Tries to sell something big, but in the end it's nothing...

It is one of those movies that leaves it up to the viewers to interpret its meaning. Will leave you pondering about what you just saw even after it ends... and maybe that's what it sets out to do. Gyllenhaal is on top form here.

The film wins the award for "_weirdest opening to a film_". **Ever.**

It's been a while since I watched this movie and I was genuinely surprised that I thought I _liked_ it. I mean, I'm also the first to admit to be easily distracted by beautiful cinematography, music scores and actors I enjoy seeing (**Michael Shannon** and **Aaron Taylor-Johnson** really are exceptional and hold at least half of the movie together with their acting!) and I think those three aspects are what I remember liking, because the plot is.. questionable on many different levels. For me personally this is also a great example for how much I learned in the past couple of years about portrayal of violence against women or how rape/murder of women are used as plot devices - and frankly, I don't want to see it anymore, especially when it's done in such a glorifying, male-gazey and sexualized way. The most infuriating thing in this movie though, is the fact that it implies Susan (**Amy Adams**) deserves to be punished and unhappy because she divorced her husband (**Jake Gyllenhaal**) and unknowingly to him aborted their child. And then nineteen years later her then ex-husband sends her the manuscript for his novel in which he shows how her choices/decisions back then made him feel by comparig it to the rape and murder of his fictional wife and daughter? Anyway, I'm kind of curious to read the 1993 novel this movie is based on ("Tony and Susan" by **Austin Wright**), just to see how everything is handled in there..