Shelter

This is Paul Bettany's debut as a director and a writer and what a debut. This movie captures one's attention from the very beginning. The movie has many twists and turns while telling a story about an ignored group of people in today's society. It plays on the emotions of the audience from high to low. Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Mackie display good screen chemistry and play off each other really well throughout the movie. Jennifer Connelly was really believable and this is perhaps her best role to date. Anthony Mackie is equally mesmerizing in his performance. This is a well written and directed movie with wonderful acting. I would recommend this as a must see.

If you can't handle the truth about his life, just avoid this movie. It's pretty hard to watch.

Want a happy ending? Hallmark has plenty of them. This may be taking place at Christmas but it has more in common with the stories of the Grinch and Scrooge (before their redemption) than what you might hope for.

As the main characters pretend they really live in a luxurious house they broke into, and wear the clothes and use the fine glassware and other items, we see most of the film's few humorous moments, and we learn more about these characters.

On the subject of humor, Hannah has fun with a helium balloon while things are still desperate.

If this were a foreign language film or had somehow been condensed into a short film, I think we would be talking Oscar. As it is, it's just not the type of film that is popular enough to get nominations,

But I think this film has the quality writing and acting to be noticed by the Oscar people, or at least the Golden Globe people. It doesn't shy away from reality and teaches us a lot about what is like on the streets. The characters are not stereotypes and you wonder how they couldn't make it in life.

If you have the courage to put your self through this, and get out of your comfort zone, it is worth it.

Sometimes you watch a movie and the material presented is so realistic, so filled with gravity and so sad that you almost walk away. You exclaim, 'What a movie!' but it's so real that you are disturbed and it crosses the line, no longer interest and entertainment but something you find too graphic to watch. This, for me, usually happens with 'better' horror movies. But it happened with this one. Recently I saw Incendies. The experience here is almost the same. At its heart it is a beautiful love story, but when it showed how vulnerable the protagonists were it was shocking on several levels, not least because previously one imagined these were two of the strongest people in the world and more than capable to deal with contingencies. I say on several levels, for example, the efforts of the State also come into focus, and it's odd because actually the State here is seen in a positive light. Shelter is beautifully filmed, directed, edited and acted. I got through to the end, but I was deeply moved, and just a tad unsettled.

I decided to sit down and watch "Shelter" solely because I noticed that Jennifer Connelly was in it, and I had no idea what the movie was about and had not heard about it prior to finding it on Netflix.

The story was a rather beautiful and heartfelt story, albeit a somewhat predictable one for sure.

What made the movie work was the acting performances by both Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Connelly. Man, was I impressed with the performance that Jennifer Connelly put on in this movie, and I dare say that this was actually one of her best performances in a long time easily matching the performance of "Requiem for a Dream".

"Shelter" is definitely well worth taking the time and effort to sit down and watch. And I will say that it actually does shed some light onto a world that I assume most of us just walk straight past without even throwing a second glance. So a big thumbs up to director and writer Paul Bettany for his achievement with this movie.

If you haven't already seen "Shelter", then I can only strongly recommend that you take the time to do so, if you have the chance. Because this is definitely a movie that will stick with you.

Bettany doesn't pull any punches with this film, so don't expect some feel-good love story, and expect to feel really good about yourself when the final credits roll. This is a really nice piece of work, that speaks to how people end-up on the street, and why they stay; even if they decide to leave.

This piece is intended to make you re-think your views on homeless street people, and in my book does a really nice job. The film doesn't try to place the blame on anyone, which I really think brings the authenticity through.

I personally have not seen another motion picture that brought such resolution in my mind about street addicts; why they do it, how they got there, and what really our their choices once they partake.