Review of All Good Things (2010) by Lena S — 26 Dec 2010

Such an intense and thrilling story!

From the get go you know the mood and the feeling you're going to get from engaging in this story. That "on edge" feeling, that makes you just a little uneasy but compelling in what you're seeing to want to know why you feel uneasy. That takes a bit of skill as a filmmaker to be able to do put your audience in such a feeling.

"All Good Things" is a love story that turns into a murder mystery and it surrounds the Marks family. A father (Frank Langella), who runs a successful real estate empire and is disappointed in his free spirited son (Ryan Gosling) for not having the interest in the family as he would want him to. A son who marries a girl he wouldn't want him to (Kirsten Dunst) and opens up a health food store caled "All Good Things" with her.

So now we move into the newlyweds relationship and now apart from their families, we see what their characters want. As we move deeper into why Gosling and Dunst are doing what they want we see a turn in moods, personalities, feelings, uncovering shocking and unbelieveable truths. Causing one to fear what will become of the two.

The score, the timing of the editing, the pace and the spacing of the editing were great becuase this clever style of filmmaking is what keeps the audience engaged in the story. Director, Andrew Jarecki, would show you just little snipits of particular scenes a little before its time to make you wonder what it was. Then when you get there it all makes perfect sense because you've been trying to piece it together all along. You've been thinking about it all this time, a great way to keep your audience thinking all the way throughout. Not waiting for the next point to happen.

The movie deals with drugs, murder, sex, and lies. So definitely for any adult whose moral compass can handle the topics.

Definitely one of the year's best!