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I think the bad reviews which say the movie had no plot are from folks who do not understand mind control and the programming that sabotages deprogramming.

As the two women flee the cult, they bolster each other which triggers programming that leads to hallucinations that are frightening, and make them suspicious of each other. As the film reaches its climax, another hallucination leads to its horrifying outcome. We know from survivors of MK Ultra programming, that when they are old enough to start remembering their torture as children, a suicide program is activated. Many do not survive this. Such deviousness is portrayed in this film. But film is also art and this is not going to be spelled out for you. You experience it. You react to it on a feeling level. Then you have to mull it over and figure it out. Many expect to be passively entertained with no effort on their part. This film is not for them.

I have criticisms of the film, but not for lack of a plot. The plot is brilliant. Imagine walking in circles convinced you are walking west because of the sun. There is only one way that could happen. No matter how long they traveled, they never got very far from the Aviary. What is an Aviary but a really large bird cage? "You never really left."

The power of the dog. Perhaps, the power of the underdog.

Phil Burbank was once the age of his brother's wife's son, in his late teens, probably just prior to his leaving for college and becoming educated in the classics. The Governor mused, "When he swears at the cattle, does he do it in Greek or Latin?"

In this time of his life Phil was mentored by a cowboy he spent his life trying to emulate, and referred to regularly, Bronco Henry. He even had a memorial to Bronco Henry in his barn having saved his saddle, and spurs and had a plaque made. So Phil returns from his posh education and becomes a cowboy, a well educated, musically inclined, bath avoiding cowboy.

Phil often stands transfixed, staring at the mountains. The other cowboys explain that Phil sees something in the mountains the the others cannot see. But does he? Or has he spent most of his adult life trying to see something that only Bronco Henry could see?

When the son of his brother's wife, the effeminate Peter arrives, Phil picks on him and gets the other cowboys to tease him. There is a herding dog the boy tries to befriend but Phil shows him with a whistle to whom the dog is loyal.

Peter also intends to go to college. He wants to be a surgeon. He traps a rabbit that his mother wants to cuddle, but he kills it and dissects it. When his mother discovers this and is appalled by it, he explains that if he is to be a surgeon he must dissect to learn about the internal organs. And while many reviewers have compared this to other films, what came to my mind during this scene was "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea" (1976 Kris Kristofferson, Sarah Miles). Peter later comes across a dead steer, a casualty of the deadly and highly contagious anthrax. Without a flinch, Peter dons his gloves and takes out his scalpel. Later when Phil tells Peter to put a rabbit out of his misery, he breaks its neck without a second thought. Peter is what cowboys call a "dandy". But looks can be deceiving.

When you look at the mountain what do you see? Young Peter tells Phil that he sees a barking dog. "You see a barking dog?" Peter explains which contours bring this to mind. Phil is overjoyed. But he doesn't say "I thought it was just me!" No, he just keeps repeating, "YOU see a barking dog?" And this is why I concluded that Phil never saw in the mountains what his hero/perhaps first love/perhaps only love saw. But there is a shift in power as Phil opens his heart to Peter and offers his guidance.

And that is the power of the dog. The film opens with Peter narrating and telling us that a son's job is to protect his mother. And that he does. The film ends with Peter looking down at his sober mother as her husband leans down to affectionately kiss her.

No, it's not a western. Yes, it's slow. I had issues with the darkness of the first part because I couldn't see well the scenes in candlelight. I can't stand dark movies. But I'm glad I continued to watch, because this well woven tale was worth it. We never really know who not to underestimate.

I love Keanu Reeves. And *spoiler alert* I felt the ending of the movie might be the beginning of the movie. I started over. It wasn't. Costumes were different. Only in the relevance that one day isn't much different from the next. But while taking place, it seemed that a guy annoyed with two hot but skanky chicks decided to take an interest in them after stealing a video camera. And his documentary of them was insightful. But he knew them all along. The only person surprised a the ending was me. And maybe you.

