Genres

Visitors Review

a beautiful fart 2012-05-25 09:14:08

long and not too exciting, but has its merits

having only seen "welcome to sarajevo", and "i want you", i'm not toofamiliar with winterbottom's work, but this film was interesting due tothecast and subject matter. any film with sarah polley *swoon* and petermullan, gets my attention straight away. wes bentley and his beard gaveconvincing performances as well. the film i thought just tended to drag abit, and the dialogue didnt seem to have much flow. but the cinematographyand sarah polley close-ups made up for that perfectly.6½/10

2012-05-25 02:28:40

McCabe Without Leonard Cohen

This movie borrows much from McCabe and Mrs. Miller, unfortunately thereareno Leonard Cohen songs to make things interesting as Altman used in hismovie. The plot of The Claim is somewhat more interesting than McCabe andMrs. Miller. I gave this movie an eight.

RolloTomasi 2012-05-20 21:39:22

Just because it's set in the Old West don't automatically make it a Western

`The Claim' is classified as a western but doesn't quite fit the profile.There's a little bit of gunslinging but it's mostly a love story/human dramaset in the period immediately following the Civil War. As with most periodfilms, this one is an allegory of modern times. It has a lot to say abouthow progress cannot be stopped. Those picking it out hoping to see a Westernmay be disappointed.Normally a period film like this will try to throw in as manybeautifulvistas and open country scenery as it can. Director Winterbottom works suchshots in, but only to establish a setting. He instead goes againstconvention and decides to have the whole thing shot in hand-held. This styleis meant to make you feel like a bystander watching the events yourself.It's not something you see often in period films, but it works well here.The hand-held cinematography, engaging characters, sets, and costumes makeyou feel very close to the events. I wish this film had gotten a wider theatrical release. I did get to watchthe letterboxed DVD version, but it's still nothing like watching it on thebig screen. Many less deserving films get very wide initial theatricalreleases. "The Claim" is truly a film that is meant to be watched in a movietheater.Grade: A-

AnneBlythe104 2012-05-20 10:47:34

A Beautiful Epic-like Movie

It's been quite some time since I last saw a breathtaking epic story (e.g.Braveheart). I really think that Mr. Winterbottom (the director) did averycareful and good job in making this movie. For one thing, while watchingthemovie, you can really understand how each of the character feels. Forinstance, you know how painful Mr. Dillion's struggle was once he saw hisown wife and daughter again(whom he had once sold, just for the sake ofgetting some gold). The way how he was torn from his past doing and hisnot-really-effective compensation that he wanted to pay for both of them.Or, you can know how Hope, the daughter, who, aside from wanting to be avery good daughter, also thought about love. dream and hope of her ownlife.Or, how the mother, despite all the difficult times that she had gonethrough because of her husband's deeds, she still loved him enough toforgive and accept. And last of all, you could see what kind of personDalglish, and also the people in Kingdom Come were like.I personally think that one of the best part in the movie was the 'fire'part. And actually Lucia's role was good too. I think Milla Jovovich(Lucia)sang very beautifully in the movie. And that Sarah Polle (Hope) did a neatjob as the obeying daughter as well.One thing I also want to say about this movie is that, the cinematographyisgreat. And you can really get a glimpse of how the people's life duringtheGold Rush was like.I personally think that this movie is more than just a romance story, andIam sure that everyone can at least get something out of watchingit.

2012-05-17 08:12:48

Modern-day Western

"The Claim" is ostensibly an interpretation of British author Thomas Hardy's ("Jude the Obscure," "Tess of the D'Urbervilles") novel "Mayor of Casterbridge". But where the film succeeds is not as a literary adaptation, but as a modern-day Western.Daniel Dillon (the terrific up-and-coming Scottish actor Peter Mullan)runs the western town of Kingdom Come with an iron fist and a kind of frontier justice. Not only is he the law, but he in fact owns the town. Coming to own the town, however, means that he sacrificed his wife and child many years earlier (this is told in flashback).Now that wife and child have returned to town to exact a price from Dillon--his former wife (Natassja Kinski, who is quite good) and child, Hope (Sarah Polley, so good in "Sweet Hereafter") need money so that his wife can live out the remainder of her days comfortably.Without revealing too much of the plot, Hope soon becomes entangled with a railroad surveyor, Dalglish (Wes Bentley of "American Beauty") who will determine the fate and future of Kingdom Come by telling the government where to put the railroad.Along for the ride is Milla Jovovich ("Fifth Element"), the clear weak link of the cast, who plays Dillon's mistress and the owner of the town brothel.The movie is an interesting character study, and while it has its slow moments, explores several classic Western themes: love, money, greed and revenge. Recommended for lovers of arthouse films and those intrigued by modern Westerns.

