Five Nights in Maine (2015) User Reviews (13)

It's very basic and raw.

[subxerogravity · 6/10 · 9 August 2016]

The reviews on it were right. The film is all about David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest bouncing things off each other, and it's got that going for it, that two such great actors can hold down a film all by themselves, but you do have to like Oyelowo and Wiest a lot to really like the movie.

It's one of those movies that does not really have a point or expresses it in such low key that only someone watching who has been in that position could really reflect on what is going on and fully feel the emotion.

It's not that pin point of a situation. A man loses his wife in a car accident and the only one who can relate is his Mother-In-Law, but she is a pain in the neck even after her child's death (although she's dying from cancer so give her a break). This is a harsh situation while they're grieving

Also thought Rosie Perez was great too in the small role she had. Wish it had more of her because I like seeing her on the screen a lot.

It was good that the director and writer did have three really good actors to implement their material. They were the redeemable factor in the mediocre film.

I'm sadder than you

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 30 April 2016]

Greetings again from the darkness. Every young filmmaker should be so fortunate to have Dianne Wiest and David Oyelowo accept roles in their first feature film. With what appears to be little more than an outline for a script, these two top notch actors bring the weight necessary to make us care about their characters … neither being especially likable.

Written and directed by Maris Curran, it's a story of two people working through their grief and guilt, unable to share the burden due to their inability to get past their own feelings. When a woman dies in a car crash, her husband Sherwin (David Oyelowo) and mother Lucinda (Dianne Wiest) are both devastated. Sherwin tries to drown his depression with non-stop boozing, and ultimately accepts Lucinda's invitation to visit her in rural Maine (a long way from his home in Atlanta).

The two have never gotten along with each other, and it turns out they each had a strained relationship with the now deceased wife/daughter. What follows are some uncomfortable dinners and conversations punctuated with much awkward silence … or cruelly pointed comments from cancer-stricken Lucinda. An unusually reserved and charming Rosie Perez is at her least obnoxious in the limited role of Lucinda's nurse (and Sherwin's confidante).

There are few things that waste more energy than a competition over who deserves to grieve more. In fact, Lucinda has a line where she states that being a parent brings out the worst in people … in this movie, that holds true for grieving as well. These two characters are not their best selves as they struggle to come to grips with the gaping hole that now exists in their lives.

"It should have been me" is not an uncommon thought for those who have experienced the loss of a loved one … especially if they are haunted by the past. The sub-plot of the marital battle over whether to have kids becomes much easier to understand as we get to know Lucinda. As talented as Ms. Wiest and Mr. Oyelowo are, it still would have been nice to have a tighter script, and director Curran could have backed off the relentless hand-held close-ups without sacrificing the solitude and intimacy. Beyond that, she does have some good insight into the process of mourning, and how so many people hold those emotions down deep.

So disappointing

[wbabronco · 4/10 · 13 February 2016]

I made a point of booking early to see this film when it was announced at the Victoria Film Festival. I simply went on the fact that the two actors headlining would make it a powerful engaging movie.

This was obviously a labour of love for David Oyelowo (producer) and his performance is to be quite honest "over the top" and I am a fan of his work. I was so disappointed with the dialogue between the Oyelowo and Weist, as much as this is a difficult subject matter, in my opinion the writer did not give them sufficient material to work with.

I left the movie not having any emotional attachment to the previous 82 minutes watched and feeling my time wasted.

Loss of ...

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 18 October 2017]

Let's say the inciting incident (or rather accident) happens early on in the movie. And while it is always important to know someone to mourn them (especially the way she's being mourned here), we do have to do that while on the journey. The journey of moving on, which may sound like a pun, but is anything but funny.

So this is full on Drama and anyone who lost someone dear to them, by whatever circumstances, should be able to empathize even without a deep connection from the get go. Still this is heavy and the question is if you want to watch something like that. If you do there are the actors who really do their part as good as possible. Dianne West and our main character are the driving forces, but it's also nice to see Rosie Perez back in Action. Decent enough, if you can cope with it

Felt good when it stopped

[jordan2240 · 4/10 · 19 June 2017]

Three first-rate performers made me think this was going to be good. In fact, I kept watching and waiting for the ah-ha moment. But it never comes, and the movie ends with no resolution of anything. Nothing is ever explained. What is it that had the wife so upset the night before her death (or some short time prior at least)? What caused the conflict between the wife and her mother? Why did the mother invite the husband to her home, and why did he accept? Certainly, she never seemed like she actually wanted him there and he didn't seem like he wanted to be there. Sure, I can understand two people sharing their grief, but there is nothing but tension between them save for a brief moment or two. Why did the husband bring the wife's ashes on his visit, then lie about it - and what did he do with them in the end. Far too many unanswered questions for me to enjoy this film, though the performances are very good, as expected. Watch only if you want to find solace in it being over.

