User reviews

Michelle Pfeiffer and Kiefer Sutherland are superb here, but this film is definitely not for everyone. The filmmakers make it a most difficult watch with many darkened scenes often shot from afar, very slow pacing, extremely irritating music at times, and a constant depressive tone.

However, if one can stay with this haunting drama the performances by the two leads are worth the price of admission, as I see it. At least it had an appropriate ending and not a totally convoluted one that are so in vogue these days.

Some forced artism, bad musical escapades, but ultimately the message is powerfully delivered. This society destroys good people.

Dark, muted colors. I can sympathize with her plight of the situation.

Where is Kyra? the title asks. Ostensibly she lives in Brooklyn, but her real location, for the purposes of this low-lit, depressing mise en scene, is the interior darkness of a middle-aged, jobless, depressed woman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Aided by Oscar-nominated Bradford Young's shadowy cinematography, director Andrew Dosunmu crafts a near perfect outward evocation of the spiritual loneliness of a woman who has recently lost her mother.

As her life spirals downward spiritually and financially, Kyra finds some solace in the arms of neighbor Doug (Kiefer Sutherland), a part-time job slacker, who tries as much as he can to comfort her even though he is marginalized by the film's lighting and proxemics. Kyra is desperately alone in a city that forgets about the aging, like the recurring motif of the elderly lady with the cane.

A light larceny is forcing itself on Kyra, and who can blame her? Her credit cards have maxed out, and the job interviews have led nowhere. Although this is not a real thriller, enough of the noirish urban danger bleeds through to confirm the despair so many down and outers must feel in that unforgiving world on NYC and its burbs.

Pfeiffer should be recognized for her remarkably restrained and deeply-felt role. Unfortunately, writer Darci Picoult has little dialogue for her, and the lighting is the most powerful vehicle for the despair of urban loneliness and poverty, poverty porn if you will.

Where is Kyra? has a European feel in its languor and an American vibe in its class inequality. It's solid fare for cinephiles and those who need an antidote for their optimism.

Deliberately unwatchable. Dark, blurry, pointlessly framed shots. What was the director thinking?

Love Michelle, she is amazing. Was looking forward to watching this. But I couldn't get into it as the setting is just so dark you can hardly see people's faces. Also, the camera angles, people are talking and it seems to be focused on their hair and the back half of their dark head. I felt like I wanted to turn the camera around so I could see. I understand its part of the setting being dark but the camera angles are awful.

Not bad as it is an interesting story and I am surprised nobody came up with it before yet because it is simple and effective. Sure the film had some slow moments and was a bit stretched at times but wonderfully lived from the performance by Michelle Pfeiffer who really turns into one of her best showcases in years. A great gig for her and the prove that this actress deserves way more leading roles than she got in the past years. It is a nuanced performance that works on many different layers and all of them are absolutely believable. Its not an easy character to identify with, in fact you often do not know whether to like her to hate her, whether to feel pity of her or despise her. Pfeiffer perfectly walks on that boarder. Kiefer Sutherland wonderfully supports her. I am surprised he did not get more word or attention for this. Also a really great performance. I was not a big fan of the dark and bleak atmosphere but I guess it fitted the mood. Its a strong character movie that shows how far people would get to escape their misery. Its dark, sad and not always satisfying but it in some ways is honest. I think it did deserve a better screenplay around that story but other than that I appreciate it as a powerful award vehicle for Ms. Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer's lost her mom, and her light in this movie. She's desperate for money and dresses as her mom to get $ and stay afloat. Not sure where the "hard hitting" drama comments come from - it's a flat plot.

The plot is good, the actors are great, but the movie is so dark that you can't see what is happening...What a waste of talents to have a great cast and don't be able to see theirs emotions because the director decided to shoot it without light! The Pfeiffer's role is very interesting and I believe she could have been nominated for the Oscar if there were just more light on scenes. She have done in this movie much more than Glen Close and Olivia Colman this year and would deserve the Oscar.

Having such big actors, I was hoping for a decent film.

Instead, the plot moves at a snail's pace and nothing really happens.

They could quite easily chop off an hour and the film would be at least bearable.

Nor great, not good. Just dull. The only consolation is that the acting is good but this isn't enough to earn great reviews.

"Where is Kyra?" - not just a film featuring one of the best performance from Michelle Pfeiffer, it's also one of the best movies she ever done in her entire career (At least the best since 2002's White Oleander).

Michelle Pfeiffer plays Kyra Johnson, a middle-aged, divorced woman who recently lost her mother and struggling to survive. The movie is stylishly directed by Andrew Dosunmu, It's the type of role we always want Michelle Pfeiffer to play-fragile, vulnerable, heartbreaking, yet also a life fighter, it has been ages since Michelle plays someone so real and solid like Kyra.

