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Feast Of Live is directed by Robert Benton and stars
Morgan Freeman (Evan Almighty, Gone Baby Gone), Greg Kinnear
(Fast Food Nation, Little Miss Sunshine), and Selma Blair
(The Sweetest Thing, Hellboy.) It is based on a novel by
Charles Baxter. ***
Feast of Love is the story of numerous people and the
stories of their love, and the complications that ensue
with their relationships. A coffee shop owner has a great
relationship with his wife…. That is, until a woman awakens
her lesbian side, and the two of them run away together.
A number of other characters enter the story as well, including
a young man with an abusive father, the woman that young
man yearns for, as well as an elderly professor and his
wife. ***
This is one of those movies that comes off as a very
mixed bag. The performances are great, and the characters
all fairly interesting. The problem is that there are too
many characters and individual stories to follow. And because
of all the characters, no individual ones really get to
undergo the proper development. The film needed to have
a more steady directional style to make the characters truly
likable. It's not a bad movie, and due to the good performances,
I'll give it a marginal recommendation. ***
There are plenty of redeeming qualities in this film,
perhaps the biggest one of which being its cast. There are
a lot of good performances to be experienced here - and
no one seems miscast in their respective role. Not surprisingly,
the stand-out member of the cast is Morgan Freeman, one
of the best actors out there today. All of the performances
are fantastic, even if the film as a whole doesn't feel
that way. ***
Sadly, as good as the performances are, the movie tends
to fall flat in a lot of other areas. In general, the direction
is weak. We're forced to meet and bond with too many characters
in too little time, and as a result, no one quite has the
impact the director intended. Fewer characters would have
made this a stronger film. ***
Also, as a word of caution to the faint of heart, there
are some fairly explicit sex scenes in the movie. If you're
easily offended by scenes of sexual activity or nudity,
this isn't the movie for you. It received an R rating from
the MPAA - and deserves this rating. ---
Image And Sound:
I had no issues with the audio or visual quality on
this disc. The picture is clean throughout and the audio,
mostly dialogue considering the dramatic nature of the film,
is unblemished and painless to listen to. ---
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