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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Expected more

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Leo is a psychological drama that stars Joseph Fiennes,Elisabeth Shue, Justin Chambers and Sam Shepard.The screenplay was written by Amir Tadjedin and Massy Tadjedin and it was directed by Mehdi Norowzian.A literary drama offering the parallel tales of two wounded souls, director Norowzian's tale of redemption and the struggle to find one's place in life finds an ex-convict's correspondence with a young boy offering hope for the future despite the fact that the boy has yet to find his own place in the world. Believing that her husband has been unfaithful, Mary Bloom embarks on an affair with a young handyman that results in her pregnancy. Racked with guilt when her husband dies in a car accident shortly thereafter, Mary begins to hate her son, Leo, leaving the youngster hungering for affection. Assigned correspondence with a convict for a class project, the withdrawn Leo begins to form a close bond with Stephen, who increasingly relies on his communication with Leo as a form of cathartic repentance. When Stephen is released from jail, he gets a job at a diner where concerned co-workers Vic and Caroline attempt to help him establish himself on the outside. Simultaneously brutalized by local drunk Horace, Stephen decides to leave the diner and search for the boy whose letters carried him through his darkest days. Leo is a well-written drama of psychological depth.The plot simmers along nicely, dipping and weaving between the two story lines flawlessly. But it wasn't enough to be more than just an entertaining movie and nothing more.

This film held my interest from beginning to the very end with Joseph Fiennes, (Stephen) leaving a prison after serving a sentence of murdering a man and has been given a job at a dinner with some very strange people running the establishment. Dennis Hopper,(Horace) plays the role of a very dirty filthy old man who abuses a young waitress in sexual ways to degrade her. There are two central characters who appear in this film which has flashbacks with Elizabeth Shue, (Mary Bloom) who is a very attractive young woman who is married to a professor and lives in a very comfortable home and has a young girl. Mary Bloom is told that her husband is having an affair and Mary reacts by making love to a man who is painting her home and from this point in the film everything begins to turn into many different kinds of mysterious events. Great acting by the entire cast and especially the performance of Elizabeth Shue. Enjoy

Why had I never heard of this movie until I saw it sitting on the video store shelf? I hadn't seen Elisabeth Shue in anything really good lately, and I hadn't seen Joseph Fiennes in anything since Shakespeare In Love, so I didn't have high hopes for this movie. But I'd have to say it's one of the best I've seen in a long time.This is one of those movies in which different story lines converge into one towards the end of the film. Fiennes is a recently released convict, having served 15 years for murder. Shue portrays a lonely wife and, later, a seemingly heartless mother. While both actors are great in this movie, Shue in particular is shocking (in a good way). Shue is unfailingly likable, whether playing a babysitter or a hooker, so seeing her as Mommy Dearest is both unsettling and refreshing. Having been in the industry for nearly 2 decades when this movie was released, it's exciting to see the (still gorgeous) actress making yet another Leaving Las Vegas-style breakthrough.I don't want to give away any important plot points, so suffice it to say that this movie left me with the same disturbed, depressed, yet greatly moved feeling that I get from movies like American Beauty. Don't let the fact that most people have never heard of it keep you from picking it up during your next trip to the video store.

I try not to have great hopes for movies, however I was pleasantly surprised. I was afraid that it was going to dark, but instead it offers a very strong main character. Not like a action bondy type, but a rare inquisitive thoughtful man. There are some dark elements to it where people are just cruel. The story time line is not linear, and I was impressed at how well the whole thing ended. Its not really a feel- good type, definitely was a cure for the common movie. While not being perfect, I really enjoyed it.