For the Moment (1996)

hyped garbage

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Blistering performances.

It was quiet, evocative, touching and felt like the prairies even today. The young people whose lives were forever changed by a distant war impending upon them was never art away and yet they manage to grasp a little life before the inevitable and unknown future. Some would think it sentimental. I think it was and is...life. The cinematic quality was a beautiful rendering. I am so glad to have seen this jewel for all of its qualities from play, acting and image. If it had been produced in a time where Canadian film was well distributed, it would have been renowned. It is instead a hidden jewel.

This is yet another intensely boring Canadian film, to my great shame.In fact, it's so boring, that I started getting confused which characters were in bed with which other characters. Everyone seemed to bed everyone else at some point. And I couldn't possibly care less.Even worse, a character that I thought had long since exited the film via train appears back in town as if he never left. No idea what that was about.The acting, particularly one crying scene where Crowe stands by as one woman is regretting her hope for who died, was so bad as to be laughable.Also, I'm no plane expert, but I'm pretty sure that in WWII planes, you had to use things like flaps and rudders to get the plane to change direction. Not these planes. They float magically through the sky, nothing moving on them in the slightest, no matter where they go.I fail to see the point of including the gay guys. Is it to show how politically correct the filmmakers were in 1993? These days, gay characters aren't furniture that we use to judge main characters or the writers.As for political correctness, I found it was particularly crass to dedicate the film to the airmen who trained in Manitoba during WWII, thereby daring anyone to give it a negative review, lest we not be supportive of the troops. This film depicts them as sex crazed loonies just as likely to crash a plane in a rage, as to fly one straight, mostly because they spend most of their times inside women instead of planes.This film could easily have been cut down to one hour, and been somewhat better. Ultimately, it probably isn't salvageable.

For the Moment is a beautiful little film of which few have heard. More's the pity. Filmed in my home province of beautiful Manitoba, Canada, it offers an insight into the experience and emotions of two charming young people who would never have met -- given their geographically separated homelands, Australia and Canada. -- except for the eruption of World War II which created many such alliances. The capital city of Winnipeg hosted a war-time canteen for service men and my aunt was a volunteer there. She had the honour of meeting many young lads -- from the British Empire and allied countries -- who were training at our various camps. Richard Burton was one such and he mentions, in his biography, his training experience.The beach scene was filmed at Grand Beach which was a very popular summer site for young families and young people so it was a pleasure to see it so beautifully used in this film.As others here have mentioned, the various backgrounds lent much to the story.The cast was well chosen and portrayed their characters with respect and sincerity.Thank you for the opportunity to voice my humble opinions here.

This film takes you to another time when there was a different pace to everyday life. We get an idea how families had to deal with the war and how quickly we sent young men off to fight. A very touching look at the past and a reminder that casualties of war don't just happen on the front.Luckily many of us have never had to go through what our great-grandparents, grandparents or parents went through during a war. This film, I think, is a small thank you. Peter Outerbridge looks amazingly like a young Peter O'Toole and Russell Crowe is absolutely charming and as Australian as he can be. It's definitely worth listening to him recite "High Flight" and makes me wonder what he might accomplish with Shakespeare.