Suspicious River
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Movie Reviews of Suspicious River
Movie Review: Gritty and disturbing, yet compelling
Summary: 4 Stars
My husband and I watched this as an instant play via a movie rental site we subscribe to. The reason I chose this was because I like Molly Parker's acting, and this seemed like an interesting independent flick based on some reviews I had read. I was not prepared for the emotional impact of this movie, which is hard hitting.
Molly Parker plays Leila Murray, a young woman living in a small town, stuck in a monotonous and boring job (receptionist at a hotel), and also `trapped' in a stale marriage. At first, I wondered why Leila seemed so emotionally detached from her husband, but the reason becomes apparent as the movie progresses. Leila is a very troubled young woman, scarred by her childhood experiences which become apparent as the plot unfolds. She seeks solace by subjecting herself to debasement at the hands of the male customers who come into the hotel - she offers `extra' services for a fee, prostituting herself, in a desperate attempt to fill the emotional void in her life.
Things change when she meets a dangerous and handsome stranger, Gary Jensen (Callum Keith Rennie). Initially, Jensen and Leila get off to an explosive start when he hits her in a moment of passion. Later, the relationship becomes more intense and passionate and Leila slowly finds herself falling in love with Jensen, ignoring everything else. She even leaves her job for Jensen, but is Jensen her savior or tormentor?
There is another interesting parallel story involving a young girl who befriends Leila and acts as her `conscience'. This young girl's role also becomes clearer as the story progresses. There is even a hint of a supernatural element toward the end of the story. For an indie movie, this is quite well done. Viewers will have to ignore the cheap production qualities, but the acting, especially by the two leads is compelling. This is a gritty drama about a young woman's journey into darkness and is hard to watch, yet riveting.
Movie Review: Okay, but don't think too much
Summary: 4 Stars
or else you'll wonder why a man would go to all that incredible trouble to get a woman to turn tricks for him when there's so many other easy and willing women out there.
Sadly, you won't wonder why a woman would let such a man abuse her because, well, so many do.
It was 'nice'<ahem> to see Shanks in a minor bit as baseball cap creep/bad guy when he was already established as all around good guy in stargate sg1.
Slight annoyance- her wearing these flimsy sun dresses in what looked to be fall/cold weather, but both Parker and easy-on-the-eyes Rennie were excellent in their roles.
Movie Review: Awful dark movie that glorifies the endless cycle of sexual abuse and violence
Summary: 1 Stars
I am very glad that I didn't have to pay to watch this movie. This is the worst movie I have ever seen. The chaotic "back and forth" scenes between the little girl and Leila are confusing as you try to figure out if the scenes with the little girl represent flashbacks or "parallel lives".
The abuse and debasement that the main character allows to happen to herself, I suppose, are supposed to be "erotic" and "poor pitiful whore" all at the same time.
There is already so much violence against women and it is accepted as just "part of life" by the fans of this movie (and for some reason, there seem to be LOTS of them). The fact that the men in the movie suffered no repercussions for their violence is inexcusable. The main character tells her not to look at him so that he can't recognize her and come after her later.
The heavy-handed symbolism of the river and the geese and nature assumes that we, as the audience are too stupid to understand what the director would say the "real" themes of this movie were. But unfortunately, the symbols of purification and redemption were not realized in the movie at all -- just an endless montage of how to abuse a woman and how she will let you abuse her so it is really her fault...
Horrible horrible movie and if you have any women that you love in your life that have suffered from such violence (and with statistics that say 15-25 percent of children are abused -- more than likely you know someone even if you don't know it), you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to NOT watch this movie.