Best movie ever!

Admirable film.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Many reviewers denounce 2008's "Vinyan" because it's not a typical horror film, but that's precisely why it's worthwhile. It's original.An American couple in Thailand discover possible evidence that their young son who died in a tsunami six months earlier is still alive and living in the jungles of Myanmar (Burma). They pay some dubious characters a lot of money to go up river into the forbidden country. Things go from bad to worse."Vinyan" is equal parts haunting, beautiful, strange and creepy. The plot is thin but the story maintains your attention. The acting is excellent all around and you believe that these characters are real. The five main characters are Paul and Jeane Bellmer (Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart), a human trafficker named Thaksin Gao, the captain of the small boat named Sonchaï and the couple's liaison, Kim (Julie Dreyfus).Memorable parts abound -- Kim's subtle-but-clear seduction of Paul, the beautiful floating-lanterns at the beach ceremony, the awesome tree fortress, etc.The meaning of the film is ambiguous, but it provokes thought on many things: The nature of grief -- letting go or not letting go, obsession, madness, tribal instincts, going feral and more.As for the tribe of lost kids in the last act, are they vinyan -- angry, confused spirits who suffered horrible deaths -- or are they simply a pack of kids gone wild in the jungle a la "Lord of the Flies"? I say the evidence points to the latter.In any event, "Vinyan" has elements of films like "Apocalypse Now," "The Emerald Forest," "Fitzcaraldo" (or "Aguirre") and the aforementioned "Lord of the Flies".The film runs 96 minutes and was shot in Thailand.GRADE: B+

This film has some of the most beautiful images I have seen in a film in a while. It is a shame that the film lacks substance. Thank goodness for the box that says a couple searches for their son that was lost in a Tsunami because that is never mentioned in the film. All we learn way late in the film is that the child drowned. The film takes us to an eventual old temple where tons of kids with white painted faces are running around like Lord of the Flies. The film gives no answers to the questions it poses. It is not a horror film, more of a drama. We never learn anything about the characters other than Ms Beart never smiles in the film and in fact her facial expression never changes. Rufus is left acting against a bunch of amateurs it seems. Trying to be the logical one in the film but since everything illogical happens he is lost as is this film. There are things to like though, most of it with Imagery. Sound was another good point as well over all creepiness of the kids (albeit without explanation). So, for photographers and cinematographers you will enjoy some wonderful work. For directors, shot selection and placement was very nice. For writers, um, yeah, it lacks everything. The ups and downs, the almost got what we wanted only to be let down. Basically, everything in the SAVE THE CAT BOOK and How to Write a Screenplay. The film starts in a depressing mood and only goes deeper into depression with no hope of satisfaction.

Straight away I must say I agree with most comments in the "I hated this movie" category. However, I am writing this review to point out what I think might have been some redeeming features of it until they were totally spoiled by the fantasy elements and the ridiculous ending.Both my wife and myself were first attracted to it as it was classed as a drama on its TV showing (totally wrong, it should have been a fantasy/horror - there were certainly no thrills in it for us, we do sometimes quite like a good thriller - and then we wouldn't have bothered at all). We also thought the plot sounded plausible - a wealthy western couple losing their son in a tsunami, and then the seriously disturbed mother persuading dad to go with her look for him.On watching the film, we thought it went well along these lines, with the boy apparently being spotted on a video of children playing on a river bank, with one of them wearing a red shirt - possible the Manchester United shirt their son was wearing when he was washed away. This video was seen in a screening amongst wealthy patrons of charities organizing relief for the tsunami victims, also very plausible.So off they go, with some very good shots of the scenery and local means of transport, etc. Unfortunately much of it was at night-time, so we saw little of it. Why do film makers do this, or is it the reproduction on a TV screen? Anyway, that was the first put-off for us. Another put-off was the interminable length of many scenes, where nothing else happened (e.g. when the husband rescues his wife from the sea and they were splashing around in the water for far too long) and we were trying to be patient whilst waiting for the scene to change.As events unfolded, and I will not say more to avoid further possible spoilers, the only other redeeming quality for us was the chance that they might find their son, and we watched it through to the end with this hope in mind.I must add one major criticism of the use of the children in the film, on top of everything that has been said in other reviews. Were the film- makers trying to emulate "Lord of the Flies"? I can understand how boys of rich parents in an English prep school can turn into little savages, but the local children in such a disaster, having lost their parents, would not gang up in the forest like this. I think it was very degrading of the people who live in these areas to suggest they would.Googling child abandonment in Burma does not change my view of this film. This child abandonment is due entirely to the military, of which there is no mention. If there had been, and cut out the fantasy, then it would have been far more successful as a drama, albeit fictional.

Vinyan was without doubt one of the worst things I have ever spent 2 hours doing. Jeanne the lead female character was the most annoying woman I have ever come across, I was actually hoping something painful and awful happened to her after 10 minutes of getting into the film. I could find no empathy with either character I really could not care less if they found their beloved son or not. So many ends were left untied that it became laughable, it seemed the writers started every morning and didn't bother to follow up from where they had left off. Avoid at all costs, I thought I'd seen some bad films until I'd seen Vinyan. EEUuuugghhh