Puzzle

This film touched me deeply. It made me think. It made me feel human.

Kelly Macdonald is a wonderful talent! I was first impressed with her in "No Country for Old Men". She totally blew me away in "Puzzle"! That she did not win major awards for this only shows how shallow Hollywood, and perhaps this entire generation, has become.

This is a MUST SEE FILM!

I managed to attend the European premier of this at the opening night gala of the Edinburgh Film Festival. In the past some of the movies chosen to open the Edinburgh festival have been poor quality and chosen due to their links with Scotland. However in this case they managed to pick a movie which may just be one of the best on show this year. The story is about a mother of two who seems more of less content with her family life but on her birthday is presented with a jigsaw puzzle. Her life is so predictable she knows what her husband will say before he does. Completing this puzzle seems to give her a sense of achievement which she doesn't seem to be able to find anywhere else in her life. This sets her off on a mission to find more puzzles to complete and opens up a new life for her...possibly. The tone of the movie is somewhat offbeat, quite a few times there were members of the audience laughing at what seemed inappropriate times. You also have to suspend your disbelief for the story to work. It takes a while before you notice the movie is set in the present day. The main character is somewhat strange as well, its unclear if her quirky behaviour is supposed to be due to a sheltered life or something like Aspergers/OCD. The reason I think its like an old fashioned fairy tale, up to a point is there is a handsome rich stranger who comes into her life via her interest in puzzles, who has the potential to whisk her away from a life of domestic drudgery. Its very much a story told from a female perspective at the expense of her husbands' there is more a little bit of selfishness in the main character which to me makes her less sympathetic. Its an interesting film and worth the watch although how you respond will largely be down to whether you find this a movie about someone who is blinkered and selfish or someone escaping from a humdrum life of family responsibility. You decide.

Ah, to wake up one morning after just celebrating one's own birthday and to ask yourself the proverbial question "what have I done with my life?" Well that is exactly what our lead actress Kelly Macdonald does as she plays the wife/mother named Agnes and starts fervently putting the matching pieces together of the new puzzle gifted to her at last nights birthday celebration.

Agnes begins to wonder about her own accomplishments these past 20 plus years of blissful marriage and motherhood to two young men/sons. Agnes finds she is torn between her faithful yet androcentric auto mechanic husband Louie (David Denman), and the new man in her life, (the recently seperated form his own wife) Robert (Irrfan Khan) who she met by accident while purchasing a new puzzle. Robert opens up Agnes's mind to the vast possibilities that still await her in the midst of jointly yet secretively working on new puzzles each week in an effort to compete at world puzzle competitions.

This film is about family dynamics, a mother/woman's awakening, and new beginnings. I do believe that there is a percentage of our population that find their true calling much later in life and although our film heroine Agnes, has led a decent life raising two sons and caring for her husband Louie, Agnes realizes there is more to life than just getting by each day in servitude to her three men.

Both Mrs. Shullivan and I enjoyed this dramatic film, just as we enjoy completing a 1,000 piece puzzle from time to time. I just hope Mrs. Shullivan doesn't feel the urge as Agnes did and start looking on-line for a new puzzle partner.

I give Puzzle a decent 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Or maybe you're all just very young... the movie didn't cover ground that hasn't been covered before, granted. but that's true of most movies at this point in our species's history. so it comes down to the way it's told. and this one is told sparingly and, at times, poetically and funny. lots of it is bittersweet. and the ending will probably prove unsatisfying to many. but this, all told, is VERY good storytelling. deceptively simple, but rich in substance. and lots is being said without any dialogue. it's an 'art film'. parts reminding me of a hopper painting. obviously not for everyone. it's simple. but it's not FOR the simple...

Just a decent piece of poetry for all ordinary people who dared to make extaordinary choices even once in a lifetime. And unlike the puzzles you manage to finish, you got no control of every of your days as life itself, the hardest of all puzzles it is and will be. Real, emotional, cinematography.