ShangLuda Admirable film.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

alfiecycling Wow! I just found out that today, January 20, 2014 is the 10th year anniversary of the release of this fine movie by Showtime. I really love this movie and have watched it numerous times.The actress Kristen Stewart shines in it.The main character is a young teenage girl named Melinda Sordino. Sordino is Italian for " mute," and Melinda can mean, among other things,a Linden tree. Ironically, the quasi "mute" Melinda is the very person doing all the narrating throughout the movie. A poignant story of a teenage girl's ordeal and recovery. Many other character's in the movie have similar type names, for example; Heather is a friend that unfriends Melinda because Melinda is too depressed. And Ivy who unfriends her because of a misunderstanding. In fact, Melinda refers to cliques as "clans" which is from the Latin for sprout.And the author Nathaniel Hawthorne is mentioned in her English class and Hawthorne is a hedge bush of the rose family.Hawthorne's book, The Scarlet Letter is mentioned as being full of symbolism.Which this story seems to also be full of.I can't figure out why the author,Laurie Hals Anderson, of Speak uses so many horticultural references.But interestingly enough,right after Melinda is sexually assaulted by Andy,who is a popular teen, Melinda stays in his Jeep Wrangler after he leaves her. She looks through the windshield as she's weeping and sees a large majestic tree. Is the tree a " mute witness" to the crime?" We see the rape in a series of flashbacks by Melinda.Later on, when she begins her freshman year at Merryweather High, her lovable bohemian art teacher, Mr. Freeman, instructs the class to pick a slip of paper out of a damaged globe that will have their year long art project on it. Melinda picks one that has the word " tree." She tries to put it back but Mr Freeman says not to because that is her " destiny, you can't change your destiny."Also, she turns inwards and starts to cut class and hideout in a utility room at her school.And then she, like the trees and shrubs around her, starts to recover after the cold winter and she finally begins to regain her strength and courage. This may explain why the author used the tree as a symbol for Melinda.The story line does not suffer from several plots interweaving like we see so much of but rather all the focus is on this young teen and her nearly year long recovery from her trauma.She befriends a very nice classmate named Dave Petrakis. Perhaps more symbolism here because the name Petrakis refers to a rock or maybe even a bedrock. And he is supportive of her while never really knowing what happened to her.The cast is finely tuned and hums like (fill in your favorite set of wheels).Kudos to the composer Christopher Libertino for a fantastic musical score. His use of a chamber orchestra and piano near the end takes that scene to lofty heights.Happy 10th Year Anniversary, Speak.

S B I think a lot of people tend to come down pretty hard on Kristen Stewart, but I think she really is a great actress. I watched the Twilight movies a couple of years after they first came out, and I thought she did a decent job. But Speak...this was some really great acting. I really loved the scenes with the art teacher, especially the last one.The range of emotion Kristen showed in this movie were so varied, and very believable. I think she really shone in this movie, and it makes me interested in checking out other movies that she has done.If you're not sure if you want to see Speak, give it a chance like I did. I almost didn't watch it, but now I'm glad that I did.

Sophia Jones The filming was simple and there wasn't any big effects but that was okay. I liked the plot but it was most just a story.. Like there wasn't any big turn points or events, it was mostly Melinda reliving what had happened. I really missed some bigger events, but besides from that it was a good and different high school movie. So it's definitely worth watching, but you should probably not watch it with young kids.I have to write ten lines, but I don't really know what more to write. It was a great movie and I enjoyed watching it. I'm fifteen years old and would recommend it for teens at my age but adults would probably like it too.

vicky31 I just watched the movie and it compelled me to write my first review.It itself says much about the movie.This is my 4th movie of Kristen Stewart and i should say she's gonna be the leading lady of the Hollywood in few years. The movie is about a teen who was assaulted in a party and kept the fact with her, leading her into a state of loneliness and lack of confidence to share her views with anyone.The subject was very hard to be dealt with but credit should be given to the director Jessica sharzer and of course to Kristen Stewart for a performance that will be remembered throughout her career.Kristen did a fantabulous portrayal of a traumatized teen with an ease.Its very difficult to let the other person know your feelings when you have few words to say but Kristen's expressions and body language did it all effortlessly. The direction of the movie is superb dealing more with expressions and behavior than dialogs. Even dealing with such a subject the movie is engrossing and does not let you go anywhere.I highly recommend this movie to every high school guys/gals and to everyone in their 20s or 30s.