Jeannot 2012-05-16 16:08:21

A beautiful movie...

loosely based on Hardy's THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, featuring a man whosells his wife and child. I agree with earlier comments that there aresimilarities to HEAVEN'S GATE (I was one of three people in the country whothought HG was pretty good; my wife was another), and MCCABE AND MRSMILLER.I also agree with those who said the plot and flashbacks are a littleconfusing, tho maybe this is only because I wasn't attentive enough. MilaJovovich was good; at least, she was not as hysterical as she was in THEMESSENGER. BTW, as I recall in the novel, the mayor loses his interest in his supposeddaughter when he finds out she really isn't his daughter. In the movie,tho, the Sarah Polley character just walks coldly away when she finds outshe is his daughter. The result in both cases of course isalienation.I thought the cinematography and acting were excellent.

2012-05-10 14:19:56

A story of rice forsaken....

Sticky finds it hard to review this film in between bouts of crying, rage, and choking on mouthfuls of sticky rice. The Claim is the story of a down-on-his-luck prospecter who trades his last steamer of rice for the chance to mine a stranger's claim. Years later, and rich beyond belief, the pioneer is confronted with the sight of new Chinese immigrants spreading the gospel of rice as they push through wild America. Too late, our anti-hero devotes his riches and all his efforts to dragging San Francisco's finest yum cha establishments to the town of Kingdom Come by horse. Sadly, a cooktop steamer catches fire and the town is reduced to ash...Sticky hasn't felt this devastated since a yum cha trolley last collided into his shins.

2012-05-10 05:08:10

The Claim

This review is from: The Claim (DVD) I really liked this movie but my husband who is the avid Western movie fan, did not care for it.

rooprect 2012-05-06 12:13:00

Ozymandias in the Old West

I wasn't expecting much when I bought this DVD for $4. The cover showedone of those forgettableeverybody-stare-at-the-camera-and-try-to-look-cool" images, and thetitle itself makes it seem like a forgettable pulp novel. "The Claim".Wooooo. The only reason I bought it was because I'm a fan of NatassjaKinski.Well, Natassja didn't really have a leading role; instead the filmfocused mostly on Peter Mullan as Mr. Dillon, the wealthy, powerfulowner of "Kingdom Come", a small but promising town at the base of theSierra Nevada mountains. Although there are several interestingsubplots, the story is about him, and Mullan delivers an excellentperformance. He is neither good nor evil but a believable humancharacter who is caught up in his ambition....which leads me to the title of my review. I highly recommend youread the short poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley before watching thisfilm. The film itself uses it briefly in the beginning where a stageperformer recites parts of it to an audience. This immediately piquedmy interest, since Ozy is one of my favourite poems. As the storyprogressed, I realized that this injection was not trivial; the film isessentially built on the story of Ozymandias, and once you realizethat, you'll be able to focus on the main theme.As I said, there are several sub-themes that are interwoven: MillaJovovich plays a great role of a singer who's not the "marrying type"(and by the way, she sings some great Portugese songs). Wes Bentleyplays a young official for the railroad, sort of a play-by-the-rulesboyscout type who is at odds with the subjective rules of the old west.Natassja is a woman slowly dying of consumption and haunted by a bitterpast. Sarah Polley is her daughter, innocent and oblivious but learningquickly. They all deliver great performances with my only criticismbeing their accents which are a little too modern, but if you canoverlook that, there's no problem.The director used some unusual techniques which caught my attention.For one thing, when switching to dream sequences, he didn't do thestereotypical sepia tint and harp plucking to announce "hey we're goingto a dream sequence". It may confuse you at first, but it keeps you onyour toes.This film has a very epic feel to it, perhaps like Sergio Leone'sclassic "Once Upon a Time in the West", and at just under 2 hours, thelength and pacing seem right. But somehow I didn't quite get as muchcharacter development as I would've wanted. I suppose that's plainmath... if we have 5 main characters, that gives each one only 24minutes. Less if you consider that the main focus is on Mullan. Butperhaps upon repeated viewings, you can get more of a story on each ofthem.One other criticism I have is that the musical score wasn't verydynamic. It seemed to repeat the same 2 sweeping chords over & over.Then silence. Then back to the same 2 chords. Repeat. But this is aminor criticism, and I doubt you would've even noticed it had I notsaid anything. Oopsie, sorry bout that. But like I said earlier,Milla's singing provides enough to impress us musically.Overall, it's a good film and a great interpretation of Ozymandias inthe Old West (again I urge you to read the poem so you may find thesame beauty in the film as I did). Also if you have a Blockbuster nearyou, check out the used pile where you can find this for $4. Definitelyworth the price.

