The Secret Life of Words

I have yet to get this movie out of my mind! If you like more thought provoking type movies, this is the one for you. Not your regular Hollywood fare.... Full review

I did not think this was a very great film, even for artsy fare, which it is, in a way. The close-ups of Tim Robbins having 'food gasms' while being fed food by a large male chef almost made me hurl... Full review

I thought this movie was really good, not spectacular but touching and thought provoking. Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley both did great jobs portraying broken, solitary souls searching for something to hold on to. I had barely heard of the Balkan... Full review

The film has a slow start, and even as you watch it you wonder why the character Joseph as played by Tim Robbins is in such a drastic state. In medical terms, he doesn't appear like a critical burn patient. But... Full review

I really liked the film, i don't know why. But i kept thinking about it ever since the day i watched, it was touching.... Full review

I understand the commentary about the revelation of pain but the most significant 'lesson' for me was the insidious horror of war - in a film without bloodshed - and obviously the lingering effects of man's inhumanity to man. The slow... Full review

Great performances, an original idea, good script - it's just a great movie, which nobody I know has seen. I have no idea why this one didn't get better distribution, it certainly deserves it. The little quirks of the characters liven... Full review

I have a feeling this may be one of those movies like 'The Goddess of 1967', a movie people will either love (for its beauty) or hate (and claim it's hollow trash that pretends to be intellectual). 'La Vida' is a... Full review

When people go through great amounts of pain and unbearable suffering, it takes a lot of time for them to be able (if ever) to heal and go on with their lives. This movie helps us to understand that process and... Full review

Those of you who have seen Isabel Coixet's first film- My Life without Me- shouldn't miss this one. Like that film, this has a tragic-romantic essence at its core. A very well-written script, with a handful of themes, superbly acted, and... Full review

Robbins is a fine and resourceful actor, but the tiny Polley towers over him here....the monologue can't fully compensate for the film's narrative disjointedness.....There may be no young actress today better at embodying a blend of wounded innocence and stoic pride than Sarah Polley.....Far more convincing is Julie Christie, in a small but pivotal part as a social worker who played a key role in Hanna's past.....Polley drew international acclaim as an accident victim in Atom Egoyan's 1997 "The Sweet Hereaf ... Full Review

In due course skeletons will march out of closets, but the movie yields up its secrets with slow reluctance.....The Secret Life of Words lies in the harsh, unforgiving beauty and wonderfully strange social life of the isolated rig..... ... Full Review

A bitter irony because it's one of the most remarkable films I've seen in 2006.....While subtly applicable to developments of the story, it's terribly awkward and likely to keep people --....He assures her, with humor....even arthouse patrons who would appreciate it --....This film may well add another notch on that belt of less accessible intrigue.... ... Full Review

gradually softening towards her, culminating in Hanna's daunting litany of misery, reminiscent of Ingrid Bergman's big scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls , squared for horrific effect.....manages a real romantic fervor towards Polley in the final scenes..... ... Full Review

But the film takes a few missteps: there's a narration fore and aft that muddies the waters, and a few scenes following the cathartic climax of the film felt earnest and unnecessarily expository, even if they did star the unassailably great Julie Christie. ... Full Review

This summer, two cookbooks have had fascinating journeys up the charts. At age 36, British model Sally Bee suffered three heart attacks in one week, the result of a previously undiscovered heart defect (spontaneous coronary artery dissection). ... Full Article

Finalists for the 2009 Humanitas Prize, which honors writers whose work "affirms the dignity of the human person and reveals our common humanity" include the scribes behind "Slumdog Millionaire," "Milk," "The Secret Life of Bees," "Doubt" and "Wall-E." ... Full Article

Though it ultimately lives up to its title, it's the silences that speak most forcefully for the better part of The Secret Life of Words , Spanish writer/director Isabel Coixet's grittily poetic second consecutive collaboration with Canadian actress Sarah Polley... ... Full Article

IN CASE you had any doubts -- and maybe you didn't -- it's now official: The Festival de Cannes is a very big event. According to a story in Nice-Matin, the paper of record in the South of France, the ... Full Article

In the grayest corner of England, a reclusive foreigner (Sarah Polley) silently clocks in and out of a factory.She lives alone.She is hearing-impaired. ... Full Article

The kind of movie in which conversations are often prefaced with "Do you really want to hear this?," The Secret Life of Words is heavy with hushed revelations and ponderous monologues, but not much for anything that resembles real human... ... Full Article