Hide Away

Alternately titled Hide Away - which is how it found me. It took about 15 minutes to get into it, and I am so glad I did. The beginning holds us down in Josh Lucas' 'depths of despair, so I will fix a sailboat' phase. Spectacular scenery, slightly old-school cinematography and the minimal dialogue work well to sustain the journey this many goes through. We don't fully grasp the source of his pain until the end. And it is painful. (Note to parents - PG 13, however an intense, though no parts shown, love scene in last 1/4) The beautiful remoteness of the location and the characters played by Ayelet Zurer as the philosophical waitress with her own secrets, and James Cromwell as the ancient mariner support the viewer's immersive experience. The use of Longfellow's "The Children's Hour' poem was brilliant. Loved it!

This is a lovely film about forgiving yourself and finding the ways and people who help you accomplish that. Josh Lucas is brilliantly understated in his performance, which helps the viewer focus on the emotional journey he has embarked upon and is trying to find his sea legs through to survival.

It is well written, well shot and clear in its intention to cause self-reflection as we take the journey with the main character. It is a simple, quiet film so you must be ready for that and willing to allow the events to unfold before you, because you can't push the timing or the information to achieve a faster pace.

It is wonderful for those who have the patience and don't look for quick answers.

Several years ago I heard a (ministerial-type) person say to another person that "this is the time he needs to be around us, his friends," referring to a guy who was staying apart after a personal difficulty--a tragedy. ... A the time my immediate thought was that We Do Not Know the Heart of Another and certainly cannot presume or project onto him what it is he "needs." ... This film is a profound truth-based and haunting unfoldment of the empirical reality that humans sometimes truly need to "hide away," so to speak, in order to mend and heal in spirit, soul, emotions, mind, and body. ... It is also a clear and powerful representation of overt and subtle aspects and examples of how fellow-beings can serve persons who are mending--and perhaps taking months and months to do so: not 'interfering' or following the person around (or getting 'in his face') asking constant poking questions. The the cafe' owner and the ancient mariner stand back, stand by, and provide time and space, while sort of watching over him--including in anonymous ways such as invisibly providing needed things, like those quarters to continue running the shower-water. This is a set of forms of a Ministry of Presence, which is not about 'saying' or 'doing' lots of things...it's about being profoundly yet quietly Present and totally taking cues from the person. ..... ..... We learn very early in the beginning of the movie why he is drawn to that particular boat, which itself has great meaning and import. .... What others have written about the filmography and setting of the film holds true as well--it is strikingly beautiful, as are the musical scores (cues) throughout the film. ... All of the songs are Perfect, apt, and ideally placed in the film.

....What I don't know is if the subtitles (which just happened to be set to "on" when it ran on Prime Video) are the ones that would be on a DVD version; the 'subtitles' are strange a lot of the time, e.g., saying "noise" instead of "footsteps" or "engine running," and are outright incorrect in other instances. ... so it seems as if whoever did the closed captioning may have only been half paying attention, unskilled, or inebriated. Unknown; however, the captioning is quite odd...

.... By the way, I had no idea how the story was going to progress or how it would end, and my thoughts along the way about certain things that would or would not happen were incorrect. However, one knows, by default and from how the movie starts, the basic reason for the Young Mariner's despair.

Overall "Hide Away" is beautifully done from several standpoints and is worth seeing for a thoughtful, careful unfoldment of a real human living out a period of the beginning of some measure of healing and psychological and emotional recovery.

Having read the reviews I was hesitant to watch. As the story unfolds the journey hit home to my own path of grief from losing my parents within 3 months of each other. Gave my heart hope for survival from of the knee bending pain. Look for symbolism that the negative reviews missed. Helps to embrace the healing process. Thank you for making this film. To the critics who wrote negatively, you missed the boat, pun intended. May you never experience such deep loss to have to walk this same path!

I have always taken a liking to Josh Lucas as an actor, simple but an very effective actor, and he did this role justice. He relays all those feelings of loss and sorrow in a very convincing way, sure as per other review on here, being hurt, having lost loved one's along the way does make you feel more part of the simple but very effective storyline.

Myself having had to deal twice with the loss of a long term relationship, found some real comfort in the pain of this film, it made me realize the whole madness of sadness I had suffered from for years, but it reminded me as well how far I had come the last few years, but I am sure even if you had a happy run in life, you will find this a good solid drama and at times it will even send that chill down your spine, like it did with me a few times.

Sure it is not that hard to see where it goes with the storyline, but with Josh at his best, a great supporting cast, some real nice scenery, great music score, makes this film well worth watching. It's good to see a film that makes me want to feel life again.

A very very solid 8 out of 10