If you're looking for originality, this is not the film to see. The script is so predictable that my friend and I were literally able to guess the next lines in some scenes, and sometimes the dialogue is very movie-of-the-week. However, there are some standout performances among the cast.
Lynn Redgrave plays Celia, an eccentric old writer hashing out a manuscript on a manual typewriter in her home on a barren island. (Think "Old Rose" in Titanic) She meets Clare (Julia Brendler), a teenage girl who has recently lost her boyfriend in an accident and has been brought to the island by her mother Fiona (Alberta Watson), who just inherited a house there. Clare is very angry at life and her mother is at her wit's end about how to help her. She meets Celia and, out of boredom and a desire to stay far away from her mother's attempts to get her to talk, starts going to her house to listen to her tell the story she is writing up - a tale of a young girl who also lost her love in an accident many years earlier. As she narrates, we have flashback sequences of Celia's story with Kirsten Dunst and Trent Ford playing the lovers in that tale. The end result is that Clare is able to put aside her anger and deal with her grief.
Brendler, an unknown in North America, gives a solid performance as the furious-at-fate daughter, and she works well with always-stellar actresses Redgrave and Watson. Dunst is cute but her character isn't believable, making too many abrupt transitions from tomboyish prankster to fishing industry advocate to romantic heroine without any real explanation of just what motivates her (for instance, why does she care if it's fishing that supports the islanders, or some other business? Because she was born on a fish gutting table? This is never explained well.) Trent Ford is nice eye candy but needed more experience to pull off his role.
Our biggest gripe was the editing. This movie flashes back and forth from past to present more times than you can count, often so quickly it's like a bad MTV music video. Please, stop this person before they edit again.
Overall, a decent movie but nothing you haven't seen before. Worth watching for the performances of Brendler, Redgrave and Watson. We both think Brendler is going places and are interested to see what she chooses next.
Lynn Redgrave plays Celia, an eccentric old writer hashing out a manuscript on a manual typewriter in her home on a barren island. (Think "Old Rose" in Titanic) She meets Clare (Julia Brendler), a teenage girl who has recently lost her boyfriend in an accident and has been brought to the island by her mother Fiona (Alberta Watson), who just inherited a house there. Clare is very angry at life and her mother is at her wit's end about how to help her. She meets Celia and, out of boredom and a desire to stay far away from her mother's attempts to get her to talk, starts going to her house to listen to her tell the story she is writing up - a tale of a young girl who also lost her love in an accident many years earlier. As she narrates, we have flashback sequences of Celia's story with Kirsten Dunst and Trent Ford playing the lovers in that tale. The end result is that Clare is able to put aside her anger and deal with her grief.
Brendler, an unknown in North America, gives a solid performance as the furious-at-fate daughter, and she works well with always-stellar actresses Redgrave and Watson. Dunst is cute but her character isn't believable, making too many abrupt transitions from tomboyish prankster to fishing industry advocate to romantic heroine without any real explanation of just what motivates her (for instance, why does she care if it's fishing that supports the islanders, or some other business? Because she was born on a fish gutting table? This is never explained well.) Trent Ford is nice eye candy but needed more experience to pull off his role.
Our biggest gripe was the editing. This movie flashes back and forth from past to present more times than you can count, often so quickly it's like a bad MTV music video. Please, stop this person before they edit again.
Overall, a decent movie but nothing you haven't seen before. Worth watching for the performances of Brendler, Redgrave and Watson. We both think Brendler is going places and are interested to see what she chooses next.