Jim Broadbent is always good, and this movie is no exception. Him alone is enough to recommend seeing this, even if he is playing a curmudgeon of a man. Actually seeing him surly and bad-tempered is probably a plus anyway. Broadbent himself can carry the movie, but I also in particular really enjoyed all the scenes he shared with Harriet Walter, as there was a sense of lightheartedness in their interactions, especially considering the premise of this movie.
Half of this movie are filled with flashbacks, and they aren't even in chronological order. Having the narrative done this way only helps the thematic lesson here about our perception of memory and history. Some might find it frustrating to put up with, but it does add to the mysteriousness surrounding the plot. If there is another thing that has to be pointed out about this movie, is that it also takes it's sweet time telling you what exactly is going on. Sometimes, it doesn't even bother explaining things. We are put in the dark a lot, and it wants to keep us guessing. Admittedly that is one way of keeping you engaged and motivated to keep watching until the end.
Based on the novel by Julian Barnes, this story might simply be much more interesting in the written form than it is in a film medium. I think Director Ritesh Batra and Screen-writer Nick Payne do a good enough job juggling and mixing the present day narrative with the flashbacks, but some people might just get impatient with the story anyway. A touch of melodrama and pretentiousness also doesn't help this movie, and there is also a sense of incompleteness to the plot that might make the ending unsatisfactory for some people.
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