This is a film directed by Thomas Vinterberg, whose credentials are mostly with the Dogme-95 crowd (his film 'Festen' is supposed to be one of the best, and one of the few to really attempt to follow the rules), and this is certainly not apart of that previous group of films and filmmaker. It's a dark-but-whimsical romantic fantasy made up of parts of science fiction and tragic romance, sort of like if Philip K. Dick tried his hand at doing soap opera.Indeed the word 'opera' is quite appropriate for this film. Much of Vinterberg's style here is operatic, such as sequences where one of the main characters (emphasis on 'characters') are ice skating to some very bombastic music, the lighting striking like out of a shadowy dream... indoors on an ice rink.But what about the film you might ask? What makes it such a cult-film object to be discovered (as I did through a friend who wouldn't stop raving about it, how 'weird' it gets)? It seems a straightforward sort of sci-fi premise: a man is married to a woman (Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes respectively) and the former wants to divorce the other as they've been split apart for a while and he doesn't see the relationship going anywhere (this is mostly inferred, and mostly early on). But she won't sign, and so he goes to New York city to confront her, amid her ring of celebrity and media that surrounds her. A good lot of time he's just waiting in a TV studio looking at monitors, some of them about new in Africa of some devastation going on.Oh, what kind of devastation? It's actually the future. That I neglected to mention is not entirely by accident. Vinterberg doles out information sparingly, and one can just grasp the ring of the plot by the end of the first half hour, and then it turns into a chase movie. Sort of. Nefarious figures, such as a "Mr. Morrison", are on their trail, or rather on Elena's trail as John tries to keep her safe. From what? Well, so it goes, she's a clone, or she has a bunch of clones made up from her.I would want to keep much of the surprises of the film spoiler-free, but then how much can be really spoiled here? Vinterberg's style is more concerned with the mood of the camera, how emotional the actors get, than with the story. He seems to almost be kindly (or just bizarrely) mocking storytelling in a sense, and by this he also has Sean Penn's entire role in the film being that of a guy on a plane, once close with John, speaking into a tape recorder he hopes for John to hear. Well, it's like poetry, it rhymes. So there.There's also dead bodies here and there in the film. It takes having to look at the back of the video box (or sticking with the movie till the last shot, which is posted below) to fully understand that it is a post-apocalypse kind of environment. It doesn't appear to be. This and other little moments in the film, or even how Vinterberg's cameraman ace-Danny Boyle collaborator Anthony Dod Mantle go about making certain scenes disorientating with dutch angles and see-sawing in a scene with a shot, that make it such a bizarre item. But Vinterberg also trusts the audience to try and keep up with him, and for the most part he's successful.By the end it is moving, if sometimes a little silly (the many clones and how they're 'taken out' so to speak make for unintentional laughs), and it has been an experience. It will turn off people who may not expect such twists and turns and performances that go just *this* high (::puts fingers an inch apart::) from going over the top. He also has the trust of an actor like Phoenix, who does some of his most subtle and perfectly forceful work as Polish-émigré John, and Danes who gets some chances to be hammy but barely takes them.It's All About Love is the kind of movie I would recommend only to certain people that I might know personally, or to those looking for a loopy art-film that is glad to be as sappy as it wants to be. Or those who will savor a closing shot like the one above. Or those who want to get a gage on who their 'other' is on a first date.

An interesting film with a lot of multicultural context in it: American, European, Slavic, very international. Perhaps as only a good Danish producer can make it. The movie is very well-made. Vinterberg is great, never regretted watching any of his works. Festen is above all, of course. Sean Penn is always great, too. His role is like a modern demiurg observing the world from above flying over it on the board of an airplane... Just like the rest of the actors in this movie. I kind of don't really like Claire Danes for her Juliette in Romeo+Juliette 1996 role... The skaters remind about Dega's dancers. But anyway I'd definitely recommend to those who've not seen it to add it to their "pending" list and devote some time to enjoying it. Even if it leaves a bit puzzled there is more to this film than any regular Hollywood movie. It is smart, with an idea about rapidly changing world affecting people's hearts. There is a bit exaggeration but isn't that unavoidable in making a movie impressive enough to reach its audience? There are interesting sceneries, music that fits into scenes it is chosen for. It is an absorbing and strange movie that should not leave you indifferent. It is fun ;) If someone is expecting another dogma #1 it's not quite what you are going to get but if you shift your expectations to something like You the Living type of movie that is odd but leaves a lot of space for thoughts and feelings you'll definitely find pleasure in It Is All about Love. The spectator has to learn not to get the answers in the movie like in most American best-sellers but to develop own ideas, be a thinking man, considerate and understanding, aware of realities of life and what's beyond them.

Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Ingenious. Masterpiece!

I guess you have to be pretty open minded and ready for weird things when watching this film... Although it is strange that people are dying in the streets, it adds to the message and emotional impact of the movie; the writer made the future seem like a colder place, then now, lacking closeness and love. For this reason people who do not have enough love are liable to die, "something to do with the heart". Although, strange, this is an interesting and completely original way of making a film about love. The two separated married couple, Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes, unite again to finalize their divorce, but end up trying to escape from a vast conspiracy happening within the Figure Skating Business of Elena (Claire Danes). In this escape, John (Phoenix) remembers his love between his ex wife, and they rekindle their relationship. But throughout the adventure there are struggles with Elena, whom is implied to be self deprecating because of the constant pressures of her career. However, the theme of love is broader than the couple featured in the film, the screenplay was written as if love is lacking in all parts of the world, causing temperatures to drop, and strange "flying" events to occur. Although these are weird and unusual things to connect with love, the writer made his point that he feels as if love is not taken advantage of in the world today, and may be lost further in the future. All these different events add to the theme of the lack of love in the world. Although the movie ends badly, as in the characters, although have found love once again, die in the cold of the snow, the message "Its All About Love" is re-enforced with Sean Penn's character. The character of Marciello isn't necessary to the film, but I feel adds a sense of reality, a detached family member, who isn't completely understood by the audience. And by giving this character the final words of the film, it allowed the audience watching to remain a little bit uncomfortable, since the character was not a familiar one. Overall, the entire film is a bit uncomfortable to watch because of all the weird events, and the emotional ups and downs. The two characters were from Poland, which was another thing that added to the film just having unnecessary things added to it. There are many situations in this film and added scenes, and mere details that are not completely necessary to the plot, or the flow of the story, which make audiences hesitant, or dislike the film. But in my opinion, it made the film unique, and more universal (meaning it deals with things all over the world in the film, not everyone in the world will understand it hah). The acting in this film was pretty good, Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes have done films where they were coupled before, and they really are believable. Sean Penn also plays his role perfectly, although barely in the film. The rest of the characters are odd, and sometimes seem like they are just reading lines, however this could be another aspect to the film and to the writer/director. Overall, really different, but the message, and the idea behind all the weird aspects, are really original, and an overall emotional, scenically beautiful, and unique film.