'NANCY': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A mystery-drama about a woman who comes to believe she was kidnapped as a child, after seeing a couple on TV who's daughter went missing 30-years earlier. The film was written and directed by debut feature filmmaker Christina Choe. It stars Andrea Riseborough, J. Smith-Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd and John Leguizamo. It's gotten mostly positive reviews from critics, and it's playing in select indie theaters now (like Portland). I found it to be extremely well made and fascinating. Nancy Freeman (Riseborough) is a depressed, and very lonely woman in her thirties. She feels mostly alienated by all those around her, including her sick mom (Dowd). After her mother passes away one day, Nancy sees a couple on TV, Ellen (Smith-Cameron) and Leo Lynch (Buscemi), who's daughter went missing 30-years earlier (at the age of five). Nancy is the same age that the girl would be now, and the projected picture, of what the missing child would look like now, looks just like her. So Nancy becomes convinced that she's the couple's missing child, and after meeting then she becomes more and more convinced of this. So does the desperate mother, and an odd relationship forms between the Lynches and Nancy. The movie is really involving, from the opening scene until the last one. It's got a great premise too, that keeps you guessing all the way until the film's conclusion too. The performances are all good (especially Riseborough), and you really learn to care for all of these extremely damaged but oddly loveable characters too. It's a wonderful and painful film to watch, that's well worth seeing in my opinion.

It's a quiet flick. Very unhollywood and I did like how the story was fairly interesting without resulting in the usually Hollywood tricks like slap stick or melodrama At the same time the movie feels like a baseball game with a team trying to get on base and score versus going for the home run. I felt that the acting talent was not fully used to their full capability because I just did not feel the full impact of the story. It just falls short. Did hold the same quality as say Slow West, which I felt was a quiet movie that does hit you hard. Very bland.