I wasn't sure what to expect, but the storyline and cast drew me in. I found myself throughly engaged throughout, and it stayed with me for a long time. This is a film that I have to watch every time it's on. I guess I love moody dramas about a historical ax-murder mystery.

1.19.19 DVD @ home w/Sh & J

Either one of the two stories might have been engaging on their own, if they hadn't shown their hand from the very start. A disappointment to know this comes from Kathryn Bigelow.

Sean Penn ruins it, as he does any movie.

I found this dual story of frustrated sexual passion and murderous jealousy and rage to be intriguing. A group of skilled actors (minus Elizabeth Hurley, just there for eye candy and temptation), bring both stories to climatic and violent end, in each case built around a floundering marriage. I know that critics and audiences didn't really like it, but I did, and found it a rewarding watch, and Sarah Polley's performance brilliant.

It could be a better one

While I had high hopes for this film, if fell flat, from beginning to end. The apt acting on of Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley, Kathryn Bigelow and Josh Lucas (modern day love triangle) kept the story movie flowing and wanted me to finish it. I feel the acting of Sarah Polley (best of), Ciaran Hinds, Katrin Cartlidge and Vinessa Shaw was also very good, gave the feeling of self-isolation as well as the obvious isolation of living on a big rock (olden days love triangle). Not to spoil the story line, which I felt it was very jumbled and unimaginative. A soon-to-be writer (Bigelow) and her famous poet husband (Penn) decide to take a "workation" with his brother (Lucas) and his current girlfriend du jour (Hurley) on his sloop racer. They travel off the coasts of New Hampshire to a small group of islands (the Shoals) in order to study an 1873 murder case that took place there. As well as I could have guessed, art imitates life with tragic consequences. I do realize it is based on fact, somewhat on the old 19th Century murder case. But I feel that the film overstepped it's bounds with a denouement that was a true deus ex machina which I felt cheated (both in the modern and olden times stories). Overall, the film was trying to be daring and bold, while having some good scenes and dialogue, it was too opaque and really didn't deliver what it promised.

Starts slow, but then gets rolling and leaves you hooked until the very end.

The Weight of Weight is a decent film. It is about a news photographer who researches the lurid and sensational axe murder of two women in 1873 as an editorial tie-in with a brutal modern double murder. Sean Penn and Catherine McCormack give good performance. The screenplay is a little slow in place. Kathryn Bigelow did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the drama and mystery.

Using an ax requires intimacy. A newspaper reporter, her husband, brother-in-law, and brother-in law's girlfriend head out on a yaught towards an island off New Hampshire. The island has a historic tale of two girls who were murdered and a lone survivor who was found in a cave. The mysteries uncovered in the historic tale unlock dark issues in the reporter's own relationship. "Love is never as ferocious as when you think it's going to leave you." Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Point Break, Near Dark, Blue Steel, and K19: The Widower, delivers The Weight of Water. The storyline for this film was fairly entertaining but I didn't feel the way the two plots were intertwined worked well. The cast delivers okay performances and includes Sean Penn, Josh Lucas, Elizabeth Hurley, Sarah Polley, Ciaran Hinds, and Vinessa Shaw. "We drew strength from the rhythm from our labors...and God." The Weight of Water was a movie I came across on Netflix and decided to add it to the queue. I thought this was well done and worth viewing but isn't a classic. This is another lazy Sunday fun flick. I recommend seeing this but I wouldn't go to out of my way. "Why take the time to drink tea?" Grade: B-

A Dead Again-type of tale, about relationship problems and crimes committed generations apart--a very different kind of film than we're used to seeing from Bigelow. I 'got' and enjoyed it--unlike most people--but it's clear she was experimenting, trying something different, out of her comfort zone, which is commendable. It probably proved a beneficial learning experience for her, like Strange Days was, on her road to much bigger and better things. I recommend it for its cast, performances, and very intriguing, if ultimately flawed, plot. If you're patient and are curious about a sensual mystery plot like Bigelow presents here, it will prove a satisfying diversion for you.

(** 1/2): [img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img]

A very bad film for all involved.

A good film from Bigelow who's done much much better ever since. still this story is nicely shot, the cast is good & there is enough qualities here to keep you entertained from start to finish. A pleasant film.

I definitely disagree with Rotten Tomatoes review. The acting was great and I felt that the actors were well chosen for their roles. Sean Penn is always great and Catherine McCormack did a great job portraying Jean. Also Sarah Polley was very believable as Maren Hontvedt. I believe the movie conveyed a sense of suspense and mystery, both about Jean and Thomas with Rich and Adaline. When they go back in time, the Norwegian fishing family is also portrayed very well, showing the sense of depression which Maren endures along with disappointment with her new life in America. The suspense builds up with the coming of Evan and his new bride, Anethe. You can almost sense the tension and discontent building up, with Karen's sharp words and Maren's more subtle criticism of her sister and of her husband allowing her to live with them. The director creates a sense of foreboding and gloom on the island and also inside their home. Then with Jean and Thomas, there is tension as Jean becomes aware that Adaline is drawn to her husband. Finally Jean confronts Adaline about this and she realizes that Adaline is not really attracted to Thomas, except for his poetry. I do not understand why this movie received such bad criticism and reviews. I certainly do not agree with their review and think this is one of the best suspense movies I have ever seen.

You would have expected more from Bigelow's directorial debut particularly when she had Sean Penn and Sarah Polley to use but this is a boat that seems to drift endlessly with the unlikely revelation of a centuries old murder. A head scratcher by the time the credits roll.

When a movie gets itself over certain hurdles, establishing believably, mainly, and creating audience sympathy with/for one or more characters-- I am willing to silence my nagging inner critic, who is perhaps a thwarted pleasure principle raising its head to be fed. Sarah Polley makes this film. Her acting was excellent, but I found myself, at first, most delighted by her "Norwegian" accent. As the movie went on, I got addicted to that accent, which for me had become integral to her performance. She, not Hurley, not Penn, was the centerpiece of this movie.

A plot muddled with simple dialogue and cliches, Anita Shreve's wonderful book is awfully ignored by the actors. Sean Penn pathetically tries to make horrible writing into something worth listening to ,yet Sarah Polley actually delivers a chilling performance that makes the movie bearable to watch.

This film could have been better had Bigelow ditched the modern half of the story and focused solely on Polley's character, which I found intriguing, even if her story wasn't fully fleshed out.

The Weight of Water follows two stories, one about a mysterious double murder in the 1870s, the other a modern day story line that seeks answers to the first. Both are interesting, but the older one much more so. The biggest problem the movie are the shifts between the two, which undercut the effectiveness of both narratives, giving the film a disjointed feel. There's enough to like about both plot lines to keep it interesting, especially the acting, but unfortunately kept down from some ineffective direction.