TotallyBlunt

I really don't know what all the negative reviews are about. I quite liked the film and it left me with a good feeling. I found the spacial and inner journey of Liz quite sincere. In real life inner strife and the solutions one finds about them are never very well rounded and perfect as is, apparently, expected from modern cinema. I do think one can find clues of what to enjoy in life, what to strive for. You don't have to go to Italy to enjoy good, healthy food. You don't have to be India to try to find some kind of inner silence in the noisy chaos that is the brain. And you don't have to be in Bali to find your own personal Javier Bardem. No, this film doesn't give you an a-ha moment that will solve all your problems. And yes, it is very enjoyable.

I found it difficult to follow the story. I am not sure there was a story, because a story isn't just about a series of events, it is also how people take them. Normally, when a film is slow, it gives you time to understand the characters, the mood, the thoughts and feelings associated with the events. This film was slow, but it gave me precious few of those. I didn't see why I should be interested in the Jack character. I didn't see what was going on in his inner world that makes his story worth telling. The "friendly" pastor, handing out trivialities, was quite annoying at times. The secretive customer was too striking to avoid notice in a small town. The feelings that Jack and Clara conveyed were pale, and didn't move me as a watcher. The only things I was left with, I suppose, were memories of nice Italian small-town scenery and a longing for good French cognac. Pointless. I should have read the book instead.

I love romantic comedies and what's more, I'm in a long distance relationship. So I watched this film both laughing and with twinges of the heart.The feelings and most of the situations described are realistic. That is what I really like about this film. It is light entertainment, but it doesn't fall into the trap of the unlikely, it doesn't use easy solutions to make the story line work.

What really got my attention was how fast some situations were presented and then ended. The interesting thing was, however fast they were told, you still got what it was saying, be it the event described or the feelings associated. I am not sure this was intended or was an accident because all of those scenes were being crammed into a 102 minute film. Whatever the reason, it worked by way of story telling. My only objection would be, the way we, real people experience things differently. When events arise we have associated feelings and even when the events are resolved quickly, associated feelings stay for some length of time because of related hormones released into the bloodstream. I know this sounds very picky and too smart for this review's own good, but I believe a good story reflects how we react to situations rather than just present events one after the other.

All in all, I recommend this film.