Word: filmed
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...through this intensely character-driven movie, Montgomery—and the audience—gradually warms to Stone as Harrelson deftly portrays the nuanced and deeply vulnerable character as plagued by feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. The foundation of the film is the development of this cautious friendship between the two men, a relationship marked by regular returns to the same seedy bar. Stone is eager to move past the professional boundaries of his role as Montgomery’s superior, and an ambivalent Montgomery is slowly drawn to Stone’s sincere rambling. Foster plays Montgomery with admirable...
...reactions of the next-of-kin upon receiving the news are varied, from violent outbursts to calm acceptance. Like Montgomery and Stone, we see these individuals only at their weakest moment, left with a single, striking image. There are no build-ups or resolutions, and, as such, the film rarely slips into facile sentimentalism. Instead, the audience sees only an immediate reaction, captured by a trembling handheld camera as opposed to traditional close-up techniques. Warned against giving hugs and other gesture of comfort, the men can do nothing but stand and watch in stoic rigidity...
...personal grief. “The Messenger” taps into this message by conveying—wonderfully and unexpectedly—a small sense of humor amid so much desolation. As Stone and Montgomery playfully bicker about whose car to take and who gets to drive, the film reveals both the bitter and the sweet that many war-inspired films tend to miss...
What sets the mood for a theater audience, however, does not necessarily translate to film. A self-professed “film buff,” Sondheim said that the only onscreen version of a musical he has ever enjoyed as a film in its own right is Tim Burton’s 2007 “Sweeney Todd,” for which he wrote the music. Although some Sondheim fans were disappointed that Burton cut the recurring chorus, “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” the composer said he approved of the choice...
...what works for theater may not work for film, what works for one particular audience may not work for another; a version of “Sweeney Todd” identical to the original US production flopped in England...