Reviews

Some of the reviews pointed out some valid points. However, as far as Bianca is concerned you should consider that her character had, as a young child in the camp, seen her father killed, her brother had been killed and she had been traumatized by life in a concentration camp. She had learned to turn her emotions off to develop a poker face to hide her inner thoughts and feelings. If you looked into her eyes you could see the blind determination to survive and seek revenge at all costs, in other words she had tunnel vision with one purpose in her mind at all times. I thought the movie did a good job in slowly delving into the characters lives as it related to their personal experiences with nazis and peeled off the layers that had brought them to where they were. Also keep in mind that you have to look beyond North American films and keep in mind the nationality of the movie. I watch a lot of foreign films and you have to look out of your culture.

Right from the beginning the music was irritating and drowned out the dialogue. Plot lacked depth, predictable,the acting sugary sweet ,overly polite and not real. The scenery was beautiful and the conservation theme meaningful which saved the film.

I have just returned from watching the movie "Woman in Gold" with my friend and both of us really enjoyed this excellent movie which I can highly recommend as well worth watching. All the actors played their parts well. Helen Mirren as Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jewish survivor who tries to recover her family's art works,and Ryan Reynolds who plays Randal Schoenberg, her lawyer, were the main actors and did a fine job with many moving moments. I won't go into the story much as the other reviews have all gone over it many times. However, I liked the fact that the story is based on the true life experience of an Austrian woman fighting for justice, restitution,and struggling to find peace from the torment of her past. The movie shows how at times she tries to escape the fight as she is tired and getting older but is spurred on by her able and motivated lawyer. She and her young lawyer struggle against all odds and though at first Randal is not emotionally involved he soon becomes so while visiting Austria and seeing the reality of his own ancestors. Tatiana Maslany who plays the young Maria portrays well Maria's heart wrenching escape from the Nazis in Austria and the separation from her beloved family. The flashbacks are done well and give further substance to the movie. There were some moments of humour to lift the mood of the spectator. After the movie was finished we sat in silence for a while and my friend shed a few tears. It left us thoughtful and moved.

Loved this movie, what a hoot. Rupert and Julie are great together with Rupert being almost poker faced against Julie's animation, which worked well. Laura did a good job as the overbearing mother.Julie of course is marvellous as usual. While this movie will keep you laughing most of the time it also has a poignant side to it as it unravels the secrets in the lives of the main characters. Interesting that it was entitled Driving Lessons as this might lead you to believe this is the main feature of the movie which directly it is not though it certainly could be seen as "Ben" finally being in the driving seat in his own life. Like most things that are funny in life there is always the sad side and there are some moving moments in this movie. Very enjoyable movie and well worth watching.

Actually, I really liked this movie. It was funny and sad and it kept me hooked right to the end. It made one wonder what if we were all put on an island and had to live close together with all our quirks and idiosyncrases exposed. Many of the characters had chosen this Spanish island to either hide or work out their pain or unresolved issues except perhaps the wife of the composer who it appeared was Spanish. I agree with the other commenter, no one in the movie was worried about the priceless piano getting wet except me and the commenter! I feel that the characters were quirky enough to keep one's interest and lots of subplots to make it more interesting. All in all I think this was a good movie.

I found elements of this movie interesting but found myself also thinking"oh no not another bad Canadian movie". So many Canadian movies I have watched offer poor lighting, sound and dark or weird plots with often even weirder endings. Maybe it it because the movie industry here does not have the money for their productions. I think the acting was mostly good but the crafting of the movie in my opinion was very poor and the bad sound became annoying. The story was interesting and intriguing but I just do not feel that overall it was executed as well as it could have been. So much of the background of Maarya was hazy even in the end. However, having said that I did hang in there and watch it until the end so there must have been enough to hold my interest.

This was an excellent movie. At first I felt sick at the level of violence but Mel never tried to hide reality so realized the movie was just being true to the realities of the historical time. The movie was fast and action packed, no room for boredom. One found oneself actually believing one was there and it was all real. The bonus features were definitely worth watching. Whether the ending was true in actual time historically or not it was an interesting twist and left me thinking, poor hero, finally succeeding in running the gauntlet and saving his family only to have to face the new invaders and threat to his way of life from the Spanish. I have always liked Mel as a director he makes us think and feel. This movie is a must to see though would caution parents as might be disturbing for young minds.

I thought this was a good movie and loved the cinematography which was beautiful. It was thought provoking and well acted. I have not seen these actors before but thought they played their roles well. One can almost sympathize with Naomi as Edward was kind of boring and it was difficult to believe he could be in love with anyone as he was stiff and formal. Based on the movie it puts another slant on true love. In our culture people so often dismiss relationships because "there was no chemistry between us" so no point in pursuing the relationship. As the movie shows, love can grow in certain circumstances and under certain conditions..hopefully we would not have to go through a cholera epidemic though! It is in how we deal with adversity that shows our true humanity and worth. Worth seeing movie.

I enjoyed this movie. Wanted a happy ending but life is not always like that. Excellent acting. Demonstrated the restrictions of being in service. Anthony Hopkins energies and focus on doing his duty and not allowing himself romance or even to see to his dying father nor to have an opinion on the very important political happenings that were going on in the house. Emma's frustration with his lack of romantic involvement towards her was especially apparent when she was crying her heart out after having become engaged and his inability to reach out to her except to ask her to see to some domestic duty. Lord Darlington played his part well and even he too presented an inability to show emotion and was naive in his political ideas and his remorse came too late to save him. One cannot help but wonder at the end if Anthony had just asked her to marry him if she might have said yes but he still did not share his feelings about her and her tearful face as she went off in the bus showed yet another opportunity for romance had again been lost.

Found this movie confusing and felt it could have been done much better. Understood some of the focus in the movie, the bringing together of 3 women from 3 cultures living in countries involved in perilous times etc. Found the length of time that the viewer was subjected to crying at the beginning of the movie too long and belaboured the point that was easily grasped in the first few minutes. The superimposing of scenes became annoying and distracted from the quality of the movie, the flashbacks were poorly done and only added to the confusion. The ending left the viewer high and dry without giving any meaning at all to it. In all I did not enjoy this movie it seemed to be allowed to just ramble along and I am amazed it won awards.