The Beginning: First Films of Directors

No matter what year you happen to have, or will, watch this movie in, it will draw you in completely. From the moment Kane mutters the word "Rosebud", to the very end, you'll want to start all over again from the beginning. Nothing overrated about this masterpiece.

A smart and tightly written script with a great cast. Fonda soars as the most reasonable of the 12 men in the jury.

P. T. Anderson is great even in his early days. The story is simple, but the powerful portrayals of the characters is stuff only masters could make work on screen. And Sam Jackson is off-the-wall crazy and amazing, as always.

What a charming movie...Lloyd Dobler must be a twin of mine.

Great early Anderson film.

Not the duos best, but still an entertaining film.

One of the strangest films to talk about in a while. It is comedy yet a great thriller. It's hard to explain what this movie truly does well. Pretty unique experience.

The movie ends. Several people clap, but it is most likely done in sarcasm as I could hear their snickering throughout about the many absurdities shown onscreen. As I precede to leave the theater, I hear words thrown around like "existentialism", "ridiculous", and "retarded" to describe what they just saw. My parents hated the movie. They complained about it the whole way home, at one point my father saying he would rather "have his balls torn apart by rabid squirrels for 2 hours" instead of seeing it again, or seeing it in the first place. I was left confused, dazed unaware of what in the world had just happened. Did Kaufman concoct a masterpiece of the human mind and spirit or lose his way and point by the end like so many people tend to do? All I can firmly say right now is that it is an experience I would never change or what to have not gone through. This is a film that demands a second viewing from the audience to appreciate it for its subtleties and vast ideas of the meaning of life spread throughout.

I can easily say more than half the people that see this will label it is as pretentious. How could you not? Look up the definition of the word and basically this movie fits the description...for those that don't try to find the answers or cannot be contempt with being left uncertain of those answers. The plot doesn't matter. This story is about all people's lives and you will soon be confused about who's who and the whole context of the main character. It's okay, Kaufman probably meant it that way. Somewhere in the movie, a character says when all is done and said, everyone is their own leading actor and that no one is watching you as you lead your life. There are no extras revolving around your life because each of them have their own lives. You cannot expect them to be who you want them to be; they will be what they want themselves to be. All of this is very profound and by the end I believe Hoffman's character realizes this. But for the majority of the movie - and maybe even at the end - the character Hoffman plays is the definition of a selfish person. He only sees himself in everything, hence the extras in his life, etc.

And that leads me into the acting. It's pretty incredible. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a phenomenal actor and I love everything he does, even the mediocre and boring Charlie Wilson's War. It almost seems like he was born to play this role; pitch perfect. Both Samantha Morton and Emily Watson were in this, but I have a hard time right now recalling who played who. It doesn't matter; they were both great in their roles too, representing a confused and muddled woman who has no idea where to go. Hope Davis was also hilarious in her role with her best selling "novels". I can't stress enough how fantastic these actors and actresses were in their roles because that is what makes the movie stupendous and moving.

While Kaufman's newest movie is profound and movie, it is certainly not perfect. The whole idea of the warehouse and NY inside of it is a great one, but it does not exactly equate to something interesting or comprehensible. Repeat viewings might make more sense of it, but as it stands it leaves audiences viewing the movie for the first time lost and confused taking them away from Kaufman's ideas and interesting characters. Also, I have heard this movie is about 200 scenes, twice as many as a normal movie of this length; this is both good and bad. By having this he can display many lives in their full context without interruption, yet at the same time it is too much to handle and everything starts to blend together and become muddled; Kaufman just throws so much at the audience. The movie easily feels like 3 hours at the least. It's enough to make a grown man want to tear his hair out in frustration. Once again though, this is a problem that could be solved with multiple viewings, if anybody even has the patience for that after the first time of having their brain raped with information. The film is more of a joy in the sense that it is so remarkable to watch; definitely not even close to the most entertaining movie I have seen this year though due to the fact that it simply makes you physically and mentally exhausted.

For this experience, I came up with an analogy: it's like eating a whole pie all at once; it's nearly impossible to do. By taking it one slice at a time you can enjoy it and appreciate it but all together will only make you sick and nauseous. See what I did there? Anyways despite the flaws throughout the movie, which may in fact only be flaws with myself and my intelligence, I still full heartedly recommend seeing this as soon as possible. It's life at it's core seen on screen, as simple and complex as that is.

2nd Viewing Response:
There's so much to say, yet I don't feel like it right now. Quite a bit more has come to light after a rewatch, yet I still feel so alienated. This will be great to own one day. More to come later, maybe.

Somehow I don't think this would be nearly as amazing if Tim Burton wasn't involved.

Totally absurd, yet completely hilarious. Whatever you do, don't take this film seriously at all.

If a movie is not supposed to make a lick of sense, then by god, we have found the greatest movie ever made! Also, I now know what the spawn of Satan will look like.