Simply Perfect

Just perfect...

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

This film tells the story of a female playwright, who is preparing for the opening of her play. She experiences weird occurrences, and she begins to doubt her sanity."The Letter" tries to be super artistic, as evidenced by super slow pace and the substitution of scenes with narration by the main character, I wish there was no narration, and they just show the events normally. The narration is plain and devoid of emotion, it does not give the first person emotional account that is expected. Winona Ryder does not look convincing as a playwright or as a crazy person. In fact, she looks to pretty and too sane for her role. The so called suspense fails miserably, because the strange events are presented in such subtle manner. There is no intensity, engagement or thrill. The whole film is a complete bore. I don't understand the beginning, middle or the end. The suppose twist at the end is so laughable and unbelievable, because there is no motive described anywhere in the film. Even when taking the low budget into account, "The Letter" could have bee so much better.

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS!I will be honest: at the beginning, I did not like this movie. It was very confusing to me. It jumps around, cuts out at weird times, and is kind of repetitive (maybe more than is needed...). But it also keeps you intrigued. Winona Ryder plays Martine, a director of a play starring her boyfriend Raymond, her friends Anita and Julie, and newcomer Tyrone, played by James Franco. It is unknown whether Martine is slowly losing her sanity, or if someone is slowly poising her over time (she at one point accuses Raymond of having an excess of copper supplements, and goes on to tell him that enough copper in your system can cause schizophrenia).At the same time tension is brewing between Tyrone and the others (except Martine). During dinner Anita is talking about how she doesn't know how to play "secretive" as Martine has directed her to do. Tyrone heavily implies that she is very good at being secretive, to which Anita and Raymond both are angered by. Throughout the film Anita almost seems to be repulsed by Tyrone, and Raymond is very vocal about his hard feelings for him.At the end of the movie EVERYTHING is explained. There was a creepy guy early in the movie who when Martine walked by him, he blew in her face. Of course, that left you wondering "WTF was that about?!"... well, it turns out that he blew a powder in her face, causing her slow descent into madness (truthfulness, willingness, delusions... this same powder was used in a Criminal Minds episode ..s6e23). And, curve ball. He was hired by Raymond to do it. Why you may ask? Well, Tyrone hit it right on the nail, and Martine figured it out as well. He was being naughty with Anita. I was left wondering though, if Martine would make a recovery or not. This movie could not have succeeded without the marvellous subtext done by the actors. Shout out to James Franco, who was just stunning with his... well everything. His body language, his dizzying array of facial expressions, his tone fluctuations... By far the best actor in the movie.Overall, definitely worth a watch if you're willing to pay attention. Some of James Franco's scenes are worth it alone ;)

Just wanted to weigh in on this film as it is worth viewing.Very well cast and acted. Not an easy film to fit into a description or type. A personal deeply psychological and moody film. One of the strong point of the film is the cinematography and sound. The film goes back and forth between the mind and dreams of the main character who has written a play and is taking a group of actors through rehearsals. As she psychologically goes downhill, her play is changed and begins to reflectwhat she images is happening around her -or is she imaging it? - To the credit of the main actor, Wyonna Rider, as I was watching the film, I began to think that the film has been written by her. She was very well cast for this role. Also brings some depth to an ancient practice in some cultures of writing letters to deceased relatives. Again worth seeing.

While "The Letter" is certainly a film that thankfully didn't hit theaters (despite its $10 million budget), that's not to say that it's complete trash.The film, which stars Winona Ryder as Martine, a playwright who slowly begins to lose her mind and descend into madness. The film primarily takes place in the theatre, and things begin to change when Tyrone (James Franco), joins the group and displays hostile behavior to those surrounding him, while Martine develops a growing attraction toward him. Sound familiar? The film is very reminiscent of "Black Swan," Ryder's comeback role in which she played the fading ballerina. While that film garnered critical acclaim and box-office success, its safe to say that "The Letter" director Jay Anania was attempting to do the same. And that's where Winona Ryder came in. Her casting was probably one of the strategies Anania used in order to attract art house audiences. (Too bad the film went straight to DVD.) "The Letter" isn't a film that's complete trash, rather, there were quite a few perks in it that made it interesting. For one, Ryder never fails to impress me. Despite the unusual camera angles and amateur lighting, she still manages to shine through and deliver a solid performance. I'd also like to mention that she's Forty ONE and still looks good! While the lackluster script prevents her from flaunting the acting skills she's capable of, Ryder nevertheless convinces the audience that someone (in the five person cast) is trying to poison her character and kill her. And as the relationship between her and her thespian boyfriend begins to disenigrate, she changes the fictional names of the characters in the script to the respective names of the actors portraying them. Her character also includes actual dialogue that has recently happened in her life. This was also one of the techniques used by Anania to convey Martine's descent into madness.Franco, on the other hand, had no purpose of being in the film. Anania, who heads the directing program at NYU, is also one of Franco's professors, which most likely explains his involvement. I'm sure Franco got a few extra credit points for his (probably unwilling) participation in this 'little film that could.' Toward the end of the film, it is revealed that Martine is just plain crazy, and that was the reason for her bizarre actions and behavior. This ultimately took away from what could've been a great ending that makes the audience think about what was really going on. Here, her sickness was explained, whereas in "Black Swan," Natalie Portman's character isn't diagnosed schizophrenic, and lets the audience decide that for themselves. In "The Letter," Mr. Sound Effects decided to include the sound of an abrupt braking of a truck after every change in behavior Martine displays. What could have made this effect better was a fluid dramatic score that conveyed her madness.So yes, "The Letter" isn't the greatest film of Ryder's career, however, it stands as a test of her acting skills, and she succeeds. She compensates for the lackluster script and plot, while managing to convince us of her character's madness. As a fan of psychological thrillers, I was a bit disappointed with this film, and even though it lacks originality, it's definitely worth seeing.