Things aren't gray. While there is no clear "good guy" or "bad guy" going on here, this story simply explores a relationship in a realistic way, without guns, without cops, without explosions. Those who need this type of stimulation will get bored. Six Years reveals the complexity of people with their twisted psychology. Mel tells Dan "I love you," then declares "I hate you" hours later. The writers and actors were spot-on showing young college age kids with their roller-coaster moods, intense feelings, and ambivalent emotions. Kids make bad decisions. They act, then later reflect, instead of doing the opposite. We see them sabotage their relationship (a kiss here, a push there), only to regret it later. When we are young, we do this. We later learn not to, hopefully. The spontaneous ad-lib dialogue was fresh. Unlike a structured script, Taissa Farminga (who played Mel) and Ben Rosenfeld (who played Dan) acted naturally, often interrupting each other like we do in real life. Does this film explore domestic violence. Some say yes, but in my personal and humble opinion, I saw the the injuries caused accidentally. Mel pushes Dan, twice, but doesn't mean to make him bleed. Dan pins Mel to the ground to stop her from striking him, not to hurt her. In real life domestic violence cases, they mean harm. Men strike women in the face. This wasn't the case here. COMMENT ON THE ENDING... SPOILER ALERT... DON'T READ FURTHER... The ending was open-ended. Will they remain together? Will they work things out and learn to THINK before they act? Are they violent people, or do they simply need to mature? Their love is solid, no doubt. They have little impulse control. They realize this too late. Dan's change of heart at the end was a bit abrupt (and confusing) when he decided not to go to New York. Mel pushes him into glass, cutting his feet, and while recuperating in the hospital from that push, he decides to hinder his career for her. Dan's mistakes were that he didn't include Mel on the decision-making when he decided to move to New York. Mel's mistake was that she often was a hot-head, exploding both verbally and physically when Dan upset her, striking out with words like "I hate you" and actions such as pushing him and feebly striking at him. When Mel says, "I want you to go to New York", does she mean she wants to have a long distance relationship, or does she think their relationship has ended. This is what the viewer must decide.

Very tender display of a passionate but emotionally damaged young attractive teacher's relationship with her students. While this teacher tries to maintain a professional distance, she finds it hard to do when she has a soft spot for one student in particular ï¿ 1/2"ï¿ 1/2" Billy, a very intelligent, sensitive, but troubled teen. Billy "gets" this teacher and sees her for who she is, but Miss Stevens pushes him away to avoid being inappropriate. Billy actually gives Miss Stevens good advice, telling her to take care of herself and not be so cerebral. He jumps on the hotel bed. She thinks he's crazy, until she, too, jumps on the bed. He gets off his meds, and thus, can begin to feel happy (and sad) again, and not just the flatline emotionless void that the meds cause. But Miss Stevens reports him, pushes him away, forces a coldness between the two of them... all so she can be appropriate and professional. It's rather sad.

I did not hate this movie. I did not love this movie. To be honest, I knew little of Marie Antoinette (but I googled her after watching the movie, which shed light on the film). Sofia goes more by feel and is more abstract (more a Picasso than a Rembrandt), and wanted the viewer to experience lush excess and excessive material abundance to the point of where everything was sicky-sweet, which was part of Marie Antoinette's world. I also got that among all the cakes and silk and glitter, there was no soul. So we have this summer/winter contrast of rich/lush/sweet against empty/barren/sour. I found her lack of privacy in her dressing her clothes with an audience, and the royal court knowing her sex life interesting and heart-breaking. She had to get rid of her beloved dog. She was only a child! Then her self-absorbed frigid husband who was little comfort to her appears in her life, but wasn't he also practically a child himself? Interesting how he slowly warmed to her as he finally grew up a bit. I think these two children playing prince and princess, then king and queen, had no realization of the world outside their castle, that France was starving. There was no malice, only ignorance that often comes with the stupidity of youth. I did gain insight from this film, perhaps more abstractly.