Perry 2012-05-06 08:34:31

Majestic

This film is amazingly beautiful and wonderfully done. Congrats to directorMichael Winterbottom and especially Milla Jovovich who is excellent.The cinematography will knock your socks off!I think this will be the sleeper of the 2000-2001 winter and will listenforit on Oscar nomination night.

2012-05-02 00:15:01

Epic (n): 2+ hr. movie with no attention to characterization

Thankfully, it's only 2 hours (as opposed to typical epic movie durations). When will Hollywood and movie critics realize that a movie isn't very satisfying if it has only one dimentional characters? No amount of scenery or historical reference will change that. I bought this video because of the positive reviews on the cover: "One of the top 10 films of the year"--Chicago Sun Times, "Two Thumbs Up"--Ebert and Roeper, and "One of the years best films!"--Jeffery Lyons. It's interesting to note that Hollywood has been in a decline since film historian/critics began to frequent the airwaves with their own shows (which, btw, are produced by the same corporations that make the movies). Oh well, I should've known better than to listen to the praise of predicable critics. Overall, I give the movie 2 stars (the scenery and the actresses were pretty), 0 stars for the reviews. Buyer beware!

2012-05-01 15:02:56

The Claim

This film 'left me cold' in several ways. Character development was weak--with so very many opportunities to enrich their roles and relationships. Likewise, numerous storylines never fully developed, resulting in fragmented and disjointed scenes that were somewhere between boring and downright confusing. Some secondary characters were more developed than the apparent primary roles. The final scene(s) of the movie would have been better placed at the beginning of the film. I found the saloon scenes the most developed, where the characters were given rare opportunity to portray emotions, and character relationships were more evident. Brothel sex scenes came across as, "we'll insert sex scenes in here because it's a movie seller." Very, very disappointing overall...

2012-05-01 03:39:17

Beyond Depressing

Hide the razor blades and lay in a big supply of Prozac before attempting to watch this long, dull and dismal western. Normally I like deep and psychologically challenging films, but this one just tries too hard to peg the "film-snob meter". I never really found myself caring for any of the characters. Sarah Polley's character is annoyingly undeveloped, coming off as innocent and naive in the first half of the film and then suddenly out of the blue (boom!) she is an aspiring actress and is singing in a bar?!? Wes Bentley looks exactly like he is - a young actor in a fake beard trying to play someone older and more mature. And Winterbottom's direction is intensely bland, looking like he must have attended the Clint Eastwood school of uninspired filmmaking. No wonder this film sank out of sight after its release.

