Let Them All Talk

This film is very human, very touching and real, and oh so Steven Soderbergh. Except for his most commercial efforts, all of Soderbergh's films are experimental in some way or another and many have also used improvisation, like this film. If you've lived a life and have had strange changes in your friendships with groups of people over the years, you will get a lot from this film and be able to relate to it and all the interesting characters. People's ideals and motivations change throughout their lives, and it's reflected here. The past is remembered differently by different people. While some can move on from the past, others cannot. Some people grow and change while others remain the same. The story in the film reflects all of this beautifully. Maybe if you're still very young, relatively inexperienced, and haven't done much, or lived, or traveled, this isn't the movie for you. But if you are okay with a film that takes its time and sometimes meanders to strange places, but is always fascinating, like a life well lived, watch, rate and review!

I approached this title with extreme skepticism, but from the beginning it spoke to me in a realist, naturalist and unpolished sense. Every conversation you hear feels raw and improvised like in real life however there is huge contrast when it comes to the flow and the planning of the film which feels effortless and elegant. It is a surprisingly beautiful piece of cinema touching on an artist's social struggle and the many ways one can touch other people's lives. In my opinion, essentially it is a film about the intricacy of everyday relationships and an artist's struggle between their social life and their work. It is about self-obsession and betrayal. And the loose way these themes have been portrayed in, gives you an odd sense of rhythm, the kind that you find in an actual conversation. At the end of the day the film feels like a conversation, and a beautiful and moving one at that. With the help of brilliant acting and simple but alluring cinematography.

I understand that they thought they were creating a "life like" cinematic piece but this movie is living proof that if you don't have a good story then no matter how perfect the acting is nothing will save your movie. This movie had NO story. No plot. Absolutely nothing happened. I'm not even joking - in the 2 hours it took me to watch this movie way more interesting things happened to me while I was sitting on the couch then in this movie - I went to the restroom a couple of times, got a few texts, ate dinner... There were so many random little "wtf" scenes here that went absolutely nowhere. The dialog is such a drag.... no one actually finishes their sentences. Everyone just rambles on and on for hours. Kind of like how I'm doing right now only 100 times worse. For the love of god - do yourself a favor - and skip this garbage. Let's show filmmakers that we deserve at least a good story, if nothing else!

What an enormous disappointment.

I was very much anticipating this. Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, and Candice Bergen - what a cast!

What a bore. It felt like there was no script, that it was all ad-libbed and nobody knew what to say or how to bring any story.

ZERO character development. Almost NO conflict. Maybe five lines of conflict for the first 90 minutes. Then one scene sort of out of nowhere. It was strange.

The kid playing the nephew could hardly act. And apparently is incapable of washing nor brushing his hair.

The only thing I can figure is that they wanted to be directed by Steven Soderbergh. And with the music crescendo at the end, it made you feel like Soderbergh thought he just directed something deep. Instead it was almost two hours of... nothing.

Knowing ahead of watching that the dialog was totally unscripted and improvised I found myself appreciating the true art form by the actors. Knowing how petrified they all were during the shoot, it's never apparent from their seamless performances. They were all given a frame to stay in and also an ending to each scene. The rest is them and their own words and reactions. Shot in only 8 days, the film is a triumph of modern day filmmaking. My only criticism was the ambient lighting was at times distracting.