Did you people see the same film I saw?

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Before I Disappear is very interesting. Having never heard of the short film it was based off of (titled, 'Curfew'), I stumbled upon it one day on Netflix, and watched the hour and a half it had to offer. For what it was, it was one of the most intriguing independent films I've seen in a long while. The film centers on Richie, who is supposed to take care of his sister's daughter, and, without saying much, the movie ends up delving into some pretty dark themes I never expected to be explored, but, were very well presented and executed. Alongside the themes, the story is also quite well presented and written. However, as sad as it is to say, there are some plot holes from here to there, which kind of drag down the movie if you actually think about them. Plot holes or not, one thing stood clear to me throughout the hour and a half 'Before I Disappear' had to offer: the characters were VERY, VERY well written, and mostly believable. Sure, some of them seem a bit rushed, and forgettable, but, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, nevertheless. Also, Ron Perlman was AWESOME in his role, and, although I've never really seen the actor in any movies or TV shows AT ALL, his performance in this film has convinced me more than enough that he is fairly decent at what he does.Overall, I really enjoyed Before I Disappear, and despite some plot holes, this has to have been one of the best independent films I've seen in quite some time, that's not a comedy. 88/100

Before I Disappear (2014)I almost didn't give this a chance because it starts with a lot of moments—and scenes— made for effect. I was worried that it was all about creating a party scene underworld in Brooklyn and the characters and plot would suffer. Wrong. It clicks by the end.One problem might be (at first)—there are no sympathetic characters. I know we are supposed to relate to the lead, Richie played by Shawn Christensen. But he's so abusive and violent at times, and frankly stupid (or misguided), it's hard to be on his side. More likely we just watch and marvel. In a way, the little girl who is the pivot around which everything eventually moves is also annoying—a little brat. She's played by Fatima Ptacek, and we eventually warm to her, too. Her mother (Richie's sister) is completely annoying, and the various "friends" and work associates of Richie are also unpleasant.But that's part of the idea. Richie is surrounded by an ominous, negative world. He works as a janitor in a lively late night club, and the throbbing darkness there wears everyone out—the club owner, the patrons (one of whom is found dead), and Richie. It's a terrific setting for a movie however, and one of the amazing qualities of this film is the way it creates these sleazy, drugged up—and no doubt exciting—scenes so well.By the end of the movie I was totally into it. I wish I hadn't had to wait to long to like it so much, but sometimes the best movies demand a little perseverance. I suggest giving this a long-sighted try.

Firstly, I came to this movie without having seen "Curfew". Several commentators have pointed out that that is important in the way you see this movie so I'll get that out of the way to start with. I checked out the user score (7.2 at time of writing) and the Meta score (47/100 at time of writing). A bit of a mismatch I thought and maybe it was down to the film being "upped" by users. (We all know it happens right? Reviewers who come out of nowhere and submit one review giving a film 10 / 10 and then disappear as quickly as they appeared. All's fair in love and marketing). Anyway, as a result I decided to take a chance on it but with some reservations at the back of my mind and not really expecting anything that would really get me. What followed was rare, the realisation that the users had nailed it and the critics had really come down way too hard on this movie for all the wrong reasons. "Underwhelming, inconsistent, superfluous, bloated, meandering, posey, abrasive, over amped" to mention a few of the words used. I really don't know what film they were watching. Shawn Christensen, the writer, director and star of this film has already picked up an Oscar in 2013 for best Live Action Short but this film is dismissed as "not a bad freshman effort"? Ignore the critics and take a chance on this one. If you go in with an open mind and let yourself go with it's unusual flow you might really enjoy it. Finally, the cast were uniformly good. Fatima Ptacek, who I hadn't come across before, was brilliant, certainly one to watch, and Ron Perlman was Ron Perlman, nobody does that better than him.

A few years ago, Shawn Christensen won an Oscar for his amazing live- action short called Curfew, focused on a man in despair and contemplating suicide that gets the first chance to spend time with his niece, now around 11 years old. The short was very deserving of that Oscar, and Christensen took an interesting route to build on that by starting with that same initial story and fleshing it out into a full feature length film.On one hand, I would like to see him go into something new with the same finesse that he showed in Curfew, and I feel like there's directions he went here that didn't feel as genuine as some aspects of the same characters in Curfew.On the other hand, though, he kept many of the key moments and feelings from the short, while fleshing out so much more to it. I do also very much like that Fatima Ptacek returns as Tabitha, the niece, as she had a great performance in the short, and she does just as strong of a job here. This film really wouldn't be as strong as it is without her.Christensen plays the lead role as well as directing, and while he's good in front of the camera, it's behind the camera that's really what impresses me. The style and flow of the short was good, but he does so much more here, and there's a very strong visual presence in so many scenes that it really sticks with me. This includes not only some of the more fanciful parts, like an expanded version of the music number from the short to simple shots, like the phone on the floor at the start of the film.What really strikes me is how he managed to take a short and really not dilute it when he extended it out to feature-length, and it still maintains its emotional center, and I think that shows a lot of creativity and skill as both a writer and a director. I really hope that this film does well enough that it opens the doors to more work by Christensen, although I can't help but feel that with the quality of this film, it will do so.