I'm a big sucker for any attempt to instill kindness and a bit of awareness in this cynical little world of ours. Throw in a sense that some benevolent spirit (or collection of them for that matter) is behind seemingly random events that lead to a greater existence and I'm all in. I am a firm believer and find it not only noble but worthy of high praise any attempt to touch that kind of subject nowadays, when cynicism and pseudo-scientific reasoning drives people further and further away from all oportunities to look down into themselves and try to understand that having faith is in no way a synonym for being dumb. I don't mean specifically believing in God. I mean believing that it is possible that something greater than ourselves exists, even if whoever's asking him or herself those kinds of questions is not the least bit interested in finding out exactly what. Keeping yourself open. That's what I mean. And not mocking other people's beliefs. I tend to think it's much better, even if you don't agree with a certain theory/philosophy/explanation, to try to find what's nice and positive about it than focusing on trying to deconstruct and ridicule it. What's the point of doing so anyway?
Let me start out by saying I haven't read the book, so when I rate this movie, I'm not rating the adaptation, but the movie alone.
The story revolves around a group of people trying to figure out/discover/uncover/put together nine insights that will lead Humanity to a greater understanding of our role in existence.
Unfortunately, I wasn't pleased. I wish this had been done with a rawer approach. The whole film can never detach itself from that "made-for-TV" feel, which is usually a very bad thing. It's extremely cheesy in some parts and the score is used in a sort of cheap way in many scenes to instill the emotion the script/directing/acting failed to do. Don't get me wrong. No one appreciates a Thomas Newman, a Rachel Portman or a James Horner more than I do. But this is definitely not the same thing. I'm talking about increasing color-contrast and doing a close up of someone's teary-eyed face with a violin in the background. It's just sad.
The script (even though written by the book author himself) lacks rythm, and is sometimes as hasty as a Ridley Scott movie (this is not a compliment, trust me).
Anyway, I don't really feel it's worth talking about it anymore. I appreciate the idea and the noble intention behind it, but as a movie, it just lacks almost everything a good movie must have. I give it 1 star out of 5.
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