November (2004)

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is apparent that there is sufficient documentation that we humans "play the the tapes of our life" in very fast forward just prior to our death. This movie seems to allow for the ending of that comprehensive tape playing to resolve in final acceptance of the truth after what must be several permutations of fantasy and guilt-based wishful thinking. Rather than the long drawn-out subconscious (actually "final conscious")dreams as portrayed by the movie in the cadence of the living, this movie just accounts for a split second of "playing the tapes" before Sophie finally dies. I would have never guessed how those nanoseconds could have been captured by film art. In that sense, we the living, are given the opportunity to dissect out over an expanded time period that which actually occurs in an instant. We are thus given to appreciate how the senses of the living are tuned out of the dimension of time itself. Furthermore, this movie would suggest that how we handle truth is still wrapped in dream work even as we play our final tapes at our death.

Various aspects regarding the tragic shooting of her lover, Hugh(James LeGros), in a gas station by a thief robbing the joint on the night of November the 7th relives hauntingly in the mind of photographer Sophie Jacobs(Courteney Cox in a rare change-of-pace role). She can not seem to shake the occurrences before and during that fateful night and her life seems to repeatedly drift through various times with Hugh as things begin to seep into her life becoming often too overwhelming to bear. An affair with a student, providing extra grief coupled with the shooting, hangs over her like a thundercloud. We begin to see Sophie in situations around that gas station and certain pictures taken might bring forth a suspect. She gets a clear view of his face, but the attempt to explain it to anyone is difficult. She is also experiencing pain in her stomach and headaches not to mention seeing blood in disorienting ways. Also, we see several specific conversations with Hugh and the other man. But, as she searches for truth, results yielding startling conclusions involving herself at the scene of the crime will possibly provide the answers explaining why she is suffering mentally from that night.May cover the night too many times for some viewers, the ending I believe clears up why the filmmakers are making the flick so elusive. Very reminiscent to STAY, we see a bevy of unusual things happening to Sophie that can not be easily explained until the ending occurs placing every weird occurrence together piecing the puzzle and showing just why Sophie experiences these far-out things. Shot on digital, this little indie uses minimal techniques spinning quite an eerie little tale. It works on the viewer not allowing us to grasp the whole until everything falls into place. Such as STAY, I feel many will give up on it before the half-way mark because the director, writer & crew asks a lot of us, particularly trust, in what they are trying to accomplish with this mind-screw of a movie. I liked it and thought Cox provides enough subtle confusion and sadness(..not to mention, denial on her face)in the manner she carries herself. She doesn't show too much or overplay her hand which I thought was nice.

I can't really say that I liked this movie. The quality of the movie, in terms of photography and editing, including sound, is incredible. I am highly amazed that this was shot in 15 days and with a very small budget. However, the plot of the movie did not convince me at all. I agree with the comment of another user, it seems pointless at the end. It took me a while to actually get that this is what was going on in her head as she dealt with the fact that she was dying. I can't really say that I am a film expert, but I don't think that the message was handled clearly. What I mean to say is, there are some films in which they leave the ending message to the consideration of the audience. This one seems to try to do that, but, in my humble opinion, it doesn't really get there and if that wasn't the idea and what they wanted was to tell you straight up that this was all in her head before she died, then they don't manage to do that either. Don't get me wrong, I love psychological thrillers, I think they are very difficult to achieve and get through to the audience. Sadly, not everyone can actually make those kinds of films. In my opinion, even the big guys like Hitchcock and Polanski had their hits and also their misses. Anyway, that is what I think.

For anyone who gave this movie a high rating, and thinks he is cleverer than those who gave it a low one; let me ask you this: have you ever seen the 1962 film "An Incident At Owl Creek Bridge." No? I thought not. Perhaps, then, you've seen one of these four films—and I list them in no particular order: "Lulu On the Bridge"? "Final Approach"? "A Pure Formality"? "Sixth Sense"?These are just the ones that come to me off the top of my head. They all have the same manipulative plot; and I'll bet if I had a dollar for every film in which the protagonist is dead but doesn't know it till the end of the film, I'd be a wealthy man.I gave it a low rating, not because I didn't get it, but precisely because I did. In fact, the only reason I gave it any stars at all is because this version of the same old story is, admittedly, a stylish and well-constructed piece of cinema. Unfortunately, it's precision is also its downfall. There are so many clues that no seasoned cinema aficionado would fail to figure it out--long before the word "Acceptance" is flashed on the screen. "November" resembles—much as "Sixth Sense" does—a pretty puzzle in which you are shown all the pieces--individually, and then in various groups--until at the end, in a flurry of prestidigitation, they are all put together so you can see the actual picture. But then, it all evaporates.That kind of thing may be clever; but it makes for a film that is, at best (as in "Sixth Sense") charming; while at worst, it is merely a pointless exercise. Moreover, while some of these films have had me going for a while, half way through "November" I knew what was coming. There are just so many times you can set up an audience like that. It's a bit like all the recent movies that have been made since "The Sting" ("Ocean's Twelve" and "The Spanish Prisoner" leap to mind) in which the grift you are supposed to think is going down, is really something quite different. By now, it's just not a surprise, and--its like, you know--who cares?There really ought to be a law against reusing these apparently irresistible (to even some seasoned directors—i.e., Polanski) ploys.To close, let me compare this tidy and trite approach to film making with something like Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" or Resnais's "Last Year At Marienbad"—or even "The Draughtsman's Contract". These are pictures that give you a mystery without the cheap "gottcha" at the end. I'll be thinking about "Mulholland Drive" for a long time, watching it over and over, discussing it, reading about it and writing about it. "November," on the other hand, is signed, sealed and delivered even before it ends. The picture on her wall of the outstretched arm that clomps so heavily throughout the film, for example? Just to make sure you get it, we are shown this (imaginary) picture one more time as our heroine's dying gaze falls on her lover's hand. Take that! And that! Cheese…talk about beating you over the head