A lovely take on ambivalence and the delicate balance among human beings. Linney and Byrne, and the child actors, are excellent and the setting is often spectacular. Although at times it seemed a little long, I would readily watch it over again.

A deeply compelling yet deceptively disturbing meditation on the uncertain morality that can reside in all of us when confronted with a situation of unordinary and horrendous proportions. It's "What would you do?" plotline builds to a quietly powerful climax that had me paralyzed in the darkened theater long after the closing title sequence had ended.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with the previous contributors. Lantana was a grown-up tale of how tragedy can result from credible people making plausible decisions. This, on the other hand, was about caricatures (repressed Irish boozehound? Neurotic world-citizen?) making unrecognisable choices. Sadly, as a result neither characters nor situation provoke empathy. The richness of the camerawork almost justifies the languorous pacing, but ultimately a stronger script would have been needed to avoid a sense of self-indulgence. I have no issue with the murderer simply being used for exposition, but in that case I should not have to watch him eating breakfast. For an intelligent (and entertaining) view of the complexities of human interaction, The Lives of Others was a vastly superior offering this year.… Expand