SPOILER ALERT: Do *not* read any further if you don't want the ending revealed. I will attempt to explain the meaning of the movie. Jonah loves his wife and his toddler daughter, but he is over-worked, over-stressed, and an under-achiever as he works the night-shift at a hotel. He walks through life in a zombie-like way hoping for a better life for his family, seeing unreachable goals as living free in the country. But he cannot afford this, and he cannot lift himself from his rut. He is seriously sleep-deprived, and this slowly leads to mental delusions, possibly a split in personalities. Jonah meets a drifter (DJ) who comes into the hotel, asking to stay in a room for free. DJ is obsessed with conspiracy ideas. He believes he's a prophet. DJ rants his psychotic ideas to Jonah, who listens silently, until he's had enough. Jonah yells at DJ, telling him to stop. However, DJ doesn't exist. DJ is only in Jonah's head. The security cameras at the hotel prove this. Jonah's history with homeless suggests he has always had some level of mental illness. While Jonah loves his family, he feels trapped by them. He also feels guilty that he cannot provide the life he dreams for. He needs money, and gets DJ to steal jewelry from hotel guests, not realizing that he himself is stealing, because the real Jonah (a sweet and kind man) would never do such a thing. Jonah feels trapped by "the system", his job, and his family. His serious sleep deprivation develops into a personality split, where DJ takes over, doing what Jonah cannot. "DJ" kills his wife and daughter. Jonah grieves. The police and investigators begin to suspect Jonah when things don't add up (they discover that there is no drifter who entered the hotel, as Jonah claimed) and gather evidence to arrest Jonah, but Jonah flees before that happens. He goes to the mountains and lives free as a hermit under a third personality (first Jonah, then DJ, now Buster), breaking into empty vacation homes, eating their food, bathing, and perhaps getting revenge on the rich who have "mastered the system", something he was unable to do. At the funeral, he says, "I don't believe it" because he hasn't 100% convinced himself of his lies to himself, yet. The authorities become aware of this hermit and hunt him down. But Buster is smart and avoids capture. Meanwhile, Buster is obsessed with conspiracy theories, an alternate universe, and an inversion which he predicts will come soon. At the same time, he is conflicted and haunted by memories and flashbacks of his former life as a loving husband and father. The sheriff eventually catches up with him and hunts him down, shooting at him as he emerges from a cave. But their bullets miraculously miss his body, and he escapes in the dust. Totally out of his mind now, and after seeing his religious mother plead for him on TV, he takes a row boat out on a spiritual journey to his death. There are several religious images - the boat at sea, frogs fallen from the sky, xxx. Before he dies, he confront his true self, Jonah, who tries to kill Buster in revenge for killing his family. Him waking up on the beach is showing his belief that he somehow sent his family through the inversion that he imagined to be real. There is enough ambiguity to have several interpretations. There is a vague hint that the daughter drowned. Perhaps this guilt and anger fed into his killing his wife. Another interpretation is that he has always been clean-cut hard-working Jonah, but imagines another life. This movie will not be a top-seller simply because it is too "out there" to be appealing to the masses.

Different, intelligent, and refreshing, but very weird. The credits are pink, suggesting a light-hearted chick-flick film, but it didn't quite match the tone of this movie. Ted, an old fart of a man, is a washed-up cynical poet and a drunk who surprisingly has a superior attitude. He's a total British snob who was once a famous poet, but hasn't written a poem in years. When the movie begins, Ted works as a theatre critic, but is rude and mouths off to his boss. Thus, his boss fires him. A pretty young woman (daughter of a woman who Ted had a past relationship with) pays him handsomely to find a cure for her leukemia at a relative's lush estate where his godson resides. Ted's godson, David, (an odd but sweet 16-year-old boy), is thought to be able to cure people with his hands, an idea that Ted scorns. The movie shows the relationship between Ted, his godson, and the people who reside in the mansion, some of who lost favor with Ted years ago, with good reason. Ted is despicable. I was curious about the boy, the godson, and this kept me watching. The boy adored Ted even though Ted discarded and neglected his grandson. I also liked the older dark-haired woman who actually liked Ted, the lady who had asthma. I thought she was the best actor/actress in the film. Sometimes funny, often quirky and off-beat, this unusual film kept my interest, despite my Ted being an unlikable and grotesque character.