Fairhaven

I feel like I've seen a version of this film so many times. White person goes home to semi-gritty Northeastern town for funeral/other issue, meets up with those who stayed, they all have problems. The cinematography is nice but it's not stunning, and it's certainly not Night of the Hunter (seriously, other reviewer?).

This was a surprisingly good movie. I'm not going to try and write a "pro" review. I'm simply sharing my opinion, and I'm a person who has seen A LOT of movies, and has studied fine art...so: The cinematography is amazing. It's like the color version of The Night of the Hunter. I grew up in the Northeast on the water so it really hit home. It added a genuine romance to the homes and common sceneries you walk by everyday and never look at or imagine in the way it was presented in this film. It's almost like an old chair you have in your back yard that a photographer makes look like it belongs on the cover of a travel magazine. The story is pretty hard hitting and well told. That said, however, the characters take too long to blossom as well and suddenly it gets cut really short. In other words, just as I was starting to get into the story...it ended. So for me that was the downside. Otherwise this definitely gets a WATCH. It's quite good.

You know, it isn't easy to make a good movie. To begin with, I believe you need a good script. That is to say, in my mind at least, the story has to be complete. You can have great acting, great direction, great film making and yet, because of the script itself, it's literary values, the film isn't complete. The story isn't complete. That is the case with this movie. (Spoiler Alert) Two of three main characters are released, so to speak, from their torment. The third character, the one played by Messina: we don't really know what happens to him. He goes back into the oblivion. These are my film aesthetics: the viewers need to have the complete story. It's fine if a character doesn't come to terms with his life, but we want to know how. Messina's character has screwed up his life. He's run away from a tough situation with a woman he loved and he has refused to understand his parents. His girl has found another guy. His life has been emptied out. But the movie leaves him pretty much where it found him, except now he most likely knows he has screwed up. It's not enough. I obviously hate it when filmmakers leave things hanging. I really believe there's a laziness to it. If they can't complete the story they shouldn't make the film.