Review of The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) by Viet Phuong N — 01 Mar 2014

This is the WORST kind of films, the kind of films that does not spare a single glitter of hope for its audience after watching. I watched this film because of its poetic trailer but such poetic, romantic and beautiful moments in the film are so rare that one already wishes the film end after its first part, only to realise that the second part is even far more painful to watch.

All the emotions are put to the extreme with the intense acting by the two leads, who seemed so naive and care-free in the first part only to break down all mental borders in the second part to show their destroyed souls and broken hearts.

I really did not expect the emotions were put to such extreme, given the likeable characters, the simple and innocent settings, and of course the relaxing bluegrass music at the background - a type of Blue Valentine I had guessed after watching its trailer.

But so wrong my thought was - this film is all about heart-brokeness, all about how people collapse once they loose their dearest in life. In a way, such extreme approach makes this film less effective and subtle than films like Blue Valentine.

But really, pounding the heart of the audience into pieces is no trivial feat, not trivial at all...