Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

©2009 Overture Street Films, LLC

Martin Landau plays a pushing-80 bachelor who finds love late in life, in the form of new neighbor Ellen Burstyn. It’s kind of nice, don’t you think, that these two veterans still have a crack at leading roles, and Landau in particular puts in a nuanced, multi-layered performance. Then a third-act revelation necessitates a reexamination of all that has gone before. That’s fine, but the nature of the revelation is not suitable for a jerk-you-around twist, especially when forced on you with off-putting, grandiose film-school stylistic flourishes as it is here.