We watched this movie on DVD last evening and both my husband and I disliked it and gave it a 2. But the next morning I was still thinking about it, and decided it was a very good film deserving a much better rating. Any film, like any work of art, is subject to interpretation - (people are still trying to decide what the Mona Lisa is smiling about), and my interpretation is based on my experience and world events.
Two days before watching the movie, an item was in the press that the suicide rate and drug deaths in the USA continue to rise - especially in rural areas. Large cities have continued to prosper, but small towns (like the one depicted in this film) have continued to stagnate and offer few opportunities. Nancy is one of the victims, it seems, of a small town, a dependent mother, and a life lived out on the internet and blogs. She obviously photo-shopped pictures of a trip to North Korea to impress co-workers, and fakes a pregnancy for her blog. The one time she actually smiles in the film is when she is texting.
Although the film is not really about living ones life on a smart phone and the internet, one can see how Nancy is caught up in the media, and is actually convinced she is the kidnapped daughter of a couple she sees on TV.
The end of the movie is not unexpected, as she drives away from what might be a fulfilling relationship with a new family, because she really can't seem to communicate with real people and real situations for the long-term. We imagine Nancy going back to her desperate life and creating yet another fantasy. Sad, but very real for so many people these days - 500 Facebook friends and no one to talk with.
Great understated acting, and nice quiet direction - nothing to hit you over the head, but enough to make you think!
Two days before watching the movie, an item was in the press that the suicide rate and drug deaths in the USA continue to rise - especially in rural areas. Large cities have continued to prosper, but small towns (like the one depicted in this film) have continued to stagnate and offer few opportunities. Nancy is one of the victims, it seems, of a small town, a dependent mother, and a life lived out on the internet and blogs. She obviously photo-shopped pictures of a trip to North Korea to impress co-workers, and fakes a pregnancy for her blog. The one time she actually smiles in the film is when she is texting.
Although the film is not really about living ones life on a smart phone and the internet, one can see how Nancy is caught up in the media, and is actually convinced she is the kidnapped daughter of a couple she sees on TV.
The end of the movie is not unexpected, as she drives away from what might be a fulfilling relationship with a new family, because she really can't seem to communicate with real people and real situations for the long-term. We imagine Nancy going back to her desperate life and creating yet another fantasy. Sad, but very real for so many people these days - 500 Facebook friends and no one to talk with.
Great understated acting, and nice quiet direction - nothing to hit you over the head, but enough to make you think!