Hide Away (2011)

The plot revolves around a man trying to erase his memories of loss/grief and he spends an year in a isolated (but very beautiful) place and takes up a project to bring back a dilapidated sail boat to glory to forget his sorrow. Very good capture of emotions, you have the very best actors giving an awesome portrayal. Almost all characters are undergoing/exude some form of grief/sorrow. However I didn't quite connect to it, the director should have explored the characters of the Superstore girl and also the waitress further.I felt it was abruptly ended. The audience is kept wondering what happened and why?Very good camera work especially focusing on the changing seasons. Its done very wellI would give high marks for the acting and portrayal of grief and the awesome photography, but the movie didn't connect with me and felt awfully slow & documentary like focusing on the grieving process.Not a movie to watch if you want to watch something cheerful and want the movie to pep you up

We were attracted to this movie because it has Josh Lucas, an actor we enjoy and can be depended upon to create an interesting character. And he does that here, his performance makes the movie worth watching.However not every movie fan will enjoy it. The story is revealed only very gradually, we see him and his wife and two children in a sort of hazy shot, and we figure out that they have disappeared but we don't know why or how. Viewers who stick with it can enjoy a nice drama about a lost man attempting to find his way.Josh Lucas is only known as Young Mariner. He is a valuable businessman who shows up at the small Lake Michigan harbor having just bought a sailboat. "As is." And he soon finds out that it is in very rough condition, very dirty, water in the bottom, no bilge pump, the engine won't start, the sails are in bad need of repair. He seems determined to work through it, the seasons pass, he gets to know some of the locals. Ayelet Zurer has a key role as The Waitress , and also veteran James Cromwell with a key role as The Ancient Mariner , who also has a sail-making shop. At one point the two men are in a small boat, the older man tells the history of that part of the lake, naming a section the "grand traverse", and a comment that life is like that. It is all a "grand traverse" and that seems to be the overall theme of the story.SPOILERS: The man had been having an extramarital affair and we see his wife and children getting into a car and driving away, then shortly being hit by a speeding truck. They all died, the man was distraught, he blamed himself, he nearly killed himself at least a couple of times. But in the end after about a year living there and working on the boat, getting it "ship-shape", he sold the boat to return to his life again, presumably wiser.

A man arrives at a dock, in suit & tie and carrying his suitcase, buys a boat as-is, he seems haunted but we don't yet know why. If you've ever experienced deep grief or a need to hideaway and heal, this film will have a deeper meaning for you, if you've not yet experienced those tortured emotions in life you may not yet understand fully the emotional depths this film represents. I've been there, I am there, and felt the film all the more meaningful for my own experiences. The waterside setting is magical and the story plays against the backdrop of its setting (Traverse City, Michigan) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, The Children's Hour, which given Longfellow's own sad history gives the film even deeper resonance. The typical Hollywood films you'll barely remember a month later but Hide Away will have a lasting impact and this, this, is the film you want to see this Summer. Best work I've seen from Josh Lucas and James Cromwell is, even more than usual, so very memorable as The Ancient Mariner. I'd originally rated this film an 8 but, after viewing it a second time, I changed my review to a 10. Now I'm left wondering what my own boat is...

A young man arrives dockside near an unnamed lake, dressed in a dark suit, and rolling a suitcase behind him. Who is he? We don't know. Why is he there? He's there to buy a boat ('AS-IS' as the seller reminds him.) What is he going to do with it? He's going to repair and restore it. Why?A-ha. There's the central question of the new film "Hide Away," now beginning to get a limited release around the country. Josh Lucas plays the unnamed man and, besides the rolling suitcase, he is lugging some serious baggage around with him. We are never fully told of the tragic events that led to his arrival - and that's just as well – because it's not about what happened or why. This film is about the process of getting past life's most difficult moments and moving on. The Young Mariner (as he's listed in the credits,) takes on the task of repairing the "Hesperus," a broken-down hulk desperately in need of work to return it to its former glory. Yes, the symbolism is a bit obvious. Yes, one must suspend one's disbelief that an individual (who seems to have a high-tech background) would know everything necessary to complete a major overhaul of a sailing vessel (the film does take a shot, somewhat unconvincingly, to explain this away,) but go along with it. There are rewards to be had from this film.Isolating himself from his past, the Mariner eventually finds some comfort in his interactions with those around him. Ayelet Zurer, Jon Tenney, and the magnificent James Cromwell all do yeoman's work as denizens of the marina where the boat is docked. Cromwell, as The Ancient Mariner, appreciates the Young Mariner's situation and speaks to him of his own regret at spending a "year of mooring" (the film's original title – a better fit, thinks I…) Please don't let the subject matter of this film turn you away. It is not a depressing film. It is a quiet, beautifully filmed manifestation of Kubler-Ross's Five Stages of Grief. Often the dialogue is sparse, and one is left to decipher the Mariner's thoughts. Lucas gives a beautifully nuanced performance in which little is said, but volumes are spoken.This film is also enhanced considerably by its wonderful cinematography. Who knew that Michigan could look so good? Filmed in and around Traverse City, there are shots in this film that are stunning in their beauty. The Michigan Tourism Board should acquire the print rights to a couple of shots. Hell, it got me thinking about a visit.Too often small films like this one are lost in the shuffle of big-budget, Hollywood blockbuster summer releases. If you've tired of explosions, aliens, and superheroes, and are looking for something with real substance, seek this one out.www.worstshowontheweb.com