2012-04-30 07:24:24

cold truth

This is the West as I imagine it actually was, rough, unrefined, and brutal. Similar in tone to DAYS OF HEAVEN, another bit of American history, THE CLAIM is told in unsentimental bleak fact; nobody is spared, and there are no real winners except the railroad.Daniel Dillon arrives in the wilds of Northern California during the gold rush with his wife and infant daughter in hopes of making a fortune in the gold fields. They arrive at a claim shack, cold, hungry, and out of hope and are taken in by the claimer, and in short order, Dillon unsentimentally sells his family to the lonely miner for the claim. The wife, Elena, aware that she has little say, goes with her new master, but does not close the door on Dillon.Years later, we find that Dillon has made a go of things with his claim; he has built a town called Kingdom Come, wrested out of the mountains virtually by himself, a rough-and-ready place without amenities beyond the ubiquitous saloon and whorehouse to supply the miners. A survey crew appears; negotiations are begun to possibly bring the newly-constructed railroad through Kingdom Come and establish Dillon as the baron he envisions himself to be. The survey crew brings with it, however, a nasty shock for him; his erstwhile wife and now-grown daughter - who is unaware that Dillon is her father. Elena - the wife - is dying; she has come back to make some sort of arrangement with Dillon, as the man she was sold to has died and left her destitute, and she wants to provide for her daughter, the unlikely-named Hope. Dillon, on seeing her, realizes suddenly that his ambitions have left him hollow; his closest association is the madam of the town bordello, who loves him, but who he has no intention of marrying. He unceremoniously dumps the madam and presents Elena with an offer she can't refuse, and they are married - despite already being married - before all the townsfolk and move into a - for a town like that - palatial house overlooking his mountain fiefdom.Both Hope and the madam view all this with equal suspicion and disapproval. Hope is aware that some connection is involved of which she is ignorant; the madam is deeply angry at being shunted off like yesterday's news. The survey company comes periodically into town for refreshment, always greeted enthusiastically by the girls from the bordello, played just right with a brittle gaiety and hope by the cast of women; you can see the wavering despair of one in particular, hopelessly in love with her regular customer and played to the pathos of hoping against hope that he will return each time and maybe, MAYBE spirit her away from Kingdom Come some day. The town itself is crude and unapologetic; no church or school, totally utilitarian, without sidewalks or a good road. Dillon's hopes of the coming railroad elevating the town are clearly laid out in his efforts to sway the survey crew, but his dreams of dynasty - and of leaving it all to Hope, the daughter he abandoned and regained - lie in the hands and at the mercy of the railroad company.There is nothing soft or romantic about this movie; it is told in real-life format. People make choices that are wrong or right and pay the consequences thereof. There is no silver lining here; frontier life was hard and nasty sometimes, and this makes that very clear. Nothing came easy in the Old West, and justice was meted out unofficially and with speed. There were no second chances here.This movie got under my skin almost immediately. It is shot in winter, for one thing; I was cold the whole time I watched it, merely from suggestion. The performances are top-rate; Wes Bentley - a young man I was previously unfamiliar with - plays the chief surveyist with careful consideration of his surroundings, sizing up every situation; Hope, played by Sarah Polley, shows just the right mix of doubt and loyalty as a daughter; her mother, played sublimely by the legendary Nastassja Kinski, faces her slow death bravely and accepts the life she was given.Daniel Dillon, played by Peter Mullan, takes his role as the king of Kingdom Come and makes it believeable, with equal parts of strength, bravado, and regret for mistakes made.This was not a big movie; I'd never heard of it until I chanced on it, but it was a worthwhile couple of hours' insight into the life of a frontier mining town near the end of the 1800s West. And the scenery can be pretty awesome also.

Opalville 2012-04-30 06:28:20

90 minutes of pure bliss!

This film magically transported me and my significant other to 1862 andevoked many fond memories of my youth growing up in suburban Calcutta.Everyone loves a parade, and no one more so than yours truly. This movieinvites the audience to re-experience the gold rush of the bucolic west,andpictorially gave me goose bumps! I hadn't experienced this muchpsychodramasince McCabe & Mrs. Miller. The Claim inspired me to sojourn westwardmyself, and I am now the proud owner of a prime chunk of Nevada desert,where I hope to open a house of ill-repute and a soda shop. Thank you forthis movie!

noralee 2012-04-29 08:37:07

Well-Acted, Naturalistic Costume Western in Beautiful Scenery

I was sold on seeing "The Claim" from the preview of a hunky beardedWes Bentley looking longingly at one of my favorite Canadian actresses,Anne of Green Gables herself, Sarah Polley.It's been decades since I read "Mayor of Casterbridge" or years since Isaw a "Masterpiece Theater" version so I can't remember how closelythis is inspired by Thomas Hardy (the women certainly seem pluckier)but it's far more "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" than Yorkshire.The snowy Canadian and Colorado Rockies landscape is breathtaking andthe Michael Nyman score rises to the peaks.The melange of French, Polish, Irish, Scotch etc. accents are suitablefor the uncivilized West of lonely gold miners, pioneers,fortune-hunters and adventurers on the cusp of the railroad changingthe country forever.The Ozymandias references are a bit thick; perhaps Brit MichaelWinterbottom doesn't realize that we're all familiar with the Westernmovie convention of the town controlled by one king (usually playedrecently by Gene Hackman), though unusually here Peter Mullan is notevil but sympathetically complex (strong and vulnerable, sexy andpaternal), as he comes to grips with his past, while the rest of thetown is coming to grips with its future.Bentley too is no stiff hero, but a regular guy on a mission ofprogress thrown into a series of temporary situations that becomepermanent.It's unusual that a costume drama set in the 1900's can seem sonaturalistic.(originally written 5/5/2001)