Hannah, after losing her twin brother 18 months ago, has moved into her mother's shed and has stubbornly refused to move on. She and her brother were very creative together and she continues her creative efforts by making videos of thumb puppets traveling in space which earns her constant criticism from her mother, who has taken a tough love approach to forcing Hannah to move on by forcing her to vacate the shed by her 30th birthday.

Hannah's mother, grandmother, suitor, and girlfriend are all delightfully quirky. If you like quirky, this movie is for you. These characters are not one dimensional, but all have strengths and flaws that are shown to us by a very gifted writer/director.

One explosion, no car chases, and no gratuitous violence make this a movie that does not waste ones time with formulaic nonsense for the brain dead. Instead it illustrates through actions the panic and struggle of letting go a loss so great that one thinks her life will never be the same, that it's impossible to move on. And the film illustrates the jolts of losing the precious things, one at a time, that keep her isolated and bound to her dead twin.

Yet there is nothing morbid or overly dramatic in this presentation. The film is full of humor. Hannah must look after a young boy whose mother is dying, knowing what he will face. Yet he's a young cowboy and his own quirkiness mirrors Hannah's, as does his journey. Hannah is pursued awkwardly by Brandon, a somewhat shy individual who manages to approach her at the worst times, like when she's peeing behind a boat. And her dead twin appears to her in snorkeling gear which may be a clue to his death, or just his sense of humor.

There's not a surprise ending to spoil. This movie is about the journey and not the outcome and like all good films, it's made up of moments which are captivating to watch and feel as well as some good laughs along the way. I highly recommend it.

We were all once young, idealistic, and a notion of what we wanted out of adulthood. We settle for employment that isn't really what we wanted and we learn what we need to pretend to be to be successful at a job, especially once promoted. Then the kids come. We wake up one day to realize that we are no longer pretended to be a strict supervisor focused on productivity but have actually turned into that person. At some point we feel inside that we've sold out and a correction is needed. And then comes the often ridiculed but essentially needed mid-life crisis where we get back on track (having dutifully waited for the children to be old enough to fend for themselves).

However, some never question what they have become which are basically people pleasers. Our protagonist is forced into realization by an old college friend who kept his Manifesto of how he saw life and the goals he wished to achieve and basically wrangles our protagonist into a weekend seminar. And like all people pleasers, he asks for his boundaries, if he's in the right room, and doesn't understand when some people are mean to him.

I like story lines where average people are forced into extraordinary circumstances and rise to the occasion. And part was hard to watch, especially that blond girl who always answered a question with a question. She was stopped just in the nick of time as I almost quit watching because of her. She was necessary but that didn't make it easier to watch.

I think what weakened the film was that the group did not essentially succeed in waking our guy up, blackmail rather defeats the effectiveness of the program. It should not be needed. And the whole "product" usage was strange as well. Was this just a strange initiation into a pyramid scheme? Was this truly to wake up people from being zombies? Has our hero truly changed or is he just being exploited by a new boss/company? The rooms with sexual things going on also confused the point of the film, where no really should mean no. Yet obviously a group who would trick people into attending would have no problem with carefully manipulated seduction of a sexual manner.

The strength of the film is that it is thought provoking. It provoked a review which I do not usually do. It made observations about society, big business, and how so many go through through life in a prescribed way never living out their dreams. It's not a movie that I'd wholehearted endorse, but one I'd recommend to another if I had an indication that they'd like the subject matter. It's a thinking person's film, not lighthearted entertainment. It's ending was weak, having peaked in a very well executed scene where our hero seems to deal with the situation very appropriately, having pleased his last person . . . only to be thwarted once again and giving in. Maybe. Maybe the clues were there all along as he was told by others, "I had to take the seminar several times." Maybe like Fight Club, one becomes addicted to the fight and the adrenaline rushes. Who knows? Like I said, this film is very thought provoking, just muddy as to what the goal of the organization really about. I would have liked to see that eliminated and the scenes not conducive to the ending omitted.