Memorable, crazy movie

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

In 1932 in Kingdom County, Vermont, a fire destroys much of the family's hay. They can't feed all their cattle and they can't get more hay, so they have to sell some of their cattle. Quebec Bill used to run whiskey, and that may be the only way to make money. Quebec Bill's father disappeared, according to Aunt Cordelia, as did many who ran whiskey. Quebec Bill came back to Vermont because of his father after working on ranches and as a lumberjack in Montana. Quebec Bill's brother-in-law Henry has run whiskey before, but he's reluctant to now. Wild Bill wants to go along but his mother Evangeline? has to be persuaded. Rat, who helps run the farm, also goes along but isn't sure he wants to. The group crosses the border into Canada, where whiskey is legal. Two monks see nothing wrong with helping out and they agree to store what the guys get. But the guys have no money. They have to steal from the family that sells most of the whiskey, and violence becomes necessary. Wild Bill doesn't want to kill, but he has to. He is occasionally visited by his Aunt Cordelia, who appears and disappears mysteriously. Kris Kristofferson does a great job. Quebec Bill is such a nice person, even though he is tough and willing to kill when necessary. He cares about his son. He loves nature, and there is plenty of nice scenery. And he is a man of faith. He believes Jesus approves of whatever he does.Charlie McDermott is best known as irresponsible and rebellious Axl on "The Middle", but he is a completely different character here. He isn't the brightest student, but he responsible and moral and certainly not rebellious. And yet he would like some excitement in his life.While not a comedy, this movie does provide some laughs. William Sanderson is probably best known as Larry, the brother of the two Darryls, and here he is mostly comic relief, though he takes his faith more seriously than Quebec Bill. Luis Guzman as what sounds to me like Brother Hilarious lives up to that name, though he is only in a couple of scenes. Genevieve Bujold does an excellent job as Aunt Cordelia, who is a voice of reason and provides Wild Bill plenty of guidance and real Christian morals.If you like steam trains, this movie has one, and an engineer who is quite a character.It's worth seeing if you like stories about macho men in the woods.

this film to me is the best craven film so far in his career. the actors are amazing with actors like Lothaire Blouteau, Genevieve Bujould, and the always funny Luis Guzman. i was blown away by the visual effects and the magic realism was complex but very interesting!! i recommmend this movie highly!VERY GOOD!!! i think Charlie McDermott did a great job as young wild bill Bohnone and Kris Kristofferson did his best acting in years as quebec bill bohnome! top notch Dare i say this movie is Oscar Worthy? YES i do! I think that Genevev Bujould should get best supporting actress, Charlie McDermott for best supporting actor, and Jay Craven as best director. this film really blew me away. i still am thinking about it which is the sign of a great movie!

I just finished watching Disappearances at AFI FEST 2006 with about 30 other people in a mostly vacant 1000 seat auditorium. The festival programmer, after seeing the lack of audience, started his opening comments with, "Well at least a few of those attending the festival have good taste in film". Well Mr. Programmer, after watching this film I must answer back "No we don't, and either do you!" This "back-woods" period piece follows young (not so) Wild Bill as he and his mystic family dangerously run illegal Canadian whiskey across the border during America's prohibition. The old-time outlaws (Kris Kristofferson and company) not only need the money to save their ramshackle Vermont farm but want to introduce little Wild Bill to the virtues of manhood.Although handsomely photographed, this adventure story lacks what makes films of this sort good, "tension" and believability. Kristofferson's lackluster performance and dry monologue reminds me of a dream I once had where Al Gore was playing the role of Willy Wonka. I just didn't care and when Wild Bills mystic grandmother appears out of thin air to give him advice it just didn't fit. Yes, I almost fell asleep more than once.Gary Farmer does do a good job as the Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller character; brother-in-law of Big Bill while the teenage Chris McDermott does uses those piercing blue eyes to his acting benefit.But overall expect to see Jay Cravens Disappearances playing at a Block Buster $2 Bin near you.

The movie plot seems to have been constructed from a disjointed dream. There is not enough realism to hold the viewer's interest. The Vermont Farm scene was a failed opportunity to show the way farms were set up and farm families lived which would have been interesting and entertaining. There was little if no research into the whiskey bootlegging trade of the period. The costumes of the Canadians looked like something from the French Revolution, totally unbelievable. The fiddle playing was good and of the time period but Chris's motions while supposedly playing were unbelievable. The owl's appearance was a never explained mystery and the train disappearing into thin air was too much. I couldn't understand how a live trout got frozen into the ice and why two men in the wilderness without food would release the trout, a good food source.