Misfire

[j-lacerra · 3/10 · 3 September 2019]

The director's use of merciless close-ups and hand-held camera actually very soon began to hurt my eyes, turning me off about whatever was happening on screen. We are given about thirty seconds to get to know the soon deceased wife, and so we have little connection with her. The husband is a blank pager as well: other than the fact that he is black (the deceased was white) we know nothing about him. Now I could have been patient and allowed the movie to tell me more about these people, but not through those shaky close-ups. Off it went!

Better than you'd think...

[bitter_old_dude · 7/10 · 18 October 2020]

Heartfelt, intense. Terrific acting by the entire cast.

great in its simplicity

[bereik_barbaar · 7/10 · 17 June 2021]

I watched this movie last night. My eye fell on it as I was expecting a minimalistic movie, not many characters involved and a great setting around the forrests in Maine. I hoped to be watching a movie were the main characters are turned into themselves, looking for answers they'll never get and putting the blame elsewhere.

This is exactly what I got. There is no point in letting this movie lead somewhere and just let a story be as it is. Grief, loss and a sense of.powerlessness. Finding ways to cope, trying to see the good. I liked it a lot.

raw ,heartbreaking and wonderfully played

[dumitrescu-catalina · 10/10 · 15 August 2016]

this is not a movie for the superficial people.this is a wonderful movie foe people WHO really understand the pain,the hard work to understand other people.if you are superficial and looking for a fun movie,move to the next movie.this is not for you.if you are able to go deep inside,to endure the pain,the hurt and the raw understanding if human heart,this is the movie for.you.the actors are very good and they make you feel all their feelings.there is real ending,but you could think of the future of the persons with no difficulty.you do not understand at first what this is all about,but in the end everything comes together and the human process of managing pain is well constructed.it is worth ed all your time.

No sugarcoating grief - not for the weak of heart....

[wildsparrow16 · 6/10 · 27 August 2016]

It is always refreshing to see a grief-themed movie that is not sugarcoated because losing a loved one WILL irrevocably change you, and it WILL cause you to make choices you might not otherwise make - in this case, spending time with your mother-in-law who never liked you, anyways. Both actors were phenomenal in their portrayal of pain, anger and loneliness. I would have liked to see more background into how Lucinda became so cold - was she always like that, even before she got sick? What were the reasons the mother- daughter relationship was so strained? Why did Lucinda never like the husband? Many questions, but at the end of the day we realize in the throes of grief sometimes anyone will do - even if they are not kind to us, it beats being alone in a room with grief, loneliness and despair. We also come to realize Lucinda is not a wooden statue after all - she is quite frightened, and while she has a caregiver, she feels very alone. We come to accept her cold and sometimes cruel behavior as she is in the throes of grief as well as cancer. You get a free pass when you are grieving or when you are ill - it's the human thing to do. Ultimately, this movie teaches us (if you don't already know from personal experience), that grief is all-consuming - there is no room for anyone else's pain - only yours. If you ever lost a loved one, you know what I am talking about. Worth watching, but may leave you unsettled.

Almost a Mainer

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 18 October 2017]

Sherwin (David Oyelowo) and Fiona (Hani Furstenberg) are a mixed race couple living in Atlanta. When Fiona dies in an auto accident, Lucinda (Dianne Wiest), Fiona's mother, Invites Sherwin to come up to Maine for a bit. Why? I have no idea. And why he went is even more puzzling. Lucinda has cancer and is combative much of the time, with moments of near pleasantry. The film is a drama of his stay, discovering his wife's past, and mom's apparently trying to cope with her daughter's death, one that she was not as close as she could have been.

DRAMA SPOILER: Of course IT does come up and is perhaps the crux of the issue. Fiona, the ever liberal, chose to be with a black man as a way of rebellion. Lucinda and Sherwin try to understand Fiona and come to terms with her death.

The film was all light drama. The acting was good, but the film dealt a lot with grief and attempts at Maniac humor were light.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

The rare art film that's fully watchable

[rjbartholomew · 9/10 · 10 October 2017]

I'm surprised this film gets any poor reviews. It is well scripted, stunningly acted, artfully filmed, and perfectly edited. The photography is the narrator, almost a character in itself-- intimate right up to the point of discomfiture yet neither artsy nor self-aware. The story seems, at least, to unfold as life unfolds-- you discover what's happened at the seeming pace of real-life awareness... but only seeming, of course, which is the film's brilliance.

What I like best about Five Nights is that it deals with a universal situation without triteness or cloying sentiment.

Sorry if this sound like a PR blurb, but this film is notable and beautiful and worth seeking out. It's baffling that anyone could miss this.

Hurts, sensitive, sore, beautiful...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 13 June 2022]

It's about pain, loss, pain of loss, unimaginable and infinite, a beautiful movie, 5 days in Maine, in the presence of the ex mother-in-law, good dialogues, a lot of pain and longing represented, hurts, sensitive, sore, beautiful, the pain of mother and husband...