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Name: Noel's Movie Reviews
Home: West Hills, CA, United States
About Me: My name is Noel Petok. I'm 27 years old. I've written 3 feature length film scripts and 3 short film scripts. I'm a caffeine nut and love to relax at my local Starbucks. If you love film, come chat with me. See my complete profile
GRADE: C+ The Secret Life of Words *REVIEW* Good acting; definitely. Well written; has its moments. Great film; far from Oscar material. After a long grueling viewing of The Secret Life of Words I couldn’t wait for it to end. Sure with a name such as Tim Robbins (who has a much better performance in Mystic River) you’re sure to get a fine performance. This film also stars Sarah Polley. Sarah has the ability of becoming a fine actress down the line. I would consider one of her best performances to be in the film, My Life without Me. This film, The Secret Life of Words, may reach few but I found it to be a little more on the agonizing side.
The Secret Life of Words has well known stars; (Academy Award Winner) Tim Robbins, Sarah Polley, and Julie Chrisite. It also stars a few foreign names such as; Javier Camara and Sverre Anker Ousdal, and was written and directed by Isabel Coixet. Other than it’s top stars, the only other familiar name is producer Pedro Almodovar, who’s done a number of highly rated foreign films such as; Y Tu Mama Tambien, Volver, and Talk to Her. Isabel Coixet has written a film that is sure to reach some but is likely to be missed. The directing of this film has strong and powerful moments but are overshadowed by a slow basic story. It was recognized in low end festivals that most audiences likely haven’t even heard of. For fans of strong acting that like solid performances should give it a chance, but those that want a good story I’d say to pass on this one.
The Secret Life of Words was made in 2007 and was produced by Universal and Focus Features. It was released with an unrated MPAA rating that includes a scene of nudity. It’s a moving story about finding love and hope in places least expected. An oil worker is badly burned on the job and needs to be helped, by a nurse, with everyday needs; feeding and tending to his wounds. While being treated he forms an unlikely and emotional relationship with his nurse. While treated he reveals his deepest secrets with her and tries to learn and dig into her past mysterious life about her own hidden identity.
This film has great moments but they are overshadowed by too much buildup with the wrong character. The core and strength of the film lies in the character that Tim Robbins plays. There are many little nuances of Sarah Polley’s character that we should care for, such as her being hearing impaired. Throughout the film we hear a narration voiced by a young girl. We wonder who this young girl is and why we hear it. It left me confused until I realized that the girl’s voice was supposed to be Sarah Polley as a child. From a technical aspect, this film does have its strengths. For example, Sarah Polley manages to keep her accent throughout the film and never loses it, which shows a strong actress from the rest. With the accident that Tim Robbins’ character suffers from, the make-up crew did a basic job without overdoing the look of a burn patient. With a film’s strong points comes its inevitable weakness. There were edits and moments where I felt it cut between locations almost in mid thought that baffled me. I’m not sure if this is a style of this director but I saw it as strange moments and it left me lost.
In closing, The Secret Life of Words is likely to be a film that is just too small to be noticed. Once we are finally introduced back to the Tim Robbins character, post accident, the film finally picks up from its dragging points. The heart of this film lies within the scenes that take place between Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins alone together. Tim Robbins gives a great performance that definitely builds his status as an actor. When we finally hear the background story of why Tim Robbins’ character calls Sarah Polley by the different name Cora we learn, understand, and feel extremely sorry for him that much more. When they cut away from Tim Robbins you almost don’t care about the movie until they come back to him. The movie lacks to be a solid complete film. With its dragging parts it brings its audience to a state of boredom. Tim Robbins performance is the only strength to this film and at times his character is sad to watch. Sarah Polley has her ups and downs also but has a very powerful scene where she talks about soldiers dying in war. She and Tim Robbins have great chemistry working off each other extremely well, but to make their roles as a couple never seemed right. Even with a big age and height difference they never seem to be the right fit to be a couple. It’s a decent film, at best, with some powerful acting being the film’s saving grace. For a sad story and heavy film the only light hearted moment comes from two elder ladies on a bus watching a TV screen that plays the film Bloodsport. They have a funny conversation about Vin Diesel being a better actor than Jean Claude Van Damme. I would not recommend this film unless someone is a big fan of Tim Robbins. If so, it is up there as one of his touching performances.
