hyped garbage

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Better Late Then Never

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is a brave movie. I am not a film critic but a neuroscientist who has focused on the connection between neuroscience and mental disorders for 20 years. Why is this important to state? Because I am afraid survival-enabling human consciousness has slammed head on with the 21th century's inhuman modes of existence, a reality for the vast majority of human beings. This film in its honest and painful manner holds no punches back and delivers its deep message on the ephemeral nature of existence. The looming ecological disaster is just a faint echo of the film's main message. The leading character's lack of a "transcendent" epiphany is NOT a drawback but a realistic acceptance of the pain of self-consciousness. Love of another, love of nature, love of knowledge is what this film is about, those who miss this clear message are already gone….

This one is for people who both feel and think deeply. The writing is original, the acting is superb, the cinematography is virtuosic. That someone would think of writing and producing a film about a neurotic man who collects obsolete things which incorporates end-of-the-world discussion and Buddhist philosophy, then somehow imagining that people would want to watch it, is simply astounding. Even more astounding is that the movie is engrossing and not at all depressing - instead it is very much life affirming and a profound pleasure to watch. It moves slowly (a good thing) and it forgoes the typical Hollywood emotional overkill. One in a million!

I agree 100% with Todd Mcarthy's review in the Sundance edition of Variety dated 8-14th February 2010. It's now June and this is still the film of the year for me . This movie is eccentric, gentle , intelligent and gorgeously made . It steps outside the box of what is expected from a modern independent film and harks back to the classic European film tradition . The world needs more films like this . Gaynor Howe's performance was outstanding for me and I particularly enjoyed the fact that such a big subject could be tackled within the constraints of a small independent movie . Full credit to the Sundance judges . It's not a fast burn , but it drew me in from the first minute . Bravo to all concerned .

It's really too bad. This movie starts out great--a really quirky lead, an interesting foil as the (almost) romantic interest, and a really odd plot. And it's fine, right up to the point where it changes from a pretty good romantic comedy into an overly preachy climate change documentary wanna-be. The level of fatalism from that point on is totally excessive, and leads to major problems in consistency (e.g., the attitude of the hermit-like author to his son). And I'm about as far left as one gets on climate change; this preaching with Morse code using atomic detonations for the dots and dashes was really unneeded and fundamentally fatal to what could have been a solid film, and one with a strong eco-message.