Five Nights in Maine

The director's use of merciless close-ups and hand-held camera actually very soon began to hurt my eyes, turning me off about whatever was happening on screen. We are given about thirty seconds to get to know the soon deceased wife, and so we have little connection with her. The husband is a blank pager as well: other than the fact that he is black (the deceased was white) we know nothing about him. Now I could have been patient and allowed the movie to tell me more about these people, but not through those shaky close-ups. Off it went!

I'm surprised this film gets any poor reviews. It is well scripted, stunningly acted, artfully filmed, and perfectly edited. The photography is the narrator, almost a character in itself-- intimate right up to the point of discomfiture yet neither artsy nor self-aware. The story seems, at least, to unfold as life unfolds-- you discover what's happened at the seeming pace of real-life awareness... but only seeming, of course, which is the film's brilliance.

What I like best about Five Nights is that it deals with a universal situation without triteness or cloying sentiment.

Sorry if this sound like a PR blurb, but this film is notable and beautiful and worth seeking out. It's baffling that anyone could miss this.

It's about pain, loss, pain of loss, unimaginable and infinite, a beautiful movie, 5 days in Maine, in the presence of the ex mother-in-law, good dialogues, a lot of pain and longing represented, hurts, sensitive, sore, beautiful, the pain of mother and husband...

Let's say the inciting incident (or rather accident) happens early on in the movie. And while it is always important to know someone to mourn them (especially the way she's being mourned here), we do have to do that while on the journey. The journey of moving on, which may sound like a pun, but is anything but funny.

So this is full on Drama and anyone who lost someone dear to them, by whatever circumstances, should be able to empathize even without a deep connection from the get go. Still this is heavy and the question is if you want to watch something like that. If you do there are the actors who really do their part as good as possible. Dianne West and our main character are the driving forces, but it's also nice to see Rosie Perez back in Action. Decent enough, if you can cope with it

Sherwin (David Oyelowo) is suffering after the death of his beloved wife. He goes to spend some time with his estranged terminally ill mother-in-law Lucinda (Dianne Wiest). Both are suffering and both are distant from each other.

This has two exceptional movie stars doing emotional material. This should be good, but it feels like it doesn't want to dive into the material. It works around it. I just want the movie to force the issue. It needs to raise the intensity. While it may be realistic, It is not dramatic. This has enough for a short. At a shorten 82 minutes, it still feels way too long.