Winter Passing (2006)

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Good, but could have been great. Solid plot, well directed. Heavy on emotion, relationships and character-based drama. Does overdo the kookiness though. Plus, it leaves a lot of things unresolved, though maybe that's the point.Zooey Deschanel is solid in the lead role. Good to see her in an edgy role for once. She usually plays sweet innocent characters (not that I am complaining though - I loved her in 500 Days of Summer). Here she is a selfish, chain-smoking, cocaine-snorting, foul-mouthed bitch.Ed Harris is superb in the role of the father, though this is to be expected. (He seems to revel in portraying sick/depressed/emotionally scarred characters). Interesting to see Will Ferrell in a dramatic role, and he does OK in it.

Winter Passing is a moody and glaucous movie. The emotional ambiance is the real meat, not the story, the dialogs, or even the life lessons you could get out of it, although they are all excellent. This unpassionate symphony is possible only because of the excellent acting, the great script, good soundtrack, solid editing, and probably a director with a vision.Ed Harris is magnificent. His physical acting really is a just portrayal of the body of a chronic drinker. His emotion are raw beneath the cloak of alcohol, and he makes you feel them. Zooey Deschanel is the fundamental piece of this film, introducing us to this world with a depressive and emotional husk of a self-abusing persona. Finally, Will Ferrell surprisingly gives us a really calm performance with only a very sober shadow of silliness coming from the peculiar background of his character.I have nothing negative to say.It's not for everyone, but it's a must as a drama that you might say is family oriented.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, despite touting a cast that I adore. Painfully aware of itself and desperate to fit the "indie" mold, this film is the pits. You know those girls in college that brood and "secretly" cut themselves but then go out in tank tops because they want you to know how deep they are? That's basically the same thing this movie is trying to do: prove that it's naturally deep when it's just a calculated genre film (sad that indie is now a genre instead of a means of producing something via independent financing). If you're that eager to waste your time I suggest taking a nap over watching this movie.

Not about those who rise from the throng to fame, fortune and the cover of People Magazine, but the others. Some literate, brilliant and with a longing to fulfill something never achieved in more ordinary venues, like a loving family.So they wait tables, deliver packages, clean houses, anything to survive as they await that "one singular sensation" the love and adoration of an audience. This was a study of one of these people. No, not one of anything, a unique individual with a real history, exposed to us using all of the techniques of our cinematic culture.Zooey Deschanel portrayed the cynical sad Reese Holden, with the sharpness of wit that showed an absence even fleeting joy, except the few seconds after a good hit of cocaine. The bulk of the film was her return to the residue of the roots of her family, her dad, brilliantly underplayed by Ed Harris, as a reclusive world famous novelist, and two unusual people who looked after him.Try to forget that you ever saw Will Ferrell as a comedian and just accept him as Corbit, one of the caretakers. While this film is fiction, it describes a trajectory of sadness and reclusiveness not unknown among great writers who at a given point had enough of life.