2012-04-26 10:07:34

Awful

Is this what we have sunk to? I find it unbelieveable that critics of Ebert and Roeper's calibre give this movie a good review. I don't know what depressed me more - the content (the guy who has a prostitute for every town he visits is our "romantic hero") or the acting (OK folks, we can see that you can do "dead pan" - isn't there anything else you learned in acting school?) There is a huge fire in the movie which could be construed as being a desperate attempt to bring some fire to dull, lifeless characters who adorn a dull, lifeless movie.

2012-04-25 12:45:18

Beautiful but empty

This film needs a laugh or two in the script. It comes across as if a filmstudent with a lot of Daddy's money made it. "Hey, I have this great ideafor a Western" And he happens to be friends with a lot ofactors.First off, what is it with films today using Nastassja Kinski as thesickly/abused mother? Stop it!The film has it's imagery and cinematography going for it. However, thefilm uses all these handsome women and men who drift about scene to scenewithout any motivation. I am never quite sure as to what is going on nor doI care after 30 minutes in to the viewing.There is no one to identify with. Perhaps the point of the film was to showshows how nobody seems to really care about anybody in the oldwest.But, hey, if the director got to make his dream film then all the power tohim. I look forward to making mine. I would like to use the same actors ifI could get so lucky.

zirh 2012-04-25 14:47:30

Recommended

My fave film of 2001 yet. In another week I may not have gone to see this,so I'm glad there were no other releases that appealed to me, because Iwouldn't want to have missed this - I enjoyed it more than I was expectingto. Yes, it is reminiscent of 'Heaven's Gate', but this is probably better,if only for the fact that you won't have to devote half a day to see it. Ithas its flaws certainly - for instance, Wes Bentley's character doesn'treally convince - but its positives far outweigh those: it looks great, theperformances are excellent, and it's moving without being sentimental.Although her character was maybe just a little too sweet and humble for me(but that's not really her fault) Sarah Polley steals the show. PeterMullanwas class too, but (again, not the actor's fault) I did find it hard toreconcile how old he looked given the timescale and his character asdepicted in flashback - though I guess the hard life of a prospector in1860's America would have taken it's toll. This movie does give you a feelfor how life would have been at that time and place, and for the importancethe railways played in the country's development. The moral of the story isthe old one about selling your soul for filthy lucre, you have to live withyour sins and your mistakes, and you can't put a price on love. I rarelypayto go see a movie twice, but I might just make an exception for this one.Don't miss.

tedg 2012-04-25 06:25:07

Straight

Spoilers herein.Rarely do we get a film that is honest, so we should celebrate this.Lesser films think that cinematic truth can come from a particularly `real'story, usually brutal. Or in veristic performances. But they can never carrythe power of visual integrity. Not in film.Here, we stumble through a wilderness of images discovering for ourselveswhat is going on. We find, of course that souls never bond, that nature isrugged and capricious, and that love is all nature is. Hardy's story isblunt, but no matter. It is completely submerged. The eye dominates, leadsthe narrative. And the score! I'll travel distance to hear Nyman's work. Since his earlyintegration with Greenaway's vision, he has repeatedly placed our earsbehind the director's eye, with a congruent consciousness.Check this out. Insecure bonding. Always the promise of stability, alwaysaround the corner -- always tentative bonds that test our control over them.If you love film, travel with this one a while. Your relationship to it willalso be enticing but loose -- tight, deep connections punctuated byimpatient annoyance. It will come to you, like a casually purchased wife,like a dragged house (as also in `Oscar and Lucinda'), like the promise ofelectricity to bring you back from the dead, like a future rail line, likewelcome death in the cold.