Days and Nights (2014)

Honestly I had no idea what was happening throughout... Well, the entire film. And normally, I love obscure character driven stories like this appeared to be set up as. I also had high hopes because of the stellar cast, but that was little help. Ben Whishaw was literally the ONLY actor who managed to hold my full attention or make me feel any emotion, and I found myself becoming irritated during the parts of the film that didn't involve his character. **** spoiler alert here ****And I didn't even know what the hell his character was doing. I haven't read the play that this movie was based on, so when things were implied, I never got them. The whole thing is so disjoint, and then randomly Christian Camargo's character leaves, and then hits something with his car, which is implied to be Eva from her shoe, but this isn't ever made explicit, then it fast forwards to three years later. Then, this ending confused me so much that I just HAD to look it up. Both Camargo and Whishaw leave the table, distraught, and then you never see Camargo's character again, but Whishaw runs down and Eva shows up again - so the car crash didn't kill her, I assumed, wrongly. So she congratulates him and then runs away, we see Whishaw go after her unsuccessfully, and the scene goes back to the dinner table. You hear a gunshot, and it's clear someone has killed them self, but you're not told who. The way the ending is shot, either Camargo's or Whishaw's character could've done it, but neither had been developed enough for me to figure out who. I had to read about the play, Seagull, to figure out that it was Whishaw's character after he had apparently had a hallucination of Eva coming back - I have no idea how the hell anyone is supposed to put that together from this film!! None! ***** end spoilers *****So, to conclude, this movie is incredibly confusing and only worth watching if you're a huge Whishaw fan like myself, and are willing to put up with the rest of it for the sake of having seen all of his films; but be warned, even his captivating talent is not enough to make any sense of how the story unfolds. Camargos acting is mediocre, which upset me as I have been a fan of his in multiple other places, Katie Holmes does an okay job but is given a boring character whose presence itself does nothing for the film, and none of the other performances even warrant mentioning.Prepare to be disappointed if you go into this film hoping to get anything substantial out of it.

I would say the finale of this film could be a spot-on summation of the average viewer's overall demeanor for being suckered into watching the film and possible self-destructive bent to paint the walls with their gray matter. After wading through the many unsympathetic, and downright tedious characters depicted in this long-winded overblown film, I can't believe I hadn't shut it down to watch something more entertaining...like a moth circling around my living room lamp. Allison Janney, William Hurt, Jean Reno...Katie Holmes (oh well can't blame her for trying anything to put more distance between herself and Psycho-entologist ex-hubby Cruise) one might think the acting talent could make this movie worth my while. Wrong. I suppose even the best of actors can't make a turd dance a foxtrot.

I'm 30 minutes into this movie and haven't a clue what it's about or what's going on. The dinner scene left me feeling out of touch with the entire cast and story. This movie seems to be a failed attempt at something "artistic" which, it....is....not. It makes no sense, has no story line and is boooooooring. What a waste of my time. I can't believe some of these big name actors would even cast themselves in something this bad. Rotten Apples abound.A lot of gibberish that makes no sense, a lot of emotions that make no sense and actions that make no sense. People trudging through the woods to watch some crappy so called "movie" on a bed sheet and the young guy is talking in a microphone whilst some unknown female is on a bed doing .... I don't know what shes doing.

I can't actually recall an experience like that before. I had an ache where one thinks his heart is and isn't from the opening scene. It was brilliant as to how many stories where being told...not just the obvious, but the undercurrent of painful love amongst everyone. The writing was magnificent, but the changes were brilliant...the Eagle...amazing metaphors. I was absolutely stunned by the actors and their brilliance and reality, especially Katie Holmes with her quiet desperate life and then realization when she may lose it. The painful and complicated love between every character was almost overwhelming but balanced by the humor, which is often the case in real life. The stunning set and beautiful cinematography startles one from the outset with the lake shot, and The Visconti like use of lighting and color was something I have NOT experienced since...well Visconti. The moving camera from window to window initially sets up the vignettes that the entire film revolves around and tells the story. So complicated in subject, so real in presentation. I could spend hours talking about this film and far more than writing about it. What an achievement....what a piece of art....what an accomplishment...the first real FILM I have seen in many many years. Most importantly it will impact and change peoples lives. It did mine.