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.

Review: What an emotional movie! The acting from Jennifer Connelly, who plays Hannah and Anthony Mackie, Tahir, is superb and the deep story, about 2 homeless, lost souls who fall in love and struggle to live on the streets of New York, is brilliant. When Tahir becomes ill during a brutal winter, Hannah tries her hardest to find accommodation for them both, and she goes to the extreme to buy medication for Tahir. These 2 characters, really came from 2 different world's but when they join forces to find money, food and accommodation, there emotional journey goes from one extreme to another. The chemistry between Tahir and Hannah is excellent and very believable and the ending did bring a tear to my eye. Hannah is a heroin addict, who sadly lost her husband to a terrorist attack and she left her little boy with her father while she lives on the streets, finding ways to fund her habit. Tahir is a African immigrant who lives in America illegally and lost his wife and young boy, in a brutal way, in Africa. There are some different elements to the plot, which made this film quite enjoyable and the fact that many people are losing there houses and have to use food banks and shelter to live nowadays, gives this movie a truthful look into the extent that the homeless have to go to, just to make it through one day to the next. Anyway, I enjoyed this emotional drama but it's a shame that it didn't get the big distribution treatment that it deserved. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: This is the first movie, written and directed by Paul Bettany, 44, whose known for acting in some top class movies. He was brilliant in A Knights Tale and A Beautiful Mind in 2001 and quite scary as Silas in the Da Vinci Code. His voice became worldwide known when he starred in Iron Man as Jarvis and when he changed into human form in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it set a path for yet another superhero. For his directional debut, he really did pick a deep subject, which will touch many hearts and he done a great job by getting the most out of the top class actors. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their dramas starring Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Mackie and Bruce Altman. 7/10

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.

This film moved me... or rather made me look at things a little differently I suppose. I normally give money to panhandlers, buy them a hot meal whenever I can. Where I live, homelessness is an issue that people don't concern themselves with as much as New York because the climate is warmer, and people generally survive easier I suppose. But this movie made me think about those individuals who are struggling in a deeper way.

Shelter takes place over the course of a few seasons in New York city. A tough place to be, and even tougher if you're homeless. It's hard to get by, and there is no shortage of people who are willing to take advantage of you. We are introduced to two such individuals played aptly by Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Mackie. Two different lives that simply interact one day, and forever changes their paths. Both are on the street for different reasons, and both have their own demons to deal with. Their paths intertwine and they begin to show real promise, as a couple just down on their luck, just looking for and hoping for any real opportunity to dig themselves out of the hole they are in.

What really sticks with you is how utterly believable the situations are. Most movies about homelessness, usually with a huge celebrity attached to it are much harder for me to believe, but with this cast and story it was so easy to fall into. Times are tough all over the world, and New York is probably more susceptible than most cities to find yourself in hard times and taken advantage of. I feel very grateful to not have been in any of the situations you witness in this film, but I promise you, it will make you think about those who are.

An excellent first story from writer/director Paul Bettany.

7/10

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.