Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Awesome Movie

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Evening tells a story worth hearing but unfortunately it gets lost along the way. There's too much focus on the present - not just Vanessa Redgrave's performance as the older Ann but mostly the subplot regarding her children. It's necessary to come to the present at times so that we can see how what has happened in the past has affected her and how she chooses to remember but the rest of it just weighs the film down without complementing it as it was meant to. The performances in the present scenes also lack the same elegance as those that take place in the past. Collette is a great actress but she and her boyfriend's actor both give average performances that just get in the way. The story that takes place in the past dealing with love, identity, and choice all within a few days time is where the film truly shines. Danes, of course, gives a great performance but Dancy is the one who steals the spotlight with what I feel should've garnered him a nomination for supporting actor at the Academy awards. The story is eloquent, melancholy, and can be felt as well as understood from deeper thought. If it weren't so muddled by what takes place in the present then it could've been a great film but as it stands with the way it is I can only call it good but not great. Another point of interest is the film's score which is just absolutely beautiful. So if you want to see a good movie then Evening is for you - just don't expect every piece to be wondrous as the wonder occurs in the past and is watered down by the present. That's just how I felt about it.

Before I saw "Evening", I actually read the synopsis to see what the movie was about. I originally thought this was something like "The Notebook". During the first 45 minutes, it was actually set up as a love story. We see an elderly Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) in her deathbed longing for the love of her life and her greatest "mistake", Harris. This had an enormous impact on her daughter, Nina who was at a crossroad in her life. She was torn in "settling" down for someone who's been with her for the past three years or "waiting" for her one great love. Then the movie explored an event, in great detail, which happened in Ann's youth that had an enormous impact on Ann's life: the wedding of her best friend, Lila. During this event, we were introduced to Buddy, Lila's brother who had been pining at Ann for quite some time but doesn't have the courage to own up to it. We also meet Harris, the son of the caretaker of the family's Newport Beach vacation house. Harris was so close to Buddy and Lila as they were growing up. Lila was deeply "in love" with Harris and she was waiting for him to pursue her. It is in the middle of all this that Ann met Harris for the first time. Ann and Harris immediately "clicked". However, Buddy was convincing Ann to talk Lila out of the wedding and pursue Harris instead. In an unfortunate twist of events, Ann and Harris decided it was best for them to part ways because being with each other will just remind them of the fateful events that happened after Lila's wedding. Both of them, in some way, feel responsible for it. As the movie was going on, I was expecting the movie to preach about the importance of chasing someone you feel strongly about. After all, I was watching a love story. Lo and behold, it went on another direction. A bold one at that! Lila visited the dying Ann who was looking for some confirmation that she made a mistake in letting Harris go. I guess, when you're at that point in your life, you also look back on things as if regret will make you feel you have the obligation to go on living to correct it. I loved how Lila (Meryl Streep) put it and how she refused to looked at their lives as a failure to live it. And before she went, she left a statement to Nina that made things clear for her. A statement that made her fear of making the "wrong" choice disappear almost instantly. I loved how the film puts Ann's life in perspective. I loved how it refused to reduce a dying woman's life into a big mistake. While it's true that Ann's life will be vastly different if she ended up with Harris, who's to know if it will turn out any better? In the end, I would like to think that Ann got the validation that she wanted. It wasn't a mistake that she let Harris go. After all, that choice did lead her to having two daughters she dearly loved. And to quote Lila: "Your mother had her whole life. She sang at my wedding... she raised two girls... we can't know everything she did. We are mysterious creatures, aren't we? "Is it sad that Ann and Harris who seem to be perfect for each other don't end up together? Yes but the movie wasn't about that. It's about finding the true joy in your life no matter what you end up getting. As Lila put it, there are happy days and there are days that are not. But while I love how the movie came full circle in the end, it could have been so much powerful with such a strong message. I think the pace of the screenplay could use more work although I did love how it tried to steer clear of melodramatic tendencies. Sadly, Danes who's a great actress, failed to shine here. She didn't have any rapport with any of the actors. Patrick Wilson was also lacking the charm that the character calls for. This movie is actually the antithesis of "The Notebook". And while I love "The Notebook", I also deeply appreciated this movie's honesty and bold statement that seemed to be directed to the stereotypical love stories out there: It doesn't mean that your life is a mistake if you don't end up with your "greatest love". After all, not all of us live our lives as if we own a magic ball that can tell our future. We call it as we see it. We are indeed mysterious creatures...

While in her deathbed, Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) repeats the name "Harris" and recalls the day on the 50's when she was an aspirant singer and traveled from New York to be the maid of honor of her wealthy friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer) in Newport. Ann Grant (Claire Danes) is welcomed by Lila's alcoholic and reckless brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) in the Wittenborn's cottage at seaside and he tells her that his sister is in love actually for their friend and servant Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), who fought in the war and has graduated in medicine. Later the bride-to-be confesses her true feelings about Harris to Ann. However, when Ann meets Harris, she has a crush on him and they have a brief affair during one night stand while a tragedy happens with Buddy. Meanwhile Ann's daughters, the insecure and unstable Nina Mars (Toni Collette) and the happy wife and mother Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson), are worried with their mother and have differences to be resolved."Evening" has one of the best feminine casts I have ever seen in a movie, with magnificent performances. The resemblance of the stunning Mamie Gummer with her mother Meryl Streep is amazing and she has a performance that honors the name of her mother. The locations, costumes, set decoration, cinematography and soundtrack are also awesome. Unfortunately the plot is confused and I have not clearly understood the message of this film. Why motherhood is so important in the story? Was Constance engendered in the night stand of Ann and Harris and he would be her father? Why Ann and Harris have not stayed together, if the guy really loved her like he confesses in their occasional encounter in New York? Which issues Ann Lord has resolved after the visit of Lila Ross? Was Buddy Wittenborn bisexual or his love for Harris was a fraternal love? Why Nina Mars changed her thoughts about motherhood in the end? It seems that the screenplay writers or the director failed since they were not able to make sense and fulfillment to the beautiful love story. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Ao Entardecer" ("In the Eventide")

Who was Bobby? I saw the movie twice and don't remember a Bobby. There was an extra named Bob once I saw the credits here on IMDb. What happened to Bobby.I wonder if this person means Buddy played by Hugh Dancy. But if they watched the movie how could they get the name wrong? What does this now bring up. A person gets a major character's name wrong and passes it off as a fake character? I don't get it. I don't think they saw it. It's very sad when comment on movies or anything that they haven't watched and try to pass that along and then vote for it. Maybe Bob, an extra, died at some point, but I didn't see it in the movie.