Watch The Hours For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Powerful

Absolutely Fantastic

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The movie The Hours is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. The book is inspired by Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, and Virginia Woolf is one of the central characters here. Three separate lives in three different places at three different times are all connected by Mrs. Dalloway. Nicole Kidman plays the novelist Virginia Woolf living in Sussex, England in 1941. Julianne Moore plays Laura Brown, a Los Angeles housewife with a loving husband and a young son. Meryl Streep plays Clarissa Vaughn, a N.Y. publisher in 2001. Woolf wrote Mrs. Dalloway, Laura Brown is reading it, and Clarissa Vaughn references it.Roger Ebert characterizes the connections between the three stories when he describes the film as a "meditation on separate episodes linked by a certain sensibility". All three characters feel constrained by social obligation while at the same time experiencing a profound sense of being alone. There are parallels between the characters involving questions of sexual orientation, existential meaning, and ultimately, death. The second and third stories are linked in ways that are not immediately clear, but their connection provides great insights into the deeper meaning of the film. In the end, what really connects their lives is not historical coincidences, but textures and tones.The film is directed by Stephen Daldry who also directed Billy Elliot, a personal favorite of mine. One of the things I like about British films is the emphasis on texture and tone. American films value plot above all else. The complex interweaving of this story and the pacing of the film will be off-putting to filmgoers seeking a steady diet of fast-paced action. It is a tribute to the filmmakers that I left the theater wanting to see the movie again so that I could mine the depths of meaning, and better understand the lives of the characters.If you need additional incentives to motivate you, the film is worth seeing for performances alone. Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, and Nicole Kidman are some of the great talents working in film. Solid supporting performances are provided by Ed Harris, Claire Danes, and John C. Reilly. Reilly is nominated for best supporting actor for his performance in Chicago, but has the distinction of being in three of the five films nominated for best picture (Chicago, The Hours, and Gangs of New York).Betty Friedan, in writing about the constraining effects of gender roles once wrote that "beneath our masks we are very much alone." This loneliness is explored in intimate detail here. A less profound literary reference comes from the 60's pop duo Chad and Jeremy who sang "I don't care what you say, I won't stay in a world without love." The Hours is not fast-paced and some will dismiss it as a "chick flick", but the film's greatness lies in its probing exploration of the paradoxes of human existence.

On the surface this is a masterful work of art, a cinematic achievement of excellence. The smooth cinematography stringed along by its music score is poetically and aesthetically excellent in its own right. The emotionally charged performances, the poetic dialogue, the enigmatic symbolism and the silky contrast between 3 women, 3 time periods, 3 lives stringed along so eloquently, makes this story so simple, yet so powerful. Underneath that beautiful surface, lies the perspective of death, and the meaning of life. The topic of lesbian love, AIDS, the love of literature and fated acts of lives connected. All of this takes places while the concepts of mental illness and physical ailments take place in the lives of 3 women connected by fate, love, despair, duty and death.To call this a film shortchanges the work of cinematic art and poetry in front of us. It is till date, the most brilliant and beautiful film I've seen, and although its theme is demure, its meaning is profound.Signaling one performance is a group of tour de forces is a tough challenge, but Nicole Kidman's Virginia Wolf would break any heart with her undeniable raw portrayal of sadness, loneliness and desperation. Final Grade, A+

'The Hours' is a story concerning subject matter that deserves to be known. It may not be something that many people experience firsthand or even secondhand but it is a very real story that happens among many people, whether light or severe.The performances by this entire cast were spot on. There was not one performance I did not enjoy whether it came from main characters or supporting. I incredibly enjoyed the three powerhouse leading ladies in Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore but beyond those three, Ed Harris as Richard Brown and Jack Rovello as Richie were by far my favorites.This film is definitely worth the watch but be sure to find something pleasant to watch afterward!-- Oberrated.com --

Honestly, there is no exclamatory phrase in the tool belt of even a happy-mouthed Guy Fieri that can do justice to how strictly enjoyable The Hours is, especially for it's subject matter. It's basically an infinite recursion of intertextual frame narratives that center on the novel Mrs. Dalloway, which I had not read, but am currently reading...because of this movie.The screenplay is tight, hyper-aware of what it is doing and does so without feeling cumbersome much of the time. There is a particularly perfect spot where Meryl Streep's character discusses 'prescience', which is really the theme of the whole movie, and maybe even of Mrs. Dalloway...more to come on that.Bonus points: Nicole Kidman is unrecognizable, and really ceases to be herself while assuming Virginia Woolf, Phil Glass NAILS it on a score that ebbs and flows with the film's surrendering subjects and there's even a gorgeous scene where a hotel room quickly becomes what may or may not be Julianne Moore's final self-inflicted watery grave.