Mjeteconer Just perfect...

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

aimless-46 I caught the last 30 minutes of "Silence Becomes You" on cable and was intrigued enough to order the DVD. The DVD would have benefited from a director's commentary as the film is annoyingly vague at times (even to me) and I imagine that most viewers would welcome some clarification.My favorable first impression was probably a combination of the great production design, the excellent acting for the camera direction, and the understated yet inventive editing. It was filmed in Lithuania in HD video (said to be the first feature film with 100% digital cinematography), a technique that allowed the production staff to see each days rushes immediately so they could make timely rewrite and re-shoot decisions."Silence Becomes You" was written and directed by Stephanie Sinclaire, the Associate Artistic Director of the internationally known Kings Head Theatre in London. Her stage background shines through the production as all three of her main characters are given a nice multi-dimensionality. They are all flawed yet to varying degrees sympathetic.Take the assorted plot summaries and comments about this film with a certain grain of salt. It is about two 20-something half-sisters (if you credit certain statements and make an inference) who are still living together in the estate where they grew up. Alicia Silverstone plays Violet and Sienna Guillory plays Grace.They have decided that Violet should have a baby and lure a roguish drifter named Luke (Joe Anderson) to the estate for the purpose of getting her pregnant. There is a fourth character, the house, which exercises a considerable hold and influence over the two women. This relationship is represented by frequent memory flashbacks to their father and their childhood. The two young actresses who play them as little girls (most likely chosen for their physical similarity to Silverstone and Guillory) are convincingly directed by Sinclaire and their frequent appearances give the film a lyrical quality.As in Terrance Mallick's "Days of Heaven" (1978), the four principal characters represent the four elements; earth (the house), water (Violet), fire (Grace), and wind (Luke). The principal dynamic being how the least transitory element holds the three elusive elements in place. Most of the complaints about the film seem to center on Sinclaire's frequent misdirection, the viewer only knows what she wants you to know and when she wants you to know it. There does seem to be vagueness for the sake of vagueness, or at least in the service of introducing complexity to a relatively simple story. The girls have a degree of paranormal skills and there is a strong mental connection between them; qualities that their alchemist father (lead into gold is his metaphor for reproduction) went to great trouble to develop. Sinclaire violates the language of film with this and with her inconsistent flashback techniques; confusing the viewer about what is real, what is mystical, what is a dream, and what is simply a memory. So the film is unable to decide between being a ghost story or a psychological melodrama. Yet in the end all this stuff fits into the final explanation so as long as you get it there is little cause for complaint.This is a must see for Silverstone fans, by far the best thing she has ever done. Helped by an excellent acting for the camera director and an quality ensemble she is quite impressive. To me her face has always seemed slightly off-balance, making her an excellent fit playing a character that is somewhat off-kilter.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child. Comment Comment | Permalink

Michael_Elliott Silence Becomes You (2005)* 1/2 (out of 4) Psychological thriller has Violet (Alicia Silverstone) luring a drifter (Joe Anderson) back to her house where she and her sister Grace (Siena Guillory) have some wicked plans. The two sisters appear to be trapped in the house by their child spirits and the drifter might have walked into a deadly game. The main reason for me recording this film was to see what Silverstone had been doing recently but unless you're a fan of hers then there's no real reason to watch this movie. I kept watching and watching hoping for something to make sense but it never did and the movie just kept getting more confusing as it went along. Even at the end of the flick I tried to make sense of what I had just watched and I still couldn't make head or tails out of it. I could pick this thing to death with various logical issues like how the two sisters aren't working and yet have everything they do but that would be pointless because there's one goof after another. The basic story of why the girl's need this drifter never makes any sense as it appears a big portion of the film was cut out leaving us with a big mess. The three actors turn in decent, if not good, performances but I'm not sure you can blame them too much since the screenplay offers very little. The thriller aspect of the film is never thriller and the erotic moments aren't any better. As Silverstone is still sticking by her "no nudity" clause, her sex scenes border on PG-rated as she always has her clothes on, which pretty much kills anything erotic. The complete film is a major mess from the start so it's best to stay clear or at least keep your fast-forward button near by.

howieroarkd I watched this on a lark on Showtime when I got home from work to kill a little time before bed. The description made it sound like an interesting taut thriller. Instead I was subjected to a meandering goofy ill-conceived premise with no meaty plot, but lots of artsy cinema shots.This movie had that sort of pretentious "if you are smart enough you'll read our minds to get something from this drivel" delivery that I often got in college from overzealous gender-studies or other irrelevant liberal arts classes. You know the ones, they put half a breast on a piece of paper and you're supposed to get that it symbolizes a repressed woman held under a sheet of ice under the Eiffel Tower by Neptune-"how can you not see that? You must be stupid!"Avoid this unless you REALLY REALLY want to see the actress who plays Grace "grace" you with her pleasant to look at upper half. Be forewarned, you'll have to get through about 3/5 of the movie to get there. Tivo it and fast forward. I'm only giving it a two for the assets you get to see about 3/5 of the way through the movie. Fast-forward is your friend!

movieman_kev Two sisters, Grace and Violet (Sienna Guillory and Alicia Silverstone respectively) who are fairly reclusive take in a drunken thieving sort (Joe Anderson) to stay with them awhile. Unbeknownst to him, they have plans for him, plans that might unravel when it seems Violet may be getting closer to him, much to Grace's chagrin. This is a fairly well-acted (for the first half at least until Sienna starts to madly overact) women's Lifetime-esquire melodrama under the guise of a thriller. A tad too estrogen driven for most, yet solid enough. Nothing I'd personally watch again though.Eye Candy: Sienna Guillory gets topless My Grade: C-