Every Thing Will Be Fine

with an interesting ending.

James Franco as writer Thomas Eldan is pulling on all of his mystery moody self (as he so expertly did in 'Shadows & Lies') but here in this movie - not so much. It's a long haul story of him having to cope with a tragic accident on a very snowy day. He suffers, his wife suffers, his career suffers, other people suffer .... there is a lot of emotional suffering going on here. And it continues for about 12 years (if I correctly recall). Eventually he returns to the surface of life and the suffering and guilt seem to have past. Unfortunately the past comes back, only this time as an adult. This is where the story becomes interesting because there is a level of tension and unknown intentions. Will there be another tragedy? Will there be revenge? The situation becomes edgy! You will have to watch to see what happens.

Director: Wim Wenders (in my opinion) fails to project out to the viewer the misery Thomas Eldan must suffer because Franco really doesn't seem to care. It's just a part - act it out. Which doesn't make this an altogether bad movie, it just makes it long. And Wim Wenders is a famous director!

The movie takes us through part of the life of a writer who goes through a traumatic experience. That's the only exciting moment of the movie. The rest is just seeing time pass and nothing really happens. Part of the story driving is even the cliché "we can not be happy because we can't have children".

The camera management was alright, and so is the acting(mostly), but the script is all over the place at the beginning and when it finally seems like the plot is going somewhere, it's really not. Calling it "art film" is not an excuse for such a poor movie. I had high hopes because James Franco was in it, but even he did could not redeem this.

It just depends from what perspective you look at things. Also if you are able to be rational. And what issues that might bring to you or the people you love. Sometimes being understated can be held against you. Especially if the other person is not sure about your feelings (which you are not showing).

Something that probably will not happen to the viewers of this. Because I can imagine that you'll either love or loathe this. Either think it's pretentious and lame (slow of course too) or think it's genius in its depiction of guilt and growing up, being adult and responsible. Also cause and effect and what that means to different people. There is much to be found here. But I doubt many will find it (or even look for it). It's a tough movie overall so both arguments (bad/good movie) have their merits ... it depends on your taste and your mood, which corner you'll pick (acting wise you cannot fault it though)

Everything Will Be Fine is a small intimate movie, but suffers from an average screenplay and you can almost feel Wenders trying to bring intellectual depth to the movie. Although the center ultimately is the grieve and guilt following the death of a child in a car accident and coming to grips with that, it touches many themes which leaves the viewer purposively confused about the center and where to root himself in this movie in the first place: Broken relationships and families, stalking and a writer offering almost everything for success and coping with his remorse.

The use of 3D in the movie is sometimes quite effective. For example, the first two scenes worked well, showing dust and then snow creating a haze in the image suggesting the troubled mind of Tomas. In addition, there are other clever movie techniques at work: turning the camera in directions where you would not expect it to go (turning the camera away from the action or showing a wider angle of the situation); also making effective use of time, hopping forward frequently so the viewer has to adopt his frame of reference. Although the cinematography is not bad, you start missing the collaborations with Robby Müller producing his best movies in the past.

Gainsbourg (illustrator) I think is one of the oddest actresses around as she doesn't (or maybe can't) act. Franco (writer) is consistently clever and restrained in the movie, although you see him struggling in the first scenes. The score of Desplat is very apt for the atmosphere of the movie.

I hope Wenders finally wins his deserved first Oscar, not for this but for the excellent Salt of the Earth documentary.

This film tells the story of a writer who accidentally kills a boy in a traffic accident. He spends many years of his life dealing and coping with the tragedy he caused.

I find the story non-happening, the pace super slow and the acting poor. The script is so poor that I rolled my eyes at the scene where Rachel McAdams slapped James Franco, then when she did it the second time I laughed because it was like a mother slapping a child. Even with Charlotte Gainsbourg's supposedly open heart, it is still very unbelievable that they could spend an afternoon together in embrace.

The actors and actresses all look lethargic and emotionless, even in supposedly emotional scenes. They look more like sleepwalking than acting. Rachel McAdams' fake accent is quite a pain to the ears, I don't know what that accent is supposed to be or what it signifies, but it does not add anything to the film. "Every Thing Will Be Fine" is not fine, in fact it is really horrendous. You should consider yourself lucky that you have not had a chance to watch it.