deam

Men who may be enamored of their own prowess should see this machine in action --- if women across the country found out about it, they would have no use for us anymore at all. Watching the movie is both a stimulating and humbling experience.

A thoughtful, somber exploration of the vagaries of depression and the inability of psychological treatment to get at the root of human complexity. Could stand to be edited, comes close enough to cliche to smell it, but always pulls away at the last second. Angelina Jolie is, of course, perfect, but Winona Ryder has perhaps the more difficult (i.e., less showy) role and acquits herself well. Destined to be clasped to the bosom of misunderstood 18-year-old girls.

Honest, beautiful, ugly, sneaky, clever, open, cautious, revealing, reckless, wonderfully alive. A seamless criscrossing of the glory and raw-nerve connectedness of youth with the wisdom and foolishness of age, shaking each of them until the truth falls out all over poor Lester Burnham. By the time it's closed its circle, it has done what all the best films do --- it has set your own mind and heart into motion.