Saturday, April 18, 2020

Movie Review: "The Other Man" 09/07/08 CAN

This is my movie review for "The Other Man", first released at the Toronto International Film Festival (Canada) on September 7, 2008. I watched this for the first time on June 19, 2019 via Hulu and have rewatched it once since then (between that date and 4/18/2020).



Genre:  Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Run Time: 1 Hour and 28 Minutes

Trailer






Notable Cast

Laura Linney ... Lisa
Antonio Banderas ... Rafe
Liam Neeson ... Peter
Romola Garai ... Abigail



Plot

A fashion designer (known especially for her shoes?) named Lisa is married to a man named Peter and they have a daughter named Abigail. Having asked Peter once if there was ever a wish to make love with another, Peter wonders (after he loses her) if she was cheating on him. We do not get the details into what happened to her but, after the first few minutes, we do not see her so we wonder if she is with another man instead of with him. Peter thinks the same thing and starts to search for this other man, fueled by potential need for revenge or justice. Will he find this other man? If he does, what will he find and what will he do?






Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):
G / General Audiences
PG / Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned
R / Restricted
X
Not Rated


Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.


3.5/5 - *SPOILERS* This movie is not what it seems to be and one of the trailers (see here) is horrible in the fact that it deceives you further. The plot twist at the end redefines the whole movie because, especially for the first time viewing, you think that she has been cheating and is with Ralph/Rafe but in reality she has died already. Peter might not have been searching to find the other man because he wanted to make him suffer but to let him know that Lisa had died from cancer. It is hard to tell what the motive was for Peter but when you watch it a second time knowing that Lisa is already dead, it really changes the way you watch the movie and gives deeper meaning to the story.

Lisa had stuck with her husband Peter through everything because she loved him and was married to him but she had still loved Ralph/Rafe - one woman, two men. And it seems Peter didn't find out until she was on her deathbed or after she had passed away. Does that lessen their relationship and the life that they had together? No. It proves that there are people out there that can love more than one without making the love for one less.

Good connection between the daughter Abigail and the father Peter at the end of the movie after he came to terms that Rafe had been a good person that made his wife's life better. This was a big tear jerker, making me cry even as I remember the movie. I definitely recommend this but some people might have issues with the fact that Lisa had had a second love while still married to her husband.

My original score was 3.5/5 and I was going to upgrade it to 4/5 but the fact that the trailer and how ambiguous the movie was makes me keep the score at 3.5/5, but it is a very good movie. I would be up to watching it again though it definitely makes me cry.

That's my movie review. Thank you for reading. More reviews to come eventually.


~ Gracie Mae DeLunac



Contact me?

Twitter @gracie_delunac
Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com



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