Disappearances (2007)

Very best movie i ever watch

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

While I applaud the makers of "Disappearances" for managing to accomplish a lot with very little, in the end they put too much on their plates, so much so that the movie ends up as a disappointment. For what was a really low budget, the movie looks great, with plenty of period detail as well as some good cinematography. And writer/director Jay Craven also manages to get pretty good performances from his cast of actors. Unfortunately, Craven ultimately decided that his story would not be told simply and straight. Instead, he throws in a lot of mystifying material, mainly with the unexplained visions the teenage boy in the movie has throughout. But there are also some plot points (like characters disappearing) that are simply not explained. I understand that Craven was probably trying to make something different than expected, but ironically a more straightforward telling probably would have been more successful. I admit that the messy results do grab your interest at times while you're watching the whole package... but then again, so do some car accidents.

In 1932 in Kingdom County, Vermont, a fire destroys much of the family's hay. They can't feed all their cattle and they can't get more hay, so they have to sell some of their cattle. Quebec Bill used to run whiskey, and that may be the only way to make money. Quebec Bill's father disappeared, according to Aunt Cordelia, as did many who ran whiskey. Quebec Bill came back to Vermont because of his father after working on ranches and as a lumberjack in Montana. Quebec Bill's brother-in-law Henry has run whiskey before, but he's reluctant to now. Wild Bill wants to go along but his mother Evangeline? has to be persuaded. Rat, who helps run the farm, also goes along but isn't sure he wants to. The group crosses the border into Canada, where whiskey is legal. Two monks see nothing wrong with helping out and they agree to store what the guys get. But the guys have no money. They have to steal from the family that sells most of the whiskey, and violence becomes necessary. Wild Bill doesn't want to kill, but he has to. He is occasionally visited by his Aunt Cordelia, who appears and disappears mysteriously. Kris Kristofferson does a great job. Quebec Bill is such a nice person, even though he is tough and willing to kill when necessary. He cares about his son. He loves nature, and there is plenty of nice scenery. And he is a man of faith. He believes Jesus approves of whatever he does.Charlie McDermott is best known as irresponsible and rebellious Axl on "The Middle", but he is a completely different character here. He isn't the brightest student, but he responsible and moral and certainly not rebellious. And yet he would like some excitement in his life.While not a comedy, this movie does provide some laughs. William Sanderson is probably best known as Larry, the brother of the two Darryls, and here he is mostly comic relief, though he takes his faith more seriously than Quebec Bill. Luis Guzman as what sounds to me like Brother Hilarious lives up to that name, though he is only in a couple of scenes. Genevieve Bujold does an excellent job as Aunt Cordelia, who is a voice of reason and provides Wild Bill plenty of guidance and real Christian morals.If you like steam trains, this movie has one, and an engineer who is quite a character.It's worth seeing if you like stories about macho men in the woods.

I'm amazed by the comments posted about this film. God forbid a director make a simple attempt to create an environment that is not 100% realism. God forbid a director enter the world of the super-natural and surreal. I found Dissapearances a wonderful film, perhaps Craven's best, if you actually do a little work yourself. My favorite question about this film is, "Well gosh. What the hell does it mean?" It means whatever the hell you want it to! What about the owl? What about Bujold showing up at random times? What about this. What about that? My God, have we gotten become so moronic by viewing the films of Michael Bay that we NEED to be told what to think and feel? The film is an adventure. Sit back and try to figure it out. Kristofferson gives a fantastic performance as does Gary Farmer, who is the dry comedic relief of the show. The photography is excellent, maybe the best Craven has had since "Rivers" and the editing is perfect. Give this film a chance and if you don't get it the first time you see it (which I did not)watch it again. You will be pleasantly surprised.

This well-meant film falls just a bit short, and unfortunately in too many areas.The scenery is gorgeous, with vistas of north-central Vermont providing the setting for this mid-century tale. Quebec Bill endeavors to go back to his whiskey-running past in order to save his farm.Going back and forth between scenes of magical realism and straight-forward action, this film rarely hits its stride.Kris Kristofferson as Quebec Bill seems pretty stilted, or else it's his lines; or else his cross of Yankee and Quebecois accents. Anyway, he just comes off as a low-key blow-hard. His dialogs with Gary Farmer's Coville character do sparkle, though. William Sanderson's Rat Kinneson is solid. Charlie McDermott shows some real potential as young Wild Bill; but his part's not large enough to carry a scene and he never steals one. Luis Guzman shows up on Lake Memphramagog (with a fine stand-in performance by Lake Willoughby) as a monk with a boys'n'the hood accent: who knows? And then there's Bujold's Cordelia: an oracle like her namesake, she channels Yoda as she intones lines like "You will marry a Quebec woman!"?!? Just too weird and nowhere near enigmatic enough.The end gets really choppy. Again a bad mix of magical realism and the concrete. And Yoda never provides an answer we can understand.