The United States of Leland

Definitely a worthy film in terms of its concepts, but very hard to rate. If I were to consider "just" its emotional value, it would be worth full marks considering its overall emotional capital, thanks in part to the few lines just after the start of the film, which Leland begins by saying he doesn’t remember, "at least, not the stuff that they want me to" (an absolutely mesmerizing monologue). The problem comes in when I pose that familiar question: "and what did the bard really mean by that..." Of course, the film is well cast and the involvement of the supporting characters is not uninteresting, but in the final analysis I was still missing something more exact or something even more emotional (like those films that don't have to explain everything, but their emotional value is so huge that you don't really need answers)... And okay – here, the "why" is hinted at in the end, but that doesn't change the fact that I felt slightly cheated during the closing credits. Of course, I take into account that the film’s ultimate ambiguity and lack of clarity is related to the character of the main character – which is why I’m giving it such a high rating. It's definitely a film that had aspirations to be a five-star film. In the end, however, it only meets those ambitions at about 60%. (28/09/2012)