What Doesn't Kill You

This is a down to earth movie in ways the average person cannot know about. There is a way to make a living going day to day lying, cheating, robbing and stealing and this movie keys into it. What you will see here is nothing new. The actors and story effectively convey the hopelessness and no future in this street fighting life. The film captures how you live from one problem to the next buying time in between. Child hood friends growing up with dysfunction is well portrayed here. When love and stability are missing at home, the streets serve as a pseudo mother and father loving you for all the wrong reasons. Getting high, drunk, showing off, bullying people and wanton disregard for woman and authority is in your face showing itself to be not acceptable, but that is all there is in this life. The prison scenes were mild compared to what really happens in there. The actors and the plot effectively convey that it takes more courage to not live this life than to live correctly and earn your right day by day. We are also reminded that when one of the lead actors to atttempts break free, he definitely changes the course for the better for all people in his life. This film will convey a sobering thought. We may not know what things are and which way to always go, but we sure know what they are not and what not to do...Popcorn, a tasty drink and some snack for this one...and look forward to some quality acting by both lead players...Well done

...normally indicates that the film you are about to watch is almost unbelievable - this film is an exception to the rule.

Like The Departed and Gone Baby Gone, What Doesn't Kill You is an engrossing, gritty, sharply written and well-acted drama set on the mean streets of South Boston, which, by the number of movies being set there, is fast becoming as notorious as the bronx.

What Doesn't Kill You has to be the film that will catapult Mark Ruffalo into the big time, his performance is sublime, he plays a character that stirs a number of emotions from inside - easily the star of this gritty, intense tale of two dysfunctional friends.

The guys who made this movie sure have a lot of heart, the title says it all.

A beautiful movie that holds at its centre a story of personal transformation. While Paulie (Hawke) tries to play the best hand with the cards he is given, Brian (Ruffalo) plays along, craps out and eventually learns a different game. An inspiring story of what can happen when someone loves something past themself and gets a little help along the way.

The soundtrack is special. A repetitive, echoed and slightly haunting motif reflects the unspectacular, cold & sparse urban scenery. The music brings a sense of gravity & continuity to the movie, binding the characters & landscape together into 'the cards they have been dealt' as well as pacing the plot development.

The stylistic shooting acts as a vehicle for the story and quickly dissolves into the background as Ethan & Ruffalo capture centre stage from the first scene.

Highly recommended. Leave expectations at the door. This is not 'The Departed'. This is a movie with an emotional sensitivity that no amount of violence or 'leave you guessing' plot line could ever deliver.

Well done Brian, Paul & Donnie. Great job!

I had no knowledge of the existence of this movie until the day I saw it, so when I started it I was pretty blown away by it. The gritty drama and really well told story of these 2 boys/men is fascinating, very well acted and initially very interesting. The score is beautiful, as is the initial pacing and storytelling. I was thinking this is one of the best movies I've seen for months, and then something odd happened.. the pacing shifted, suddenly long beautifully acted scenes were becoming clips of a few minutes here a sentence there, the character development that was so successful early on suddenly seemed to be redundant as stories become pointless and predictable. It's almost as though the movie changed to a different director and editor half-way through.

I found myself caring less and less about the characters as they became victims of over-editing. The only 2 scenes that lasted more than a couple of minutes in the last third that had any 'substance' were overly dramatic if not soppy father-son scenes where all other members of the family become low priority.

It's really quite a shame, I was enjoying the film so much during the first half, I was willing to give this film a 9 if only a little more of the plot would begin to unravel itself, but instead I got less plot, less character focus and more "this is bad" and "this is good" moments... It's a true pity as I shan't be recommending this movie due to it's second half.

The basic motif for see this film was, for me, the presence on its poster of the names of Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo. And that was not a bad motif. But the film is more. Its impecable story, its delicate portrait of family, friendship, crime acts , the tension and bitter flavor and simple traces of the choices and duties and dreams of the characters are good motifs for see it. Again. Because, at the first sigh, it is far to be original. At the second, the special, gentle form of poetry of life becomes essential. For discover yourself front to fundamental questions. A film about solitude and about the great options. And about courage to be yourself. Splendid performances, lovely story.