Beautiful (2009)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Overrated and overhyped

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Rarely there are films I don't like. Beautiful just happens to fit that quota. In a nutshell, to me, the film didn't make sense. Too many dead ends and some pieces that didn't fit. A beautiful blonde girl, whose the juvenile wet dream of the next door neighbour teen is asked something of her, while being kissed, prefore. She gets him to spy and take photographs of thesee girls who have supposedly been held hostage in a house, where the latest teen girl abduction could be. Trying to understand our blonde bombshell, especially at the end, which truly didn't make sense, would entail a lifetime of figuring. Other characters who's suffered come in and out of the film. Again, Aaron Pederson is great as a cop with a conscience, where some other actors are just wasted here. The only enticing bit is the flirtatious pro's in lingerie, working the upper end of Hindley St. The film makes as much sense as the t.v. show, Passions.

Overall a good drama about a shy teenage boy who feels disconnected from the people around him. The slow pace of this film builds suspense and mystery, using themes of voyeurism and urban myths.Some people seemed confused about the ending. I think the narration at the beginning and end of the film, is just the thoughts of a typical neighbourhood gossip. Like when you don't know what happens in "that" house down the road you add these little ideas together...but truth is often stranger than fiction.Like most of the reviewers here, I felt that the ending was a bit of a letdown. Most of the film is slow and atmospheric (with great cinematography) which makes the ending seem rushed.

A rather routine risqué thriller that is not quite thrilling and never really risqué. Although, not for lack of trying. We have a "girls gone missing" story with satanic, sadistic, serial killer overtones that are a found in this type of eerie wannabe, but nothing is really resolved (it makes you want to think). But don't think too much because then it will all be for naught. There are dangling and unanswered major questions that we are to fill in and the ending is too clever for its own good, revealing that it is not that clever after all.It is gripping enough but ultimately loses it and we are left with unsolved mysteries and dream like disconnects and the result is a good looking film with some artistic touches, but overall it remains something like an urban legend. There is something there, but just out of reality's reach.

"Beautiful" is one of those movies that can be described with style over substance. From the DVD Cover (which represents the opening scene of the movie) on you know the director is into stylish and kind of odd shots. At first I really had big hopes for this but problem with this kind of mysterious movies is that as soon as the mystery clears up and doesn't lead anywhere you are left with nothing. Exactly thats what I was left with after watching "Beautiful". The odd shots which seem quirky and fresh at first soon begin to annoy you because they just don't mean anything. You can basically see the final "twist" coming a mile away considering we are following a boy who is rather the strange outcast and his mother regularly mentioning that he is not living "in the real world". From here you get a mysterious detective story revolving around some abducted girls and a strange house with a lady constantly watching through the curtains. There are too many comparisons with cult movies like Donnie Darko (and scenes like the night views into the suburban windows and the score sure are close to it) or American Beauty which had an influence on the opening scene and the odd suburban setting. Anyway just because a movie steals visual gimmicks and obvious sound design from movies like these I don't see many similarities because the story has no grip and the storytelling is uneven and getting very stretched in the middle of the movie. The constant use of strange shots inter-cut with the plot gets a little annoying and could have been used a little more subtle. Anyway... biggest let-down like in many movies is the finale leaving too many loose ends especially about the boy and his family. Where the opening scene with the off-screen narration works fine the same element seems pretty stupid in the end. I guess its easy to make a "mysterious" movie but when the plot clears even if things are left unexplained to make the viewer think for himself... thats where a movie shows its substance. "Beautiful" left me with nothing, not caring about the characters and the unexplained parts of the story. So to compare the movie with movies like the fore-mentioned which left the viewer with many thoughts in his head is far off. Visually interesting but story-wise a disaster that has far too many lengthy moments.