A Brilliant Conflict

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

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

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I can't fathom how this movie didn't have a theatrical release and wasn't a huge hit on the art house cinema circuit. It is a mystery how a movie of this caliber was released straight to DVD. Neverwas is a moving and expressive film, a modern fairytale which is beautifully crafted and elegantly directed. The cast is A list with extraordinary performances by Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange, along with Britney Murphy and William Hurt. Set in a magical world which exists half way between fantasy and reality, it takes you on a moving voyage. I found it inspiring and creative and put it in the Never Let Me Go category. If I could give it eleven stars I would.

The great things about films are that they are subjective, if I enjoy a film it doesn't mean that you will enjoy the film or vice versa. I loved Neverwas, the cinematography, the soundtrack, a director who believed and a cast that were wonderful.Neverwas is about a young boy (Zachary) and his father (Nick Nolte, who by the way is excellent) and their loving but dysfunctional relationship. The father writes a book about an ordinary man who rules over a fantasy land called Neverwas. In Neverwas the young boy (Zachary Small) must battle the evil Ghastly and his evil minions. But shortly after writing the book the father falls in to a deep depression, a depression which ultimately deprives him of his life. Zach grows up.A boy becomes a man and he forgets about the childhood stories his father told him, he forgets the good times and remembers the bad. The human psyche is a funny thing, it can easily grant us control of our destiny and with ease take it away. Zach takes a position at a local Mental institute, the very institute that held his father. Here he meets the eccentric schizophrenic Gabriel (played by an wonderful Ian McKellen), Gabriel tells the story of Neverwas and how he is the king of the land. He believes Zachary is there to free him from Ghastly and his minions and tells him that he has but five days before Ghastly will destroy the castle and make Neverwas a cold and harsh land. He also meets with childhood friend Maggie Blake (played by a very charming Brittany Murphy) and together they journey to find not only Neverwas, but Zachs true identity, the one left behind in his forgotten childhood memories. After some digging Zach finds out that Gabriel told about the land of Neverwas ten years before his father wrote the book. Could it be real? Should he believe? One mans dreams turns out to be one mans journey. A journey to find not only the truth, but himself.What is Neverwas? To me? To me. Neverwas is about Hope.

In these times of violent, sex-ridden entertainment this movie was refreshing. The story is intensely acted, the soundtrack fit the scenes emotionally, the colors are intense and vibrant. Watch this and please enjoy. The story is easy to follow, even with the flashbacks. The emotions are well portrayed by each actor. The soundtrack fit the scenes and brought me on an emotional "ride". The scenes with the filters of light and color are quite appropriate. The storyline is unpredictable without the usual Hollywood formula that I, personally, have grown sick of. This movie makes one - anyone - feel special, despite the imperfections and ghosts that lurk beneath our emotional shields.

NEVERWAS, a little miracle of a movie written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, is an allegory, a fairytale, a dissection of the impact of mental illness on parents and children, and story of compassion, believing, and blossoming of character that was created with a sterling ensemble of actors in 2005, failed to find a niche in theatrical distribution, and went straight to DVD - becoming one of those limited release films that is very elusive even in the megavideo stores. The reasons for this relative anonymity are not clear, but film lovers will do well searching out this little gem: the rewards are immediate gratification and long lasting satisfaction.Narrated by Ian McKellan who plays a major role in the film, the story concerns the return of psychiatrist Zachary Riley/Small (Aaron Eckhart) to an obsolete mental institution named Millhouse, the hospital where his author father T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte) ended his days in suicide, having suffered from bipolar syndrome. Zach wants to discover secrets about his father, why his father's book 'Neverwas' has been so disturbing to Zach, and to offer good medical treatment to those patients living in the obscure hospital run by the kindly but enigmatic Dr. Reed (William Hurt). Zach is buoyant, greets his new job with joy, and works with various patients in group and individual therapy (the group includes well developed characters portrayed by Alan Cumming, Vera Farmiga, and Michael Moriarty, among others) and encounters the apparently mute Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellan), a delusional man who believes Zach has returned to break the curse preventing his return to his imaginary kingdom of Neverwas.Zach meets a 'grad student botantist'/reporter Ally (Brittany Murphy) who loves Zach's father's book and urges Zach to read the fairytale as a means to assuage Zach's new nightly nightmares and insomnia dealing with images of himself as a child, his father's suicide, and other strange forces. Ally's commitment to Zach's father's book, Zach's breakthrough to Gabriel Finch, together with Zach's re-evaluation of his agoraphobic mother (Jessica Lange) all intertwine to reestablish Zach's discovery of his relationship to a father whose mental illness prevented the close relationship Zach so desperately missed. In a tumbling set of events that incorporate the fairytale of the book Neverwas with the reality of Zach's father's relationship to Gabriel Finch brings the story to a heartwarming, well considered, touching conclusion. Being 'unordinary' is a goal, not a curse.In addition to the above-mentioned stellar cast, small parts are also created by Bill Bellamy, Ken Roberts, Cynthia Stevenson among others. The cinematography by Michael Grady manages to keep the audience balanced between real and fantasy and the musical score by renowned composer Philip Glass fits the story like a glove. Ian McKellan gives a multifaceted performance of a man whose delusional life is far more real than his life as a mental patient, Aaron Eckhart finesses the transformation of the lost child seeking his roots with great skill, Nick Nolte gives one of his finer interpretations as the disturbed father/author, and Brittany Murphy manages to maintain a much needed lightness to the atmosphere of the mental institution story setting. The impact of the film, while absorbing from the first images, is the ending, a reinforcement of the importance of love and nurturing that too often is relegated to little books for children instead of the manner in which we live our lives. This is a fine film well worth ferreting out from the obscurity to which it so unjustly has been assigned. Grady Harp