The story moves quite rapidly for the first 30 minutes. It utilizes cuts to progress the plot rather than ease the transitions with viable dialogue. This lead to the introductory 1/3 of the movie leaving me without a connection to the characters since their personalities weren't even half developed.
However, things take a turn after the rising action occurs. The story starts to slow down and take a steady pace, easing me in rather than just throwing me into another random scenario along with the couple. Though, after one of the characters makes a crucial mistake and the events thereafter occur, things were wrapped up too quick. Meaning that trouble just arrived and 3 minutes later everything is ok again and we're not on to the next day. I truly with the situation was drawn out more to increase the intensity of the scene.
The ending was a little transcribed but, the tone was correct in every way. Leaving me feeling a bit hopeless and dejected. I felt the last 40 minutes of the film were it's strongest, and there, I saw the characters develop and was finally able to connect to them. That is what made the ending effective, which is why I don't understand why the same effort and writing couldn't have been included earlier in the movie. I dare say that it felt like two different people wrote this, with the better one taking over about halfway through the story.
Lastly, the score was a hit or miss. I found myself drawn away from the scenes because the music wasn't matching the tone nor actions of the characters. Other times, the score did just that, but not so much so that it increased my engagement with the scene. But, the camera angles made me feel like I was with John and Karen in their English flat, so the camera work was in no doubt the strongest part of this movie.
I actually enjoyed the film, but I'm not certain I could recommend it to someone else. But, if you are reading this to determine if you should watch it or not, I say if you are already here expressing interest, you should go ahead and watch it.
