Claire in Motion (2016) User Reviews

Claire Without Emotion

[iieeef · 4/10 · 21 March 2017]

FILM: Claire in Motion DIRECTORS: Annie J. Howell, Lisa Robinson RATING: 3/10

This film follows Claire and her son in the month after Claire's husband goes missing. Judging from the performance by lead actress Betsy Brandt though, you'd believe Claire never actually met the man as she has so little invested in his disappearance. With its deadly pace and quiet landscape, this film never quite picks up enough steam to level a feeling of honesty about the missing, and possibly dead, husband. Instead the co-writing, co-directing team get so distracted with a relatively uninteresting wife/mistress rivalry between Claire and her husband's colleague, that this turns into another story of an emotionally unavailable wife pitted against a younger woman who feels herself a bit too much. The husband's disappearance, it ultimately seems, is an absurd catalyst for a cliché set of circumstances. Deemed so unimportant by the writers in fact (SPOILER ALERT), the husband's disappearance is never even solved. With an underwhelming emotional landscape and a maddeningly unsatisfying ending, this film manages to bring very little to the table.

One of the worst films I've ever seen

[george-napper · 1/10 · 8 February 2017]

First off, the reason so many people hate this movie isn't because it doesn't end with a neat little bow, whatever that means.

It's because nobody in this movie acts like a real person.

Claire, the main character leaves her middle school or late-elementary school aged son by himself 80% of the time after her husband, his father has disappeared. Did she ever once think that he might just run away? I mean, that'd be pretty emotionally distressing, right? But thank God the script dictates that he doesn't run away, so it's fine.

The girl who can laughingly be called the antagonist is a complete cliché. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the young mistress type in a movie or television show. They always have one distinguishing characteristic, but she's got two - and both are stupid. One is that she's an art student. Her "art" is literally light fixtures that look like they were bought at Pottery Barn, and piles of sticks. Her other distinguishing characteristic is that she thinks she knows what's best for Claire and her husband - yet another motivational cliché typical of awful writing.

I saw "Rings" the other day, and I have to say, the only thing "Claire in Motion" has over "Rings" is that its lead actress gives a slightly better performance. Slightly.

When you're worse than "Rings," you're one of the worst films ever made. I think that's my new bar. There's "Rings," and then there's "Claire in Motion," and then... I'm not sure how you can get worse than that. Maybe "After Last Season" is technically worse, but not by much.

the people that made this owe me 1.5 hours off life

[grino7 · 1/10 · 14 January 2017]

do not watch this film. I wish there was a way of given it no stars because if there ever was a zero star film this is it. It starts off slow and keeps going until the end when nothing happens. Got to be the worst film ever made, and I have watched some poor films in my time but this stands head and shoulders above them all. Just think of the worst film you have ever watched that is like a mole hill this is mount Everest that will be the gap between them. This the first time I have reviewed a film. But I feel I had to write something so if only one person reads this and does not watch it I have done my good deed for the year. The plot was so poor and the directing that it was so hard to write 10 lines about this film.

Dont waste your time reading my immediate reaction to the ending

[cmmichaelscm · 15 September 2018]

My ONLY question is, who got to throw his masterpiece off of the deck? I have no other questions. I'm so thankful for closure.

No closure no like

[tiffyjo-13953 · 1/10 · 22 January 2017]

This movie made me angry!! I seriously am so mad I just spent 8 dollars on this. If you want closure( like the main actress) your not gonna get it. It's 11pm and I feel like I have to watch another movie to make up for this. I should have just watched YouTube videos with my 4 year old. Apparently you have to have ten lines to leave a review. Lets recap here. This movie wasn't what I expected and there was no closure. Do not watch it. It started off super slow and your just waiting for it to pick up. It NEVER picks up. The people in the movie are so odd. There is a scene where one woman is licking her hand like a cat while they are out to eat. It was extremely weird. The hippie chick in the movie is extremely weird too. Everyone is just super weird. I figured the dad was trying some weird hippie experiment out in the woods and trying not to be found or something. Everyone else in the movie was a nut job, so I assumed that's how it was going to end. Then it just ended with nothing.

If you think it didn't have an ending, you're watching the wrong story

[kay_rock · 7/10 · 9 May 2018]

If you are watching this movie hoping it is a mystery about what happened to the missing husband, you will be disappointed.

But you must shift your perspective. The missing husband is merely a catalyst. The movie is, in fact, about a mathematician who is forced to confront the inexplicable. She is forced to operate within a life equation for which there is no solution. She is also forced to confront emotions which she struggles