I saw this film at the Rotterdam film festival 2014 (IFFR). Though not advertised as a horror movie, some of the scenes are creepy, albeit in the positive sense. There are many parts where we do not exactly know what is real and what is not, and where super-natural and other uncommon things happen in broad daylight. Rest assured, it is certainly no "shock" horror movie. It is a bit Sci-Fi-ish, due to the "sensing" technique that the hospital uses to make contact with people in a long-time coma. What we see happening during such sensing sessions, as the doctor explains, is visualised in the form of dreams. That explains that we see unreal things happening, yet able to frighten us or make otherwise a heavy impression, precisely as can happen when we are dreaming ourselves.
Those dreams are a vehicle to relive events from years ago and to revisit places nearly lost from memory. We witness these from very nearby, holding our attention all the time. To avoid spoilers I can only say that things are not what they seem from the outset, and that the healing process does not progress as ideally as assumed upfront. Several sessions are needed, until a moment that one starts thinking that no resolution will come. It also takes some time to get a grip on the plesiosaur (a prehistorical marine reptile), that seemed to be important for the healing process. It apparently involves much more than simply recovering a lost drawing from 15 years ago, as we (and the main characters) are led to believe in the beginning.
In the final scenes we see that "retribution" is the key word, to explain the deeper causes of the seemingly endless coma situation. This finale was a bit over the top, in my opinion. It may have its useful function to satisfy those who want a bit of romance. It felt as if the movie was too long for its contents, but that feeling is unjustified given the 88 minutes running time. I think that this sort of romance is just not for me, hence my feeling that the finale was a bit too much. Nevertheless, I scored the maximum 5 for the audience award when leaving the theater, for a considerable part in order to honor the wonderful musical score that supported many scenes in a useful way without overstaying its welcome. My score did not help, however, as this film ranked a lowly 135th place (out of 200).
Those dreams are a vehicle to relive events from years ago and to revisit places nearly lost from memory. We witness these from very nearby, holding our attention all the time. To avoid spoilers I can only say that things are not what they seem from the outset, and that the healing process does not progress as ideally as assumed upfront. Several sessions are needed, until a moment that one starts thinking that no resolution will come. It also takes some time to get a grip on the plesiosaur (a prehistorical marine reptile), that seemed to be important for the healing process. It apparently involves much more than simply recovering a lost drawing from 15 years ago, as we (and the main characters) are led to believe in the beginning.
In the final scenes we see that "retribution" is the key word, to explain the deeper causes of the seemingly endless coma situation. This finale was a bit over the top, in my opinion. It may have its useful function to satisfy those who want a bit of romance. It felt as if the movie was too long for its contents, but that feeling is unjustified given the 88 minutes running time. I think that this sort of romance is just not for me, hence my feeling that the finale was a bit too much. Nevertheless, I scored the maximum 5 for the audience award when leaving the theater, for a considerable part in order to honor the wonderful musical score that supported many scenes in a useful way without overstaying its welcome. My score did not help, however, as this film ranked a lowly 135th place (out of 200).
