Don't Move (2004)

Too much of everything

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

For almost two hours you are diving into crisis that in this or other way will scratch each one of us . Apart of the story development ,movie is full of hiden feelings and thoughts . It's one of these rare creations that allows watching person to project own emotions, like what and howheroes feel at given situation. Kind of interactive dialog with audience. Movie is full of unspoken words and meaningful glances. Something negative for the end - it's not the easy kind of movie , so you have to be really into it to watch it for almost 2 hours. Penelope Cruz is showing wide diversity of her playing capabilities as a dramatic actress.

I'm always wary of films that define themselves through flashbacks, and this movie does just that -- roughly 80 per cent of it consists of flashbacks, or flashbacks on flashbacks, and I was halfway through it before I started to realize what was happening.This is a boring, pedestrian film that uses a lot of gorgeous photography to hide its shortcomings.Big problem: although 15 years have elapsed in the flashbacks, Sergio Castellito doesn't seem to change much. He's still dynamic Sergio with a little salt-and-pepper in his hair and beard.Castellito plays a quietly brutish surgeon who, because his mommy was nasty and he ran away from home (or something), turns into a lover of rough-trade sex (this inevitably follows of course: orphans automatically become brutes). One day, he just walks up to Penelope Cruz, rapes her, does it repeatedly over a period of days or weeks, and she eventually falls madly in love with him. This also inevitably happens because, well, women are just basically pretty stupid and are suckers for brutes. And if Castellito and Cruz weren't drawn (tragically of course) to each other, there wouldn't be any reason to make this film. There's a lot of style in this film, but not much substance. A lot of corny silliness too (the ending is laughable). It's basically a soap opera with a very familiar plot. We just KNOW that Cruz' slovenly gypsy girl (with a heart of gold, of course) is courting disaster, and of course Castellito, who also wrote and directed, doesn't let us down.There's a lot of crying in this movie too. When you don't have a really solid story, weeping is sometimes an effective way to gain audience sympathy. You even get to pretend that something profound is going on. There isn't. All in all, considering the heavy cinematic hitters here, this was a big disappointment for me. I just could not suspend my disbelief: Castellito and Cruz surrounded by glitzy cinematography, pretending to be tragic figures. In moody black and white, stripped of self-conscious sentimentality, it might have worked. An argument could be made that Castellito made this film as a showcase for himself. He gets all the great closeups with the killer smile and sorrowful eyes. And despite the attempts to deglamorize Cruz, it doesn't work. She's too much of a celebrity cult figure, and Castellito is no Almodovar, who can make Cruz into a sympathetic non-bombshell and get us to believe it.A bright light was Claudia Gerini as Elsa, Castellito's wife. No one has mentioned her very much, and she deserves better.

"Non ti muovere", is an excellent movie that made me shiver! Its a mixture of extremely talented actors, with outstanding snapshots and very touchy scenes... what mostly caught my eyes is certainly the extreme real depiction of reality; how things flow in such a real & drastic way as if in real life not in movie where usually reality is altered! Penelope Cruz is very powerful in showing her emotions, so much that the viewer is directly involved. Its such a true story about love and life's choices and how one can spend his whole lifetime seeking to give a certain meaning in his life, though sometimes in vain! its a must-see movie for all the deep and consistent movies lovers!

Emotionally intense movie handled unflinchingly by lead actor Castellitto. This immersive character study into an unfulfilled doctor's love affair is a tad too lengthy and perhaps the director indulges in his on screen action a little too much, but the dedication that the two ill-fated lovers give to portraying the rawness of their emotions and instincts will, despite once in a while misfiring, leave few viewers unfazed. Penelope Cruz is great as the counterpoint, and deserves much respect for assuming such a demanding, unglamorous role at this point in her well established career. Obviously it is the love of acting that propels her(no comparison to her English jobs), as this mildly received Italian film must have been several notches down from her draw, but when you see the psychologically harrowing sex scenes (not always for the sex, but for the right before and right after) you realize why someone would be interested in such intimate work. As the film slightly overextends itself to reach it's climax which sort of dumbs down it's poignant theme, the performances and overall taste left are nonetheless real and life affirming despite all of it's muddied ramifications.