A beautifully shot and nuanced film with 'the most beautiful couple ever cast in an indie' say Matchflick on the back and I sorta have to agree, though while the luminous Robin Tunney and swoonsome Joel Edgerton are exactly that, they don't have the plastic, sexless manufactured 'beauty' that Hollywood swears by.
Robin is Izzy on the point of marrying her partner Peter (played by Joel), they are very happy with each other, prepared for the next step and ready for domesticity-until one day when a random act of violence out of nowhere switches the step entirely and they find themselves in a hypnotic suffactory bubble where conflicting emotions are easier left in a muddle at the back of the head, confusion up front forces one not to deal or so they think. But with virtual marriage plans at least aborted, colleagues left in ignorance and their parents themselves feeling the fallout and struggling with what to do about it, things are threatening to burst soon.
This film simmers softly with the true power a real top-class heavily unsung indie drama needs. We recognise ourselves in and as these people, feel for them, heart thump as we fear/hope what they may do next to make things better/worse/stay the same. And it gets under your skin-all of these people make you think you would react as all of them have done to the situation, should you have 8 different lives each time. You never know what's going to happen next, thoigh there's always the feeling it may not be good but there's still a tantalising offer of hope on show throughout. What really shocked me was the (quite natural) feeling several characters had to their quite idyllic-looking neighbourhood after the traumatic event struck, yet not before, of course, and nor would anyone, probably-it was hardly a sink estate. Then again...if you can't feel safe on your own street...in your own home.
Annoyingly this was made in 2005 and only comes over here now-but that's always the way with the best unshowy non-blockbustery nor Academy-sniffing gold. Go seek it out-no extras annoyingly, but unsurprising for a film like this where all involved let the film speak for itself and boy does it speak and make you feel and think. And a rare turn from Cybill Shepherd, reminding us how good she can be, Elliott Gould impresses quietly as Robin's father, and a surprising reappearance by Aussie actress Alanna Ubach.
