Out of Blue

source: Out of Blue

This movie seems to have split audience and critics down the middle which is why a 5 rating is probably correct. There is not much of a story here, its a basic police procedural about a female homicide cop trying to solve the riddle which is the death of a professor. Its maybe a tad overlong at an hour and 50 mins. The cast and acting are spot its just that the story takes a while to get going and there is alot of weird visuals and symbolism between the colours red and blue throughout. Is this another movie I have to read a critique of before I understand whats going on? What happened to movies you can go watch and experience the full story in the 90 mins? Anyway the tone is somewhere between a David Lynch lite without too much weirdness and one of Darren Aronofskys earlier movies minus the emotionally harrowing content. And thats maybe the issue with this movie, stuff happens with alot of nice visuals but it lacks an emotive punch. Worth watching if you like that kind of thing but it wont win over a mainstream audience, one for people who like challenging cinema with good cinematography.

Out Of Blue: SF, Neo-Noir, Serial Killer, even science,a film of many tropes. Present day New Orleans, detective Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) investigates the murder of an astrophysicist, Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer). From the outset it is a complicated case, there are two main suspects, both physicists, her lover Duncan (Jonathan Majors) and the shifty Ian (Toby Jones). The killing also bears characteristics of a serial killer who has been dormant for 30 years. Jennifer's father Tom (James Caan) is a politician, war hero and business magnate and along with his dysfunctional family interferes in the investigation. As Mike makes inquiries she becomes immersed in world of The Multiverse, Black Holes and Quantum Mechanics, Schrodinger's Cat figures as much in developments as he own cat does in her life. The focus shifts from suspect to suspect and even a new suspect emerges. Mike also undergoes strange encounters and sensations. Is she imaging some events and even characters or is she shifting between alternative realities? The fact that Mike is a recovering addict doesn't help. An intriguing film which requires close attention and the Lynchian sense of strangeness and ambiguity may out many off. It likely demands a second viewing. Director and screenwriter Carol Morley has adapted the novel Night Train by Martin Amis, delivering an original addition to the SF/Neo-noir Genre. 8/10.

*** Spoilers *** This movie tries too hard to be something it's not. On the surface it plays like a detective murder mystery but behind the scenes it's little duck-feet are busy at work trying to subvert your expectations by weaving in concepts of metaphysics and quantum-mechanics. The dialogue is clunky and annoying for the most part. Most of the people interviewed seem to be lost in some sort of metaphysical headspace and never seem to be present in the movie. The acting is largely forgettable save a couple of big-hitters who felt wholly out of place; perhaps they were thinking about their next job. The story is where it gets interesting, but no so much as to hold any sustained interest. People in the movie seemed obsessed by Schrodinger's Cat to the point where they are uncooperative with a ongoing murder investigation. Once it becomes a flood of people all saying the same thing and acting the same way the movie loses all narrative momentum and ceases to be interesting. Ultimately the murderer is revealed to be the victim's father but by then it's too late because a better script-writer could have used the Schrodinger concept as a springboard rather than a point of stagnation/repetition throughout the whole movie. If you've manage to sit this through this pseudo-intellectual dribble there's an hilarious scene towards the end where the detective storms into an office and is immediately restrained. She then proceeds to break free and assault her attacker. This seems fine except that for most of the movie she's had trouble standing up and now has suddenly become Mel Gibson on a Friday night! It was at that point I realised that the film had truly jumped the shark, or killed the cat if you will. Recommendation: go watch a couple of youtube videos about Schrodinger's cat and save yourself the agony of seeing this excuse of a movie. Frankly I'd seen more interesting ideas in a Laurel & Hardy movie Verdict: 3/10

Terrible, terrible film. There really is no getting away from it. Saw this at the LFF and it was an awful mess, unbelievable dialogue, awful acting, portentous, pretentious, really really poor. I would rank it among the five worst films I've ever seen, I'm afraid. Yes it is brave and bold in choosing to place a female detective protagonist at the heart of the film, great choice of lead actress in Patricia Clarkson, it does also have a bold visual identity and there is an interesting idea in here. But it tries far to hard to be a Lynchian take on a classic detective story, when it should be focusing on the basics. Of course, Carol Morley is to be championed. She is a promising, bold British female filmmaker. And I suspect this is why she has garnered a few decent reviews for this film. But it is impossible to deny that this is a significant misstep.

Adapted from a not very good novel, Night Train by Martin Amis. This existential noir mystery would had been better in the capable hands of someone like David Lynch. Patricia Clarkson plays hard boiled detective Mike Hoolihan. A man's name for a detective operating in a man's world of New Orleans. Mike is investigating the death of Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer) an astrophysicist shot in the head in the observatory she worked at. Rockwell was the daughter of a decorated Vietnam war veteran and businessman, Tom Rockwell (James Caan.) The suspects range from her colleagues, boyfriend, her father to a one time notorious serial killer. It could also just be suicide. With all the mumbo jumbo of time and space, we see that Mike is losing her sense of self. The death of Jennifer has had a pronounced effect on her. The film loses all coherent sense as it goes along and it just gets more uninteresting. A shame as somewhere there was a good film trying to break out if only it had a better livelier script.

The music throughout this movie was good with the exception of one song that kept being played that had the lyrics 'I'll be seeing you'...well I'll keep it to the point...I'll never be seeing this movie again. It was lacking any substance and a complete crock of .... several people walked out. If you want to watch a quirky yet excellent detective type movie try Inherent Vice but Out Of Blue was just rubbish

First, Patricia Clarkson is her marvelous self. Don't tell me she doesn't know how to act or produce a solid character. This is indeed a mystery. Some of the flashbacks won't make sense until the end. This movie is slow and methodical. If you're looking for chase scenes or the big "gotcha," your not going to find it. There are plenty of tracks to go down. Most lead to dead ends but have you thinking it's the right one. It's not a box office hit, but it certainly is worth watching on DVD or wherever you get your movies.

REVIEW - OUT OF BLUE We are all made of star dust, we are everyone and everyone is us. For every decision we make the other decision exists in an alternate dimension. Critics have described this film as stunning, a masterpiece and an experience so I just had to watch. An astronomer is found dead in what seems to be strange circumstances and the film follows the police officers investigation into what happened. All sounds good so far but....... Very slow and I'm afraid to say very boring even when strange things start to happen to the police officer investigating, is it the dead astronomer making contact from an alternate dimension or illusions from....... Such a shame because the BFI (British Film Institute) have an amazing track record of making some ground breaking films but I'm afraid to say this isn't one of them. Rating 4 out of 10

This movie is like buying the best ingredients and making an awful cake of it. Actors are fine. The plot line is interesting and promising. They grab some very fascinating and potent subjects like Existence and absurdity of life, Schrödinger's cat, stardust... The twist is there. But put all together it simply does not work.