Despite the atmosphere of the film is overall depressive and chilling (the director treats it almost like a thriller in the second half of the movie), the love line between Kyra and Doug is extremely romantic.

"Where is Kyra?" is not something fun to watch, but it absolutely worth your time for an 1 hr and 38 mins character study of Kyra Johnson, with top class performance by Michelle Pfeiffer on screen every mins, and every mins of her on screen is a real treasure.

"Where Is Kyra?" Is one film that as you watch you feel like you see the whole picture yet are thrown for a little surprise. Anyway it's a picture of dread and searching for the want and need for hope. And the performance though not typical from Michelle Pfeiffer is dark and different from most of her other pretty and attractive roles. Michelle plays Kyra Johnson a divorced and single now living with her sick mother in a New York apartment who now finds herself struggling to get by. Kyra is having problems finding work at middle age and plus she's cash strapped while trying to get back on her feet. Her only spice and treat in life is the on again and off again casual sex she has with a neighbor(Kiefer Sutherland). Problems abound daily life has fallen apart a path of grim and grave results lie ahead. This picture proves a point with the message that one can sink to new lows and will try anything to survive. It's not typical Michelle still it's worth a watch for it's dark nature.

I had missed this movie with Michelle Pfeifer before and now I have seen it I know that I hadnt really missed much.

Not any good? Yes, the acting performances are good, how couldnt they be? The photography and the direction is interesting and with attention to detail. The story by itself (a con job) sounded promising.

The bad: in the end this movie is definitely suffering from a lack of spark and punch. The story is slow and depressing. Of course the character's life is depressing, but that is no excuse for making a tedious movie.

More bad: the only one really exciting plot turn isnt really exciting either.

Not terrible, simply lackluster and a bit tedious.

The lighting in this movie is so horrible that all you see are basically the character's silhouettes you never get to see much of their faces, which keeps us at arms length from them, missing facial expressions which is half of acting. The most frustrating movie to watch. And painfully slow. What a waste of Pfeiffer's talent. Such a crime, her most powerful scene in the movie, we cannot see anything of her except an outline. There are maybe two scenes in this whole movie where you can actually see their faces. This director should be banned from making movies with major talent, He wastes our time and theirs.

This film certainly wouldn't suit everyone. The settings are dark throughout and it moves very slowly. It is a very predictable film, with a fairly simple plot. Michelle Pfeiffer is very good but personally I don't think her performance or that of Kiefer Sutherland makes up for this rather dull film.

Dark in appearance and soooo sloooooooow. I gave it a 2 only because of the actors and the different technique used to portray the characters.

An interesting follow-up to Ms Pfeiffer's earlier exercise in realism 'Frankie and Johnnie' (1991) depicting a divorcee already traumatised by the death of her elderly mother, coping with bureaucracy, the threat of eviction and beset by constant demands for money forced into a truly extraordinary subterfuge that I won't reveal here.

At first reminiscent of Wim Wenders at his most morose, with a metallic score by Philip Miller and set against a backdrop of New York that makes Edward Hopper look like Norman Rockwell it slides into a stark psychodrama involving the most sinister little old lady since Norman Bates' mother.

The music, if you can call it that, was horrible - like fingernails on a chalkboard. The acting was pretty awful. And there was no story. Just a woman trying to scam her way through in NYC. It's 1 hour and 38 minutes I can never get back. A complete waste of time, talent, and money.

I've watched the trailer, because Michelle Pfeiffer is one of my favorite actresses. And then I heard the voice of Kiefer Sutherland. Why doesn't he use his vocal cords? What he does when he speaks cannot even be called whispering. He does the same terrible thing in Designated Survivor. Is this becoming a trend, because Gillian Anderson also does not use her vocal cords in the 3rd Season of The Fall. After just half of the first episode of The fall Season 3 I stopped watching. The way these actors talk without using their vocal cords is excruciatingly irritating. Isn't there one director who will scream at Sutherland and Anderson: "Why don't you use your vocal cords? People can't hear you!"

Very good to see Mrs. Pfeiffer again, but her options are bad. A divorcee living at the expense of her dead mother in a dark, shallow, predictable film is very little to her talent. Only worth the note for the star and for Kiefer.

EXTREMELY Boring as tripes in oil 😂 2 stars, only becouse of cast. And some kind of idea. Hmmm... what else 🤔 to use this 150 characters needed to review? Honestly? There is nothing on my mind, just BOOOORIIIINGGGGG....