Alexandra Colacito

Nice change of pace. I like learning things when I see movies and I learned about Paterson, NJ. I just enjoy that this movie was different from anything I’ve ever seen before.

Surprising and incredibly moving. I scrolled past this movie for months assuming I knew what is was about. Never let the one sentence Netflix summary be your guide. So much more than a rape investigation tale. What makes films good is never the plot, it’s always the complexity of the characters and learning about facets of society or situations you never before contemplated. This is not the story you think it’s going to be. I fell in love with more than one character and when that happens it’s almost like making new friends, your life becomes richer for knowing them.

One of those movies I’ll be thinking about the rest of my life, because it is a true part of history, and something I cannot imagine enduring myself. The cruelty and injustice that some humans will engage in for the sake of power, or due to brainwashing, is a story that repeats itself over and over, in country after country, most recently even here in the US. After watching this film I went on to read about other “moles,” and was shocked to learn what they did to stay alive, even if those lives were hell. Curious why their families couldn’t arrange for escape to other countries or towns or why they couldn’t construct new identities for them. Probably because those kinds of efforts require money and these people were all incredibly poor.

As someone else wrote, I was sickened by how well Chris was treated the whole time, even by Shannan’s mother (complimented him at the sentencing), his own mother (forgave him at the sentencing), his father (held his hands during the confession), and the police officers who patted his back and rubbed his shoulders during the interrogation. This case REEKS of white privilege.

If it makes me cry and want to read reviews so that it doesn’t end, it must be good. What great actors. Hard to believe they were reciting lines and not being their own complex emotional ambiguous selves. It’s just so sad. You want them to get back together so badly! Kudos to Laura Dern for somehow getting even more sexy as she ages! I didn’t realize this was semi-autobiographical. Makes it even more interesting. You definitely feel like the husband is the one getting screwed, and that the whole situation is unfair to him :-(