Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008)

I was laying in bed last night, scanning channels and came across 'Sweet Nothing in My Ear'. I hit info and up came that Jeff Daniels was starring, so I figured what the hell--five minutes and I had to see it through to the end regardless of how late at night it was.The portrayal of deaf communication for hearing listeners is fantastic, I loved the voice-over approach because personally I find subtitles distracting and obviously not everyone who watched the film would be able to understand sign language on it's own, so I loved how they tackled that problem, it really broke the barrier, and got across exactly what the characters themselves were trying to say; deaf people are no different nor less able than hearing people!The acting is great, I was impressed with Jeff Daniels portraying emotion over his son and wife, especially since the last time I had seen him was when he was hanging out with Jim Carrey and driving a Dog-Van!In conclusion (to my first ever review on here, so be gentle!) I would definitely recommend checking this movie out as it's heart-warming and very eye-opening. 4/5.Thanks for reading :)

We get nice close-ups of people's faces for minutes at a time. Every once in a while you can see a finger or hand flit by. For a film in which the standard mode of communication is American Sign Language, shouldn't you keep the signed conversation on-screen? Also, were the actors specifically directed to act deadpan? I have seen Marlee Matlin act very expressively before, so some other force must have been at work. During scenes of intense argument and emotion, even depicting a turning point for some of the characters, we have minutes of camera switches between characters' faces. No signing visible on screen. No facial expression to tell you who's angry, who's hurt, who's sympathetic, who cares.

I half expected the ending to be just as it was, which was why I gave it a nine instead of a ten, just because I found it a bit predictable. I figured that Marlee wouldn't want to be in a movie where the character actually went through with the cochlear implant surgery, but at least it was left open for the viewer to wonder about whether or not the boy ended up having the surgery.One thing I found interesting was that they used the "snake bite" sign for cochlear implant instead of signing "c" "i" - which some people who have chosen the CI route find offensive. I found that interesting but in no way did I find they slanted things for either side. Both sides really were equally portrayed; I could detect no bias whatsoever. The most important thing to me was ultimately displayed in this film - that this is an intensely personal decision a family must make, one that is right for them. It is not for the deaf community, or the hearing world, or a judge to decide - it is the family, and that was, to me, the message of this film.As the parent of a child with a profound hearing loss, I appreciated the way this movie was done. Great job!

Not usually a fan of Hallmark movies, I decided to watch this one anyways and I fell in love from the get go. I felt that this movie was brilliantly written to include all point of views and it handled touchy matters perfectly.A overall movie shows the struggle of a deaf mother and a hearing father struggling to decide if a cochlear implant is right for their child and while the mother is against it, the father is for it. They try and see each other's views but have a hard time doing so.Afraid that this movie would offend some viewers who had some personal experiences similar to the movie, I felt relieved to see how they wrote these matters into the story. While it may make some people ponder and feel uncomfortable, it actually puts it all out on the table and forces the viewer to see all views. It hit the target perfectly. Having an implant myself and still using ASL as my first and primary language, I actually felt comfortable rooting for both sides and hoping they would come to a perfect solution.I will have to say kudos to this well made movie and not to mention that the cast were brilliant as well. A very well done movie. I had to give it a ten star. Very good intro to those who have no idea about issues that can arise in the deaf community. Great job.