As film-making, maybe it is good. But as anything else it is beyond awful. I saw the interview with Tilda Swinton after I watched the DVD and she said that she had just been to a screening and knew the audience was on Julia's side when they seemed concerned that the hotel cleaner might have seen the kidnapped boys legs sticking out from behind the sofa. She laughed and said that's how the film corrupts people, you get drawn in and are hoping she'll get away with it. Er, sorry, no. At that point I desperately wanted the hotel cleaner to go and get the police. Alas, she didn't. All through the film I was desperately hoping that Julia would get caught or would actually see sense and give up the ridiculous kidnap plot and hand herself in. This is a boorish, loud,vulgar, conceited alcoholic who runs over a man, kidnaps a small boy at gunpoint, wearing a mask, drugs him, ties him up with tape, puts him in the boot of her car on two occasions and in a large suitcase on one occasion - and we are expected to have some sympathy for her when she finally tries to protect the boy from other kidnappers (while still trying to ensure she gets the money she wants). Oh and shoots a man in the head at point blank range when she thinks he will mess up her chance of getting two million dollars. You just think, for Christ's sake, is money really that important? Even the supposedly moving scene where the boy joins Julia in bed for some maternal affection is distinctly creepy. Are we meant to like her just because she doesn't sexually abuse him too? And even though it clumsily tries to redeem itself with the level- headedness of the character Mitch who tries to talk sense into Julia (and fails abysmally) all in all this is a pretty repugnant film, very ugly character. It can be brave to showcase a main character who is so flawed but to engage an audience you usually need something extra, charisma, something. This was just ugly.

Wow, what a riveting watch.. It had me completely captivated from start to finish. Tilda Swinton's performance of the titular character is so good and believable it just hurts to watch. She is a timebomb, an avalanche waiting to happen a plane on it's way down, ready to crash and burn. She's extremely sexy, yet you wouldn't even touch her with a shovel. Tilda Swinton is the film.Opportunity comes knocking when Julia meets a neighbour at an AA meeting. A way to possibly fix some of her (financial) problems and extend her endless party, 'cause that's all Julia does. Get into trouble and party. However this opportunity offered is so twisted and so improbable it's more likely to be a shortcut to her inevitable demise.I can't stop ranting on about this performance from Tilda Swinton. It's so pure, so convincing. I absolutely love her. I would want to take this character under my wing and gently nurse her back to sanity. Just like her her friend Mitch (played perfectly by Saul Rubinek) wants to do. She almost meets her equal in the neighbour Elena, an also stunning performance by Kate del Castillo. Almost like adding one volatile chemical to another. She just drove me crazy, but in a good way. A mentally unstable damaged woman that, you know, can not be good for Julia.What kind of film is this.. Is it black comedy? Is it tragicomedy? It's like a Coen brothers film doused in alcohol, bleach and a hefty dose of realism and with such a performance by the lead I'm amazed I didn't hear from this earlier on. In it's sadness and tragedy and insanity the only other film you could compare this with is Keane by Lodge Kerrigan. Very highly recommended 8/10

............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FL JULIA = A living-in-denial, acid-tongued, fortyish and usually sporting that "oh so disheveled buy me a few drinks and I'll go home with you but won't remember or care in the morning, total-lush" look; with serious stability/maturity issues. That, ladies and gentlemen, pretty much sums it up! Swinton carries the movie on her "more often than not slipping out of her dress" shoulders! JULIA will continue to ricochet around your brain, tumultuously, long after viewing. KUDOS to Ms. Swinton! After her Oscar winning role as the anal-retentive executive you love to hate in Michael Clayton, she seemed like a truly excellent actor. With this ground-breaking, Oscar-caliber performance, there can be no doubt her acting skills are nothing short of legendary! The only actor who could hold her own on camera w/Swinton was Kate del Castillo(Under the Same Moon), who turns in a brief, but incredibly intense performance as the disturbed biological mother.Remember how the Supreme Court used to define pornography? "Totally and utterly devoid of any redeeming social value"- What's mystical about Ms. Swinton's performance is that despite portraying a detestable and neurotically unpredictable adult, she manages to plant a seed of expectation/compassion in the viewer's mind. Throughout, there is a flicker of hope that, somehow, someway, things will manage to right themselves.**** Possible Very Minor SPOILER Ahead ****JULIA certainly pulls the proverbial rug out from under your feet on more than one occasion. My hands are tied when it comes to discussing the final minutes of the film. But you absolutely mustn't give up on JULIA beforehand. Please, be patient! Everything hinges on that final scene! Soon afterward, upon reflection, the real implications will remind you that things aren't always as they seem! Immediately after JULIA-6* was my rating. After my cerebral dust has settled, JULIA rates a rock-solid 8*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome! [email protected]

Julia is a schizophrenic piece of filmmaking if ever there was one. It can't decide whether or not it's a serious drama or a dark comedy. Only a terrific performance by Tilda Swinton in the lead part and a couple of decent bit part performances by American and foreign actors are all that save this pathetic film from rating just one star instead of the three that I mercifully gave it. In fact, the performance by the actress that played the boy's mother bordered on a caricature. Oh sure, there were some decent scenes, but the time between them was filled with inane dialog and implausible plot faults. There were too many unexplained lapses in continuity, including an absurd sequence of events in the Southern California/Mexican desert. The story is so improbable as to be ridiculous and the script is uneven and fractured. I will admit that the cinematography is decent, as is the editing. But to rate this film any more than three stars would be to offer a disservice to those films that actually "earned" a rating that was higher than that. Except for Ms. Swinton's excellent performance as a disjointed, delusional, dysfunctional alcoholic, Julia was a complete waste of this viewer's time.