Beyond the Ocean

If I had written this review as I left the theater, it would have been vastly different. Though I felt that the acting was excellent, the lack of a coherent plot and a "beginning, middle, end" type of story left me feeling cheated. I was simply annoyed with the director for wasting my time.

Over the next day, though, something happened to my perception of the movie. As I was sitting and chatting at a Sunday brunch with a dozen people or so, I kept having images from this movie flit through my mind... Connections with my life and with the conversations ranging over a dozen subjects kept materializing. This is particularly surprising because I had seen "Beyond the Ocean" at a film festival and it was just one of nine movies I had seen over the preceding three days.

I was so put off by the movie that I left before the Q&A session with the director. I wish I could have talked with him the next day.