Memorable, crazy movie

Don't Believe the Hype

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

What happened to this production? Placed on the Black list of its year as an outstanding possibility for a movie screenplay and, given a fine director in Gabriele Muccino, to complete this task - where did the full potential go? The story situation may have become a cliché just lately but, this at least had a talented cast to breathe fresh life into it. This story of lovely innocent girl becoming somewhat of a whore after daddy's death doesn't quite ring true. It's as if something developmentally important to the story had been left out along the way. Some overly cutesy touches - within a convoluted editing approach - helped reduce a potentially powerful scenario into an overly sentimentalised outcome. Marvellous star turn for child star Kylie Rogers as young Katie and a beautiful Music score from Paolo Buonvino help enormously. While this movie did not deserve to lose the vast amounts of money it did and there will be some audiences that will find it pleasing - it still somehow just misses the expected mark. Add to the better points a good song from Michael Bolton for those who stay for the end credits.

Three days have passed, I am still crying. The story is one of those that just live with you forever. Russel Crow proved once again that he is the best of the best. Amanda is as always great. A deep profound love between father and daughter that carries her through out her life. The love that she cannot live without. Love that she cannot ever let go. Love that gives her strength to go on and that same love drags her down the void.

Based strictly on content, "Fathers & Daughters" is not the type of movie I would usually see. However, after watching the trailer and seeing the star power of Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, and Aaron Paul, I decided to give it a try. While the plot of this film can be a bit shaky at times, one almost doesn't realize it because the quality of the acting invokes such strong emotions all the way through.For a basic plot summary, "Fathers & Daughters" opens with writer Jake Davis (Crowe) struggling to cope with his life after the loss of his wife in a car accident. Fortunately, he still has his lovely daughter Katie (Kylie Rogers), but even that is threatened when his seizures and medical problems begin. Flash-forward 20-some years later, and Katie (Seyfried) has grown up to become a successful social worker...who is also as promiscuous as they come in terms of love life. However, when a new little girl named Lucy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is put in her care, and then Katie meets Cameron (Paul), she begins to be confronted by the demons in her life that have caused her so much pain.I wish I could say that "Fathers & Daughters" is a "best of all-time" type of movie, but the fact is that it isn't. The writers/producers/director make some head-scratching choices about how they play the narrative out, and there are a few key plot points missing that probably needed to be included to make this a "tighter" film. So, this is really more of a "niche" film built on emotion.But boy oh boy, though, does that niche ever get filled perfectly here! I'm not usually one to get overly emotional during a film-watching experience (at least visually), but "Fathers & Daughters" moved me to tears on a few occasions. It truly is that powerful of a film, as it deals primarily with the relationship between a father and daughter (something that isn't always seen in these types of films). It would have been very, very easy for this film to turn into a typical tearjerker, as all the elements for it are indeed present. Fortunately, although not without a few hiccups along the way, it ends up producing natural instead of contrived emotions, which I have a great deal of respect for. All the emotional moments in the movie feel earned.In large part, I believe that is due to the incredible acting performances in the flick. It has been awhile since I've seen a movie where every performance was this spot-on. Crowe really commits (and when that happens, he's always golden), Seyfried is (as usual) perfect for her role, and Paul is absolutely killing every role he takes these days. Even the youngsters, Wallis and especially Rogers, bring the emotion perfectly.So, while "Fathers & Daughters" may not rise to elite heights due to a few storytelling difficulties, it has more than enough acting and emotion to be a solid film. It uncommonly moved me during my viewing of it, and I will always remember the experience because of it. Even if this doesn't look like your "cup of tea", you may want to give it a chance, as more than likely you'll be moved as well.

(2/5) The movie is divided in 2 stories: the father's story in the past and the daughter's in the present. I was fascinated by the astonishing performance of Crowe and therefore i give the credit to him, to the good dramatic style of the past story and the nicely timed alternation of the stories' scenes! Unfortunately though i could not find myself sympathizing with the daughter's story because even though it tried to also have that dramatic look it ended up with an unconvincing and annoyingly indecisive character, far too many sentimentalism(which were also in the past story) and far too easily connected moments between the stories.(I also found that type of death for the father kind of cheap)... Still, very interesting to watch just to see Crowe in the role of the mentally troubled father !!!