Jimmy P. (2013)

watched it cause it was on TV and I was browsing around and just wanted to see what Benicio was up to. I knew the French guy as well cause I'm being a girl like that so I figured its some sort of indie movie going on. It was nothing glorious about his injury and if you didn't deal with existential angst and having to be honest with yourself and face the mistakes you made ... and the situations that tormented you in the back of your mind there's no point in watching it. Nobodys perfect and there's no way in hell that hes going to make some majestic awesome magical choices that's going to blow your mind :)) and the end is not all happy superlucky cause lifes not like that. you just go on living and have more pain inflicted upon you and find ways to cope with it like watching way too much TV or alcohol and so on..

The other reviewers already provided extensive descriptions about the movie's plot and characters. So I will just skip it. This is a slow-paced movie but it flows in its own pace and takes you with it. There are some parts that you can relate to yourself, even though you are not a traumatized veteran, that makes you go "ahhh I know the feeling" or "It happens to me, too". I loved the way the dreams were shown to the audience. That made the movie more interesting and fun to watch for me. Benicio Del Toro was great as always. He adjusted himself to the slow-pace of the movie so well that it feels so natural. And thank God that I finally could see him at least kiss a lady in a movie. Hallelujah! Although at times, I must admit it was hard to believe that he was Native Indian, especially in the scenes when he is surrounded by real Native Indians, he still pulls it so well and gives a terrific performance, so much that you feel for him, and believe that he is in fact a person with a soul pain. I also loved how well Mathieu Amalric played the eccentric anthropologist although his character's eccentricity was a bit of cliché. He still managed to make me believe in his role. All in all, if you are not into fast-paced action movies or movies with a surprise unexpected turn of events, but more inclined to watch real world movies with a human touch, than you should give this one a chance.

Each of us springs from cultures that form our worldview, guide our behavior, create our sensibilities. But non-whites, especially, are coerced into discarding that identity and, through acculturation, becoming someone that they really aren't, someone who, over time, can no longer understand why they dream of a bear, a fox, and a baby and what in the world those images mean. An early scene in Jimmy P shows a white doctor asking Jimmy to respond to a picture he's shown of some white demonic guy with a knife in what looks like an operating room. Jimmy can't free associate anything from that picture. Not because he's crazy, but because it's meaningless to him. But later he can uncover meaning in a dream that includes a bear, a fox, and a baby. Over a generation or two, Jimmy has lost many connections to his own past and cultural traditions. Although he can still sense them, he can't interpret them as they relate to his own psychological issues. He's broken laws that the dominant cultural doesn't regard as criminal at all. Not understanding this, he punishes himself even though freed by a white court of law. Although Thunderheart may have been more entertaining, Jimmy P is enlightening about the psychic damage that happens when cultural and ethnic peoples are punished for who they are and made to ape other cultures to become accepted.

Firstly, I'm not a movie buff nor am I an expert on the director or anyone else involved in making this movie, I just watch movies based on whether or not I fancy watching them.The acting left me with a feeling of warmth towards the characters, sure it's not a short film, and some of the scenes could probably have been shorter, but I feel that would've taken away from the tonality. The movie seems well written and likable, but the pacing and content won't be everyone's 'cup of tea'. In short, the movie is good, it's not an action movie, there's almost no excitement, but who would read the synopsis and think there would be any? There's really nothing left to say about this film as far as I can see, I'd recommend it, but not to everyone, and can't see a group of lads sitting round with cans of lager enjoying it, it's more of a 'sit and watch alone' type of thing.