Jane Cahane – Google

Brilliant acting from the two leads as well as many supporting actors; the cinematography was also excellent - I particularly liked the choice to film in black and white to start in the 1950s and then move to colour in the 60s. By focusing on the relationship between Bernstein and Montealegre the film delivers some tremendous insights to the challenges of balancing a creative life with 'normal' family. There were some places where perhaps it could have been edited but on the it was a great film, very enjoyable ans enriching.

It's a masterful tale, told compellingly, full of brilliant quirks and rich in literary devices every student of creative writing should study. The prose is at turns wry, amusing and incandescent; I laughed out loud several times while reading it on the train, once I got about halfway through the book and was too gripped to put it down. The narrator's sardonic voice and observations as she meanders towards death linger inside you, almost becoming your own. I am still pondering some of the breadcrumb clues scattered through the story; we live so long with the suspense that the final reveals seem almost anticlimactic, yet are also still mysterious, as if you could go on reading it forever and still not quite unravel them all. Rather like real life - even as exotic yet wholly believable a life as those the three chief protagonists lead. The world-building and historical elements are also powerfully evoked.

Riveting, gripping, thought-provoking, chilling, disconcerting, redemptive, disturbing and achingly profound - this is truly a must-see film. What seems at first like a quiet chamber piece explodes as it confronts some of the bigger existential and ancient philosophical/theological/moral questions such as loss of faith ("the dark night of the soul"), the sanctity of human life and the point / absurdity of existence against a backdrop of contemporary issues such climate change, corporate greed and terrorist acts. Ethan Hawke's central performance as the tormented angst- and cancer-ridden priest grappling with his faith in private while seeking to console others is compellingly on-point.