Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

betty dalton This movie makes me feel humble and in reverence. The subject is so delicate that I feel hesitant to analyse it in the usual clinical way. Definitely not a popcornmovie nor is it a sentimental tearjerker. It is as real as it gets...The story is about a couple who have lost their child. They both struggle how to cope with the uncertainty surrounding the missing child. The father and the mother get estranged from eachother and the centre of the movie is about how both parents continue to lose their sanity over the uncertaintity of the whereabouts of their missing child.At the very end of the movie I was really touched by an almost magical encounter, which meaning you will understand if you choose to see Meadowland. Or you wont understand it, if you have a peanut as a brain. I cant reveal the ending here, because it is a spoiler. Meadowland is a real rough diamant, wrapped in breathtaking grief though, so only watch it if you are up for a lot of repressed and twisted emotions. Meadowland is dedicated to the late father of the director. At the very end of the credits, he is remembered as "...if it was yesterday they saw eachother last..." Is it the personal loss of the director's father that made this movie so heartwrenchingly beautiful? Because this movie is all about loss. And when a director has just experienced a personal loss herself there is most likely no distance at all to the emotions in this delicate story. "Meadowland" really comes across as a personal tale of grief...It is never easy to recommend a movie about the loss of a child, because I usually dont wanna get sad while watching a movie. Who does? But Meadowland easily found its way to my heart, because besides the grief there is healing to be found as well. And the healing end part of the movie struck me as an uplifting, magical experience. For that reason I do want to recommend this picture very much...

Turfseer "Meadowland" is a film by first-time director Reed Morano, a cinematographer by trade, responsible in part for such notable indies as "Frozen River." Morano has fashioned a deeply atmospheric tale from a screenplay by first time feature writer, Chris Rossi, chronicling the downward spiral of a husband and wife whose child is kidnapped by a pedophile (similar to the true-life Etan Patz case). The story begins in a harrowing scene where the couple stops at a gas station in upstate New York with their young son in the back seat. The kid goes to the bathroom and doesn't come out—when the father opens the door, he discovers his son has vanished. We then flash forward a year later and the child is still missing and the parents, Sarah and Phil (played most intensely and convincingly by Oliva Wilde and Luke Wilson), are coping from the fallout of the overwhelming tragedy in their lives.The great strength of the film (and perhaps also its greatest weakness), is that the focus is on the internal arcs of the principals (as opposed to the conflict between the two). When we first meet Sarah, an elementary school teacher, she's on lithium and has convinced herself that her son is still alive. Phil, a NYC police officer, castigates his wife for denying reality (as it's becoming more apparent, due to a police investigation of a pedophile under surveillance upstate who may be implicated in the abduction, that the little boy is never coming home).In one of the strongest scenes in the film, Sarah goes looking for an animal cracker that her son was eating on the day he disappeared, and finds it wedged in a crack in the back seat of their car. Attempting to reconnect with her son in any way, she ravenously wolfs the cracker down, satiating herself for a moment despite the grief that never goes away.The plot eventually focuses on Sarah's obsession with Adam, a young student at her school, who has Asperger's Syndrome. The child is treated poorly by her foster parents—Sarah follows the mother in one scene and helps her out with money after she's unable to pay for groceries at a convenience store. I'm not exactly sure where that plot strand was leading—later on, after throwing out her medications, Sarah has a manic episode where she ends up having sex with the boy's father (again I suppose, indicative of her downward spiral). Meanwhile Phil appears at first to getting himself together by attending a support group for parents of murdered children. But like Sarah, he is not immune to the deleterious effects of the tragedy that has impinged upon his life. In a subtle scene, he kicks over a roadside memorial to a deceased father—his way of "coping" is lashing out (as opposed to Sarah's self-destructiveness). Later Phil inappropriately provides one of his fellow support group members with the address of the drunken driver who killed his daughter. It's obvious that Phil has lost his moral compass despite the fact that he's supposed to uphold the law as a law enforcement officer (a public servant).Morano's camera work as well as her direction prove that she's an extremely talented filmmaker to be reckoned with in the future. Meadowland's problem is Rossi's uneven script which lacks a great deal of conflict and rising tension. Instead, the focus is on just how low these characters can sink as they cope with the immediate reality of their missing child. Little is added by a subplot involving a visit by Phil's unstable brother Tim, who Sarah and Phil put up in their apartment, while he is attempting to get his life together. I won't reveal the ending entirely but suffice it to say there is a measure of redemption for Sarah involving an elephant, a class of mammal that Adam, the young Asperger's child, has shown great affection for earlier on (Sarah's self-obsession at the denouement with her concomitant lack of attention to Adam, remains a disturbing scene). Phil perhaps gains his measure of redemption when the police investigation into their child's disappearance, is resolved. Meadowland is primarily recommended for the intense, tragic atmosphere it invokes. The lack of a true, discernible plot and focus exclusively on the principals' internal arcs, are its Achilles heels.

Red_Identity The film isn't anything that we haven't seen before, but it's still a rather effective experience. Olivia Wilde previously impressed everyone in Drinking Buddies when she showed us all what fools we were for doubting her talent. Here, she once again steps to the challenge and delivers an earnest, sincere, raw performance. I think she's a actress who does really great with portraying misery and sadness, and she can do wonders with her face. Luke Wilson is also impressive, but has less to do and Wilde is the ultimate shining star here. The film as a whole could've used some more work in its script, nothing too memorable, but definitely a solid film. Also, hey Elisabeth Moss appears.

Johan Dondokambey The movie did a great job in hitting the main conflict trigger so early at the start point. And after that we get to see the devastating effects of how non-reconciled loss can lead to turmoil little by little. In it we get to see superb acting done by Olivia Wilde and quite a balanced job by Luke Wilson. The other cast members also helped much in keeping the mood constant all the way through. Ty Simpkins did well in depicting the Adam's symptoms. Giovanni Ribisi succeeded in creating a character that's complicating things up, while John Leguizamo, Elisabeth Moss and Kevin Corrigan also put up well in their parts. Yet the movie seems so much lacking in the story development, as we see Phil and Sarah repeat things up so very often without any significant twist or turn. This makes the ending to be a disappointment as it's really something one predicted even from the movie's start.