M. Is a good father. Perhaps he created this film as a vehicle to showcase his daughter’s composing and performance skills. The entire first half approaches the feel of a promo reel for her music. She’s pretty good, too!

Anyway, even M. knows he still needs a reason to spend 45 minutes of film time in a teenage music venue. This film appears to be the realization of his idea - however, it’s not his best idea. I wish he would have thought longer.

Cutting to the chase, I love love love “Sixth Sense.” I also greatly enjoyed “Lady in the Water”. But M’s had his movie misses, and this is squarely one of them. He never sells us a palatable reason for the main premise. A (late in the game) backstory lends “some” support, however, at the end of the day, I spent the whole movie not engaged in the plot or premise.

The film sports some strong dramatic acting moments though. Josh Harnett can be powerfully riveting at times. Alison Pill, as the wife/mother, knocks a few scenes out of the park as well. Ariel Donoghue as the teen daughter is solid and believable. Even Saleka Night Shyamalan delivers strong musical performances, while showing off some pretty darned good acting chops. All in all, there are 15-30 minutes of excellent interactions/confrontations, sadly though, that’s not enough to recommend this film.

Perhaps less time at the concert and more time with interactions between Lady Ravin and the FBI profiler?

-- Books by Ross Anthony, Author/Illustrator --