Empty Spaces

The beauty in this film lies in both its simplicity and its sheer realism. It tells a seemingly straightforward story about a man at a turning point in his life, his actions and feelings and how they affect those around him. The camera lingers on the actors long after most directors would have called "cut!" And the story is all the better for it. We see those in-between moments, and at times the angst and the emotion feels all too real. There are no metaphors in real life, and it's the same in this film. It feels almost like a documentary, and you start to wonder if the people on the screen are really even acting, or just living out their lives while we watch.

Empty Spaces is not a "family" film in the way that Bambi or Lassie are family films. Rather, it is a film about a family, starring a real-life family, and, from what I can tell, produced by a family. There are no big special effects, but rather an honest and up-close look at some dysfunctional lives. Don't watch this one with the kids (there's cursing and innuendo) unless of course you want them to get a look at some real life situations. Maybe it would do them some good. Apart from that, the film is very well-made from a technical standpoint, despite the obviously modest budget. It is not a documentary or a home movie, but it does incorporate what appears to be real home movies of the main actors as children, which is an added bonus. The real treat here is the special dynamic shared by the real-life brothers, which really gives their characters added layers of depth and believability, and which certainly makes them far more interesting to watch. In my eyes, they do it better than Luke and Owen Wilson ever could.

This movie is awesome. Dude gets divorced so he takes out his life savings and buries it in the woods where his ex-wife can't get her hands on it. That's just good economics. It's smart is what it is. Maybe you think its boring but if you don't like it your stupid. Figure it out. Its not a fast-paced rollercoaster but more of a slow, sinister ride that can still be just as fun and its a nice change of pace for once. Movies don't need to all be the same and this one proves that. Its an observation of one man's life and we see everything through that lens so that we pick up on the subtle details without being delivered all the information directly. Do we love this guy or do we hate him? I found myself on both sides of the equation at different points in the film, although I'm not really sure if weather we are meant to sympathize. Maybe we're just meant to watch and observe and make up our own mind and enjoy the ride! Toodles.

OK, so I will get this out of way and say that yes, this film does have some audio issues, but they are small and forgivable, and so did "Come and See," which is nonetheless considered a masterpiece. So we can move past that. Now, very often I overhear people talking about a film with a heart, which is to say that it moved them in some way. Well "Empty Spaces" is a film with a brain like no other that I've seen in a long time. It does not dumb anything down for the audience, but at the same time it tells a simple story. The brothers don't call each other "brother," and if we don't figure it out on our own then we simply don't figure it out. Nothing gained, nothing lost, just as it should be. And yet the plot is so simple, in fact, that it turns out to be exceedingly clever in its simplicity. It pulls no punches, as the saying goes. Unfortunately, I do not believe that many other viewers, not ever those who enjoyed this film, understood its entire meaning. It is such a unique viewing experience that most were undoubtedly caught up in the novelty of the thing. Truly, the director never cuts away from the action (or inaction) of the main character, when literally any other director would. It may come across as slow or boring to some, but it is in fact hypnotic. There is so much subtext in what is left unsaid. I have seen this film three times, and each time it is a different film, because each time I pick up on something new. It is truly fascinating.

The main thing that prevents the viewer from getting into this, or at least for me, was the completely pointless chopped up editing and the camera going into weird angles. All it does is disrupt the continuity, although what masquerades as a plot here really meanders to nowhere. The music is annoying and in no way matches up with the onscreen action, for lack of a better word. The few positives here don't counteract all the other amateur ploys they use to try and draw the viewer in. I don't appreciate when they waste ten minutes to hammer a point home that could have been made in one minute. No, nothing works here. More art house crap.