well by (what appear to be) new actors.I couldn't help but imagine this sort of story coming together, whether by terrible coincidence or by a nasty twist of fate - and it was truly a sad thing to envision.I found the pace to be as expected for this sort of film, with plenty of time to understand the characters, and a healthy dose of dialog-free scenes full of introspection and character growth. I also really enjoyed the fact that the director respected his audience and didn't spell things out for his viewers.Now, this is not a film I would recommend to most of my guy friends, as there is very little action and it is, after all, a love story - but I know the ladies would enjoy it thoroughly.

From: http://culturewitch.wordpress.com/ - The witch rarely gets to go to premieres of any kind, so the UK premiere of The Butterfly Tattoo made a welcome change. It was on last night at Cornerhouse in Manchester, as part of a short film festival, and whereas it wasn't full, it was very busy. They moved the screening to cinema one, which I assume was to accommodate more people.The film? It was good. Very good. I'd heard it was very good, and then I read a review somewhere which claimed it wasn't, particularly. So we went with open minds, and Daughter was warned that it wouldn't end happily. The script follows Philip Pullman's book pretty closely, so you do get the bad end at the beginning, so to speak.It's Romeo and Juliet, really. Some very intense love when boy meets girl, and then lots of confusion as they lose touch. Lots of searching, to a backdrop of someone else's criminal behaviour, which eventually comes to have a bearing on the lives of Chris and Jenny as well.You can tell that the film was filmed on a budget, but I wish more films were, if this is the result. There is nothing that would have been better for more money. I was particularly struck by one of the love scenes, which was blissfully quiet. In a more commercial film the couple would have found they were accompanied in the bedroom by a large orchestra. Here, there was nothing. No sound at all. Just as it should be.The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director Phil Hawkins and some of the cast and crew, with more crew members in the audience. I was going to say that they tried to save on money by having many of them be both cast and crew, but that's silly, as nobody got paid. I suppose it just shows how versatile they are. Who'd have thought that the drunk was actually the director himself?The questions were along the lines of, well I don't remember, because they were so technically knowledgeable that I didn't even understand the questions, let alone the answers. I did get that they could only afford one camera, though. And it rained for the ball scene, and they had to hurry before the extras all died of hypothermia.It was all done in five weeks, and I hope that cinemas all over the world will see the light and buy The Butterfly Tattoo. Philip Pullman was right to let someone young buy the rights to his book for peanuts. Sometimes enthusiasm will do more than years of experience and loads of finance. And perhaps I'm just put out that I didn't act fast enough to buy a share or two in the film.