I liked this immensely--for its originality, its creative style, its literary and visual inventiveness, and, finally, its sophistication. It was not only the best film I saw (out of 60 films) at Sundance 2004, but it also ranked in my top 5 (among some 800 films) for the entire year. According to the director, who attended the Sundance Festival screening, pre-production had gone on for a total of 7 years, finding the proper cast, locations, and so on. Finally, after trying such locations as Puerto Rico, etc., they finally ended up on a studio stage in Colorado. In addition, coming up with actors that simply could not be better in these roles, then bringing in computer- graphics specialists (mainly an extremely talented 23-year-old newcomer named Chris, and experimenting not only with the special "look" of the film but also with different kinds of music, the director and his crew have produced a remarkable and memorable tour de force--really one of a kind--yet delightfully reminiscent of Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and Samuel Beckett all put together! Bravo for near-octogenarian Robert M. Young. He's made a brilliant contemporary classic!
