Too much of everything

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The ONLY good thing about this film is seeing a youthful Brad Pitt, before fame grabbed him. Yes, the landscape in pre-war Yugoslavia is beautiful as well. But truthfully, this movie is a dog. Terrible script, and awful acting, like some kid's junior high school film project. The dual personality Rick/Man in Black Leather Mask didn't really go anywhere. Frankly, with the mask on, Pitt is neither interesting, risky, or scary. The "carpe diem" theme has been done a million times before, and a whole lot better. Worst bar fight scene in film history too. The father seemed to be a good, sympathetic character, but the actor seemed to be in a straight-jacket, unable to really go with the feelings a father in his circumstances would be going through. My guess is this low budget, direct to video disaster eventually did better than break even just because of Pitt's fame, but trust me, it's not worth the two bucks.

I tend to dislike movies with melodramatic aspects, but this one actually works, though it doesn't really look to me like Brad Pitt in it has a condition that keeps him out of the sun, he was as toned and lightly-tan in this movie as in any I ever saw him in (apparently he had nothing to do inside in the dark but crunches :)). The locales are beautiful, the light is that Adriatic sunlight that is so marvelous, that the movie is great to see just from a cinematographic aspect. And Mr. Pitt actually did some much more than just getting by/decent acting in this one, one of the hardest things to do in the profession is to be the object of a tearjerker, and he successfully pulls it off. It is a shame he was just compensated some 10k-12k for this picture and in some recent ones so much for so little(but then he has had his distractions so I shouldn't carp). Excellent performances by the father and love interest characters round it out.(The faith-healer aspect was a bit jarring, as I was not aware that this had been a Yugoslavian/Serbo-Croatian tradition and it seemed a bit New-Agey to me, though I have since been shown an Ivo Andric story where it was mentioned in that region in an 1890s setting so it is presumably legitimate background). The other elements-sound, direction, etc. were up to high-quality low budget studio production in the States, and better than most of those. The dialogue flows well, and the original language is clearly English, this is _not_ a dubbed movie. I am surprised it went to video directly, I feel it could have easily gone to a successful theatrical release. Much much worse has done so, and profited greatly. It deserves a look-see.

I do not like Brad Pitt even a little, and I do not watch love dramas. And when this came on TV in the early A.M. I almost didn't watch it, the description was so stupid and squishy. But I put it on 20 minutes late, and found it almost instantly engaging. I had no idea I was watching Brad Pitt, who is usually mis-cast in movies he doesn't belong in such as 'Cool World' and 'Se7en', and was intrigued by the chemistry between his character and the father. I really liked the scene where the father went back to the bar looking for the Americans, even though the fighting was unconvincing, and loved it when he popped the barkeep in the forehead heheh. I was so charmed by the woman that I wished I was dating her myself. Interesting and disappointing that there are no pictures of her on google. The ending was unique in that it ended abruptly with it's point having been made and went straight to credits while you were still thinking about the finality of it. An American film would have drawn the ending out laboriously with plenty of 'tragic' sounding music to try to look "deep". Like I said, this isn't my genre, and I truly dislike Brad Pitt, but if this film even moved *me*, what the hell is everyone else complaining about?!

I saw the review of the film last night and since it was a Brad Pitt film and the plot sounded interesting, I looked anxious for it.I can't say I didn't enjoy the film, it was touching and Brad Pitt did a good job considering it was one of his first roles, and the girl was pretty OK. However, I think his character lacked a bit in depth and sending emotion. The meeting scene in the bar was well done and their dialogues were pleasant, if not for being too deep, then just for Brad Pitt's presence.But I expected much more from such an interesting story line, and I think the fault for the final outcome is definitely the director's. The film lacked a lot in credibility, and what could have been a really tear jerker left me unable to cry, but with a lump in my throat and the feeling something was wrong about the movie...The ending scene with him completely full of blisters looked very unbelievable, when just the evening before he only had a few red lines on his chest. It's true the magic 3 day period was over, but it couldn't have happened all so suddenly.Then his skin and hair looking so perfect, considering he had spent all his life trapped in that suffocating leather costume...The fight scene, totally bad, when his father knocks three guys down with a slap...And a scene with a topless bimbo, disgusting and out of place.But if able to ignore some cheesy scenes and concentrate on Brad Pitt's performance, the film is not bad after all. It's just that it could have been much better...