They Say What They Say

- Sandra Oh was less annoying than I thought she would be.

I agree. I went into watching expecting to dislike her greatly, and ended up quite fond of her at the end.

- Callum was simply divine. I love the stillness he brought to Duck; his inner calm that was only broken when something forced him into action. His scenes with James Allodi and Ellen Page were so full of tenderness and understatement. He truly can deliver a wealth of meaning and emotion with a simple look or gesture.

Every scene of his made me fall in love with Duck a little bit more. He really boiled the character down to the essentials, and the simplicity worked beautifully. He really had a quiet grace all his own.

And I loved Paul playing insecure, absolutely loved it.

Overall, I liked it much better than I thought I would. The few negative reviews I read cited 'lack of plot' as the biggest problem. But if the characters and the acting are as strong as they are here, I think it works to have something character driven instead of formulaic-plot driven.

When it ended I sat back and said "That was really great. How it just tangles itself up and then untangles again. It left me with no burning questions, no strong feeling of things left unresloved. Just a nice, complete story."

And then my roommate turned to me and said "Do you think Duck is Emily's father?"

Then I killed her.

But yes, I agree with you, it is wonderful and possibly my new favorite movie. I've seen it three times with various people, so I haven't had a chance to watch with director's commentary, but after that "squee!" moment, I'll get right on it.