Suspension (2008) Reviews

• I don't know why exactly, but I kinda liked it

  bwdude2008-12-16

  Most of the comments here are true. Yes, it CAN be seen as boring. Yes, the acting is not the best. Yes, the plot has it's holes. However, the ones who praise it also have their point. I for one really enjoyed it. It may be for the unique twist to having "superpowers" like stopping time. Someone else called it "not a science fiction movie, but a character study". And that is certainly true. I would have been disappointed, had I expected an action-laden superhero-movie with lots of surprises and SFX. Without these expectations, I am really glad to have seen it. Certainly not for everyone, but if you saw "The Quiet Earth" and liked it, this one is a must! What would you do if you could stop time?

  More

• Oddly appealing, in spite of its flaws.

  innocuous2009-01-20

  I gave this movie an extra star simply for having the guts to avoid any simple explanation of why (or if) a camcorder can stop time. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the camcorder is not really critical to the plot, except in the way that it reflects the yearning and distress of the lead character. My own guess is...no, it didn't stop time. It wouldn't make a substantial difference if it actually did. Unlike some reviewers, I did not find this film to be at all boring, or even slow-paced. It progresses with its own rhythm based on the process of grieving. I also found a lot of reasons to be sympathetic to the two survivors. (I'm about the same age as the main character and I lost my wife two years ago.) The portrayal of the depth of his loss, and the loss of a sense of direction and purpose is accurate. (I simply had to move out of our house after my wife died. I didn't move to an abandoned hospital, but I do understand how that could make perfect sense to someone.) The FX are quite good, though not anything groundbreaking. A couple scenes, particularly ones with the tennis balls, are not very good, but they are acceptable in an indie flick like this. Overall, I enjoyed it. The filmmakers exhibited a lot of restraint and left much unsaid.

  More

• Not expected timing

  cvandeplas2008-05-31

  Of all the movies I saw concerning extraordinary powers this one approaches the story using another angle. The others are usually more the American style or action movies with many special effects, explosions and of course the necessary love-story. In contrary this one is just different. No fancy explosions, no real action scenes. At some time you could feel a kind of little stress in compassion for certain people, but the slowness of the movie compensates. The 'stop time' principle is really linked to very slow and relaxing moments with soft, slow music. The story itself is not really spectacular, the image quality neither. If you have nothing special this movie I could consider it as 'an option'.

  More

• Like An Abstract Painting...

  sk-1562008-12-25

  I just finished watching this movie, and I don't want to make it sound like I had an epiphany or anything, but I had a few moments of thoughts about it which changed the way I looked at this movie. On the surface this movie sounds like a Sci-Fi thriller of some sort a la "Deja-vu", and those who approach it as such will be very disappointed. You can not get wrapped up in the "science" of the movie, and I thought in a way the writer/director etc. dealt with that by omitting to even attempt at some lame explanation of how and why this man or the camera was able to stop time. Because guess what? It is not possible! ;-) You have to look at this movie the same way you look and at abstract painting. If you are looking at a portrait painted by a cubist painter, you are not going to say "What the hell? That does not look like any person I know!" You have to accept it as an interpretation of reality. The whole stoppage of time is a tool used to demonstrate the characters descent into his obsession with Sarah and the subsequent actions. Having said all this, this movie is by no means a masterpiece. But if you approach it knowing that it is not your regular sci-fi flick, you may give it more of a chance and not be disappointed by it. I thought the acting was pretty good (specially from actors that were not familiar to me). The story line and specially the ending leaves a lot to be desired, but it was still worth watching. The plot basically seemed to have grown out of perhaps a short story (in fact I wrote something similar when I was in high school) and was not properly nourished and matured. Perhaps in the hands of a better writer, it could have been much better...

  More

• Different movie, requires different taste

  sobeit7122008-07-25

  This movie is not a science fiction, it is actually a character study. It explore the dark side of a man's emotion and obsession. A man lost his family during a car accident gained a special power through a camcorder. It may not be the most logical idea for a science fiction, but the point here is not about the stupid video camera that got some people here so wrapped up about. forget about the video camera, it's only an vehicle. How about the man had gained the power to suspend time by snapping his fingers? Would you be more happy about that? Human's ignorance have no bound. If you demand logic so much, try explain gravity. Can you? Guess not. How about trying to explain the concept of time, even physicists can not agree on that. What is time exactly? Huh? Good luck explain that. I bet no two people can come up with the exact same answer. Let's just say that through the event of accident, it seems that this man had discovered a crack on reality as we know. He goes in and out of this crack through a device (stupid camcorder again). What this movie is really about is the things goes on inside this man's head. What really goes through a man's head after a traumatic event? Have you ever lost all your family in a split second? Guess not. But some reviewer here seem to have a very strong opinion on how should a man grief. And then some other reviewer even go as far as saying that this is not the way this man should use his super power. Are you this man? Do you have super power? How do you know how he suppose to use this super power? So he didn't use his super power in a typical Hollywood blockbuster style, and you got angry and think this doesn't make any sense. Do you know how shallow you all sounded like? A movie finally breaks away from Hollywood cliché of super heroes or super villain, the audience can't take it! More Hollywood cliché please!!! Someone complains that this movie is creepy. It suppose to be creepy! Have you seen Saw? Isn't that creepy? No no no, this is even more creepy than saw. Right... you guys need help. Most of Hollywood's horror movie simply glorify violence and gore to the point of perversion. Now here we have a guy who's not one dimensional, and you all got confused. This guy is actually never intentionally evil, he's just obsessed. He's actually a very sweet guy that willing to die for his love, he just did it in a wrong way. He's more human like than most of the other movie characters I've seen. He may be a creep, but he's a real creep, not your typical Hollywood creep who also turn out to be Satan himself. Typical American mentality: A movie character is either 100% good or 100% evil. Now we have an emotionally vulnerable and sometime confused individual, you all all of a sudden can't seem to relate to that anymore. Reality check: WE ARE ALL VULNERABLE, CONFUSED AND DOWNRIGHT HELPLESS MOST OF TIMES! Unless you are not a real human being. In the game of love, who had really figured out the right way? Did you? There's another reviewer complains that it defies logic that he falls for her. Can you really explain love??? Like your love is all very well calculated and makes perfect sense. I doubt that's real love. It has to be a very boring one regardless. In the end, how should a man deal with his loss? How could you know how he suppose to deal with his loss? In this movie, we are presented with a character who channeled all of his emotion towards a self destructing tragic end. Was that less appropriate than the text book of dealing with tragic? If you want the text book version, go talk to a shrink or read up a pamphlet or something. Here we are given a chance to peek inside the dark abyss of a man's emotion. It can be scary, it can be uncomfortable, it can be creepy. Who's mind isn't? Who doesn't have little dark corner here and there? Has it nothing but eternal sunshine of spotless mind? I doubt it! I seriously doubt it. You know you had thoughts and dark secrets and unexplainable desire and obsessions that you can't tell anyone about it. Here the director is brave enough to let it out in the open, through whatever vehicle he uses, right in front of our naked eyes. The raw emotion rings true, though it may strike a few nerves.

  More