The Wait (2014)

What a beautiful movie!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I watched this film a couple days ago and can't stop thinking about it. I generally like movies about altered states and know many people might not. At times the film feels literally timeless, evoking a complex ambiguity that must rest somewhere on the spectrum of grief (I think about 'the year of magical thinking' by Joan Didion). It's perfectly beautiful despite being awkward and stilted at times. The story is mildly confusing or maybe not - I don't know! But the sisters opposing points of view held my interest and plot holes seemed beside the point. The natural and sincere performances are gilded by a stylized world –it's almost like someone's saying death doesn't exist, which in some ways is more terrifying than death itself. Also: Chloe Sevigny has a daughter in the film that eerily looks like her, Luke Grimes is fun to look at and I loved loved seeing Jena Malone give it to her ex over the phone.

I first heard about 'The Wait' from a friend of mine. He recommended it to me on the basis of my interest in the work of David Lynch, and also because he knows that I'd lived in the Pacific Northwest for a little while. The first time I watched the film, I admit that I didn't really get what was going on. The plot moves very quickly at moments, and very slowly at others. But, upon a second viewing I felt I really started to understand. The film is very rich, and the characters go deep. I feel like a common reading/viewing of 'The Wait' – or at least from what I've read in other critics reviews – is that the film lacks any kind of depth. I don't think so, I think there is a very strange coherency to the film. It's like a fever dream, the characters emotional movements like tectonic plates, in that they shift imperceptibly at times, but there always is a shifting and movement. I'm thinking particularly of Chloe's character Emma, her scene where she sees her husband again for the first time in a while. They're out on a boat, her mania is palpable. I found that shift to be really interesting. Thank you M Blash, and looking forward to the next one. –Howard

This is the first time I have been moved to write a review immediately after seeing a film. "The Wait" is well-titled, because I kept waiting for this thing to get to the point - any point. Other reviewers are seeing artful imagery. I'm seeing self-indulgent clichés. We see film shot out of a car, from the side window, as the scenery flies by too fast to make out. We hear dialog delivered with unneeded, meaningless pauses that seem to be there just to slow things down even more than they already were. We see a tantrum of a phone conversation that makes no sense whatsoever, never explained, and not contributing to the plot, such as it is. Or isn't. Finally, the credits rolled, and I sat there for a moment, wondering what in the world was the point? So there's the spoiler, folks. Nothing. Happens. I can almost hear the makers of this film laughing "made ya look!"

Emily Dickenson said something about knowing she'd encountered a true poem if it took the top of her head off, or something like that. I know I've encountered a real film, when immediately after the credits have rolled I need to watch it again. M. Blash's "The Wait" is one of those for sure. There was a moment when the sound changed and the image cut to an eerie moon, fire- orange and smoke-black, the clouds moving like a haunting. There was something Kubrick there. And again in the twinning of the blond mother and daughter pair, after a desperate trip to town, which culminated in twin curled coifs. I also loved the primal backdrop of fire, floral light piercing a cave's interior, a herd of horses running, a girl running, a girl dancing. I will put this on the list of my favorite films this year, which also includes Lars Von Trier's "Nymphomaniac" and "Blue is The Warmest Color".