Time Out of Mind (2015)

Touches You

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fantastic!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Life is even harder in real life but this movie does bring it to the screen. my first thought when reading the "critical" reviews what that people don't want to see the reality. these are mostly people that walk on by ignoring. Not all people who are homeless are mental ill. some that are fall deeper in. People in general don't like reality movies. I had read an article when it was released that people didn't recognize RG during filming. I have know many homeless people and have slept in my car several times lived in transient motels and worked whenever I could. The sad reality is that too many people in America live like this. the film was real.

I admire what the film was trying to do, but all I got from it is that homelessness is a sad and unfortunate situation. I knew that before I watched the film; you don't need to take two hours to tell me that. I care about homelessness as a general issue, but if you're going to make me spend so much time with someone, then you need to give me a reason beyond his immediate circumstance to care about THIS particular person, and for all Gere's fine acting, I didn't feel that the film achieved that.Making a documentary about people who sleep rough would be so much more emotional than the cliché of Hollywood star being made to slum it, and trying to get us to buy into them reconnecting with their estranged family... All the innovative camera angles in the world can't disguise the thinness of the main story.

For the second time this week I find myself compelled to write a review as a sort of reply to a couple of reviewers who chose to define this film as boring, simple as that. I will say this clear and out loud; to call such straight forward convey of realism boring, is like saying that making my morning cup of coffee is boring or walking my dog is boring; on the surface it's plain unintelligent while on a dipper level it may show sign of an individual unable to cope with boredom, which seems to be a more prevalent state of mind these days. A reality filled with external stimulations that as a byproduct creates a state of being in which when such stimulations are absent, one may feel bored, as if 'nothing is happening'. it seems some people lack the ability to spent time by themselves, on their own, with their thoughts. they need something external to pull them out otherwise they will have to reside in their own self, in their own mind, and that as we already know might lead to boredom.This film is a realistic, a well-intended depiction of the everyday reality of a lonely person that for some reason has been ejected from the social grid. we don't know exactly why it happened but we are given an idea, a general frame of events that led to this sad situation. He clearly suffers from some sort of a mental blur or incoherence. again we don't know why it's the way it is and what led to this downfall, since it's clear that up to a point he was a well functioning man, at least in a general sense, and all we know is what he himself admits about not paying attention to his daughter because his mind of occupied with something else, and also admits that he was a big jerk, probably big enough for his own child to be completely emotionally detached from him.This film is intelligent and it's well written. the style of direction may not be everyone's cup of tea, but that doesn't take away anything from this exceptional piece of genuineness, and the very solid performance of Richard Gere. I recommend this film to anyone who wants to step into the shoes- even if just for a couple of hours, or more than that as in my case- of the loneliest guy in the whole world.

Oren Moverman's Time Out Of Mind is a film that's set so decidedly against the grain when it comes to how a story is presented to an audience, it's no wonder that it has been such a divisive experience. It's almost like the anti-film. I understand it may be quite shocking the way it's made, or lack thereof. But to hear that people walked out of screenings in droves at TIFF really saddens me. For someone to just not jive with the loose, dreamy aesthetic that serves the subject matter achingly well makes me wonder. But I suppose this is the type of film that really separates those with the power of abstract thought and the will to immerse themselves from those... without. The story in question concerns a homeless man in New York City played to absolute perfection by a haggard, boozed up and ultimately lost Richard Gere. This is the performance of his career, an outing of pure bravery and dedication that glues your eyes to the screen even in the most mundane of moments. You see, Gere himself had no idea when the cameras were periodically filming him, and was actually left stranded in the jungle of NYC, deep in the mindset of a lost soul, creating a minimilist performance that burns through the haze of a life scattered by tragedy. Little is given by the script in terms of back story for Gere, subtle hints given towards a broken life, death in the family and a mysterious injury which has left both body and soul scarred, as well as leaving him with obvious brain damage. If their was an award given out for best film title of the year, this one has earned it. 'Time Out Of Mind'. Isn't that the perfect description for a shattered psyche that has been set adrift by life's cruel tides and left to wander the years, alone.. distraught.. damaged. Gere is a portrait of hurt, confusion and loneliness, wandering the overbearing maze of the city, desperately clinging to any semblance of dignity, as well as the scattered shards of his past that he yearns for. He's got a daughter (Jena Malone in a conflicted career best) who wants nothing to do with him, making us wonder more about the past. He encounters several people over the course of the film. An energetic fellow vagrant (Ben Vereen) helps bring out a bit of Gere's dormant coherence via his own nonsensical mania. A shrewd building inspector (Steve Buscemi) gives him the boot from a condemned building. He has a chance romantic encounter with a fellow homeless woman (an unrecognizable Kyra Sedgwick). The film is shot, edited and presented to the audience in a form completely void of structure or narrative beats. Gere wanders aimlessly, his foggy mental state reflected in the way his perceives his world, and in turn the way we perceive his story. It's both ironic and fitting that we find ourselves so drawn in to a story that is presented as a set of events that are each and every one astray from any sort of cohesion. That's where the title is so brilliant and touching.. Gere is one step removed from reality via time and injury. He himself mentions at one point that he has forgotten how long it's been, and that he's lost the thread of his life via many instances of 'lost time'. Gere sells it and then some, inhabiting the streets with a worn out, ghostly presence that begs you to place yourself in the shoes and mind of someone who truly has lost their way in life, and to see that for them, such a fork in the road can truly change the concept of time. Seeing this successfully done with film in every aspect was truly an experience for me. Gere is the heart of it, as the camera peers out on him from trash strewn alleys, broken window frames and desolate, uncaring streets that leave him all but invisible, an individual manifestation of a sad fact of life which sometimes sits on the fringes of our awareness. Not with this film.