True West

More a filmed play than a movie, as you watch this you feel as if you're really up at 2 am on a cool summer night with crickets out the window. Watching it reminded me how over-produced movies are with incidental music and camera changes every 5 seconds.

There are scenes in this movie that caused me to laugh harder than I can ever remember laughing before. Great plot, besides.

A must-see.

I first saw this in college. I read the play first and was very entranced by it. Shepard's writing is hypnotic. This is actually one of his most naturalistic plays.

I was very curious to see what the film would be like and, needless to say, I was completely floored. Sinise and (especially) Malkovich are INCREDIBLE. You will not see acting like this in another movie or TV show, I promise. It is totally out on a limb - hilarious and frequently scary.

In one scene Malkovich is desperately looking for a pencil and can't find one and he (literally) rips a kitchen apart looking. The whole thing is unhinged to the max.

There are parts that will make you burst out laughing and others that are genuinely frightening. It's very hypnotic. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

highly recommended

This is an exceptional piece of acting and so simple yet it will blow you away with how good it is. The acting is inspiring. Gary Sinise being a favourite of mine made me realise all over again how much I admire his work. John Malkovich does not need much explaining, brilliant actor. They are both equally marvellous through out it and just now I've realised how many different ways I've said basically "fantastic" in this paragraph lol. The script is so clever and I couldn't help laughing, it's just so funny at times. I want this on video so bad! Anyone who is yet to watch this enjoy it, you really have no other option but too lol. 10/10

I saw this around 2AM on Alabama Public Television (of all places) last summer and have been trying to find out what it was ever since. Film quality was camcorder, but once I started watching I couldn't stop. It seemed so different from anything else I had seen them in- This was made the year I was born, so there's a reason. It was no Forest Gump, Con Air, or Man in the Iron Mask. It was deep. And the acting was powerful. I though I wouldn't like it but it sucked me in and I couldn't stop watching.

What more can you say about the performances that launched two great careers- Malkovich and Sinise. The quality of the filming is poor, but that is to be expected when trying to translate the live experience to film. It feels very TV studio. But this still doesn't detract from two very visceral performances that should be studied by every actor.