Adaline (2016)

To me, this movie is perfection.

From my favorite movies..

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Having had the opportunities to watch some surprisingly good indie films, I stumbled upon Adaline and decided to try my luck on it today. Unfortunately, the movie was just too painful to watch. Firstly, the poor writing as well as directing makes Adaline worse than a child play and just randomly develop without proper pace or any logical connections between each scene. There was so much nonsense that it seemed like the director just got rid of characters from the screen or resurrected them whenever he felt like doing it. I found this ridiculous and hilarious at the same time as it left the whole audience with uncountable WTF moments throughout the film. Secondly, the acting looks stiff, boring and fake, making it hard to evoke people's curiosity and to terrify them as a thriller/horror movie was meant to do. In fact, I could not tell if it is thriller or the kind of horror where you die of boredom. The only bright spot of Adaline is its cinematography peppered with some nice shots of Golden Gate Bridge and interesting use of angles. I am glad I finished it at the end of 2015 rather than wait until 2016 to torture my brain at the beginning of a wonderful new year. Believe me, I really try to leave a positive review on every film I have seen but this so-called movie is just impossible. It was funny that the whole audience in my room actually gave a big round of applause when Adaline ended. I guess they were really happy that they could finally escape their mental abuse with courtesy.

Not as bad as some of these other reviewers say, I actually found it pretty entertaining. I nearly jumped out of my seat during more than a few parts of the film. I will admit, there are moments when the film is a little slow, but the performances were decent with a special nod to Jeremy Walker who played Marvin. Wow, I can't imagine it's easy to play a mentally challenged person and he did it quite convincingly. Jeremy's performance reminded me of when Leonardo DiCaprio played Arnie in Gilbert Grape. I suggest giving it a watch for sure, you won't be disappointed. I don't suggest watching it right before you go to bed!

Adaline has good production values with a solid cast and a well told story. It looks great and the story has plenty of twists and turns and elements of surprise.The pacing is good and the different locales - San Francisco, then a rural town in Marin County - offer a nice contrast to setting and atmosphere. The lead female protagonist, a frustrated painter trying to get her work seen, inherits an old house and sees it as an opportunity and new start to her work and life. Of course the house comes with a past and secrets that spill into the present when she arrives and settles in.It's an interesting mix of horror, suspense, supernatural and mystery genres - there's something in it for everyone. Recommended.

Spoiler alert....I am revealing some spefic details of the film.8I really enjoyed watching this film. As an low-budget Indie it is quite good, especially for the cinematography, which I thought was top notch. There is splendid use of shadow effects, wonderful angles and lighting. There was some decent acting throughout, and I particularly enjoyed the job Jeremy Walker did as a developmentally disabled young man, Marvin. I have worked with special needs students, and I felt that he did a good job portraying one. The kindness that was shown him by Danielle, the main character, was refreshing and helped to highlight her vulnerability. There were a number of scenes that made me jump, some that made me tense up, and some that left me guessing, especially as to who the "bad guy" was. What more can we ask for in a thriller? It would be interesting to see what Bidisha Chowdhury, the director, could do with a larger budget....