Mouth to Mouth (2005)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply A Masterpiece

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

I found this movie on Netflix streaming movies. I had recently re-watched 'Juno' and wanted to see a few other roles Ellen Page had before she became famous. The title comes from an early scene where some 'SPARK' members are demonstrating mouth-to-mouth one evening in the streets of Berlin. There also is a much later scene where it was used to try to save someone. But on a more symbolic level it could apply to what the members of the SPARK cult provide for each other, for survival.Ellen Page is London high-schooler Sherry . She just doesn't seem to identify with the rigid life and decides to just go away, joining up with the others in SPARK, headed eventually to Portugal in the SPARK bus. Natasha Wightman plays Sherry's mother, Rose , soon hitting the road to look for Sherry, and quite unexpectedly finds her.Eric Thal is the defacto leader of SPARK, and as is the case with cults, he makes the rules and decides what the punishment is if someone breaks them. But his method is even more insidious, he befriends the prettiest, has sex with them, then shuns them. As Sherry finds out the hard (no pun intended) way. As they eventually stand up to him, explaining he 'sucks the souls out of people.'I suppose the main thrust of the story is the overused 'coming of age' experience, this for Sherry. She finally wises up and breaks free, but in a twist her mother decides staying with SPARK is what she really wants out of life.It is not an easy movie to watch, mainly because you know there are street people like that all over. But it is a good watch for Ellen Page, she is amazingly good.

Eye opening look at lost souls of the street. Disenchanted teen Sherry(Ellen Page)is hitching through Europe trying to get away from her single mom Rose(Natasha Wightman). Sherry falls in with a cult-like group of young people; former drug addicts and prostitutes. This is just one of many like groups living an underground existence. The charismatic leader of this particular band of misfits is Harry(Eric Thal), who wants to lead his followers to a mystical and euphoric place that also seems lost. Mind control and habit changing techniques are supposedly going to keep these people off the streets...and supplying them a future. Sherry's mother finally catches up with her placing her voyage of self discovery in considerable doubt. Cinematography and camera angles provide for a disconnected atmosphere. This gritty indy film is directed by Alison Murray based on some of her own real-life experiences. MOUTH to MOUTH is definitely not mainstream. Page is excellent and truthfully the only reason I chose to check this flick out. Others in the cast: Beatrice Brown, Diana Greenwood, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Jefferson Guzman, Armin Dillenberger, August Diehl and Willie Rachow. Beware of course language and sexual situations.

Directly preceding "Hard Candy", the film that made her name, "Mouth to Mouth" is Ellen Page's break-out movie and it's easy to see why. Her performance as Sherry, a lost young girl in Eastern Europe finding sanctuary with a group of sub-hippies, is a standout in it's bravery and sheer physicality.Sherry (Page) is a runaway from Canada loose in Germany who takes up with a group called SPARK (Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge), a group of similarly adrift young people taken under the wing of Harry (Eric Thal), an older man with high ideals. Other notable people in the group include fun-loving Nancy (Beatrice Brown) and friendly, zany Mad Ax (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos). Sherry shares a conflicted relationship with her mother (Natasha Wightman) who joins the group in an effort to reclaim her, but the two of them come under strain when it's clear that Harry is less interested in high ideals and more interested in controlling the group by any means necessary...The central of themes of how ideals are subverted in the name of power, even with this group of so-called radicals, are realised in the latter part of the film where Harry sets his group to work on a vineyard where his true motivations become clear. While this is very interesting to watch, I still thought more could have been done with it. As good a character as Harry is as written, Eric Thal does not seem to have the range to make his transformation truly register emotionally. Consequently a good part of the film falls down.It is Page, of course, that saves the movie although even she is not quite at her best here. Her performance does not have the wit of her "X-Men" and "Juno" appearances, nor the edge she would acquire doing "Hard Candy". Nevertheless there is a strong and truthful physicality in her presence that registers best in unspoken moments, especially the roadside exchanges between her and Wightman, and later McCabe-Lokos. These two scenes are like a dance, yet seem perfectly natural and it's difficult to imagine another actor doing them this well."Mouth to Mouth" is Region 1 and hard to find in this country, but it is worth looking up anyway for it's interesting themes and Page's central performance.

After two years of trying to find the movie, I finally purchased it for 18.99 on ebay. Right when I received the package, I put it in my DVD player. It was worth the wait.First to note, the movie is low budget and you can tell from the poor lighting. But, it kind of added to this film. The film was very dark and gritty as it portrayed a cult that started as a party and ended as manipulation. I did notice quite a few plot holes such as how did Sherry's mother find Sherry when Sherry was over a thousand miles away. But other than that I applaud Alison Murray's efforts in this film as we laughed and cried with the lead character played by the always fantastic, Ellen Page.It was after Ellen's performance in Hard Candy that made me want to follow her and it is quite obvious that she'll have a fantastic career ahead of her.There is so much to say about this film. I loved the score and thought it was perfect for the film. It was very well placed and enjoyable. I loved how the actors would kind of dance to strange situations such as Sherry's mom would try to get Sherry in her car and Sherry wanted to get away from her. It was almost liked they did a tango. It was beautiful to me. What I also enjoyed about the movie was it was very unpredictable. Early in a movie you see a kid get nonchalantly thrown into a dumpster to get some food and he ends up hitting his head against a sharp object. There was no music to narrate the situation for you so it kept me off guard. I don't know what it is about indy films but they always appeal to me. I love the experimentation of the film.So all in all, you'll probably not be able to find this movie for rent and will most likely have to take the chance and purchase the film. It was very hard to find and ebay or Amazon is the only way you'll be able to find it. This movie reminded me a little of Firecracker, House of Sand and Fog, and 11:14. Mouth to Mouth is bizarre and is really "out there" so you need to watch it with an open mind.P.S: Congraduations to Ms. Page for her Oscar nomination and I'm sure she won't let the instant fame get to her head and she'll continue to pick original and great scripts.