I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Blistering performances.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Although it insists on intellectual details about autism ,"silent fall" is a thriller as well as a -not very surprising- whodunit,no more no less.Autism replaces amnesia which is generally THE disease we find in this kind of movie which was not born yesterday (see Hitchcock's " spellbound" )The first part is more satisfying ,and even sometimes intriguing and the relationship shrink/child is not unlike that of "the sixth sense" (1999).Liv Tyler is less decorative than usual .But there are a lot of clichés :good shrink (Dreyfuss) / bad shrink,ponderous symbolism ( the boy cannot stand "round" things,hence his distaste for peas:you will find out why,do not worry),shrink's own story -his wife hints at a certain Billy,a former patient who committed suicide ,another similarity with "the sixth sense"-,and the cop"s love affair..The shrink knows he's walking on thin ice both literally and figuratively.They could have edited out the last sequence ,probably so-called symbolic, but actually witless .

I really have to commend Bruce Beresford for his directing abilities because his movies (the ones I've seen so far) are always entertaining no matter what they're about. This one is no different. A very solid cast makes it enjoyable when it could have easily been just another TV movie with a bunch of unknown actors. And here lies the problem; "Silent Fall" doesn't aim high enough and doesn't realize its potential, while with its stellar cast and perhaps a plot and a twist that would actually make the viewer think, it could have been big, since the predictability of it all is almost offensive.The daughter just had to try to kill the shrink in the end just to make the viewer feel less sorry for the kid for losing his sister too. A solid, yet somehow disappointing "mystery" thriller with some nice moments and a good sense of pace. Plus it's the first movie attempt by the sexy Liv Tyler who always makes me want to be the lipstick on her upper lip.6/10

This interesting psychological drama has a compelling first half, thanks to a solid cast (although Linda Hamilton and John Lithgow are wasted in worthless supporting roles) and handsome production. But the explanations become cliched in the second half, and the movie chooses the most predictable resolution available. It's such an obvious finale that (Warning:SPOILER) two of the characters discuss it and consider it in the first five minutes, so we, the viewers, expect something MUCH more unexpected and bizarre to happen at the end. This has its satisfying moments as a low-key drama (and Liv Tyler is astonishingly beautiful), but falls short as a whodunit. (**)

I saw this movie a few years ago, I think when it was a new release on VHS... rented it with family/friends without knowing ANYTHING about it... I get scared easily in movies, and this movie absolutely petrified me... I was too scared to go to sleep that night, and didn't want to even leave the room because I was so frightened. I can't even remember if it was a decent movie, but I think that the suspense element must've worked if it freaked me out so much. See it... see if you're less of a wimp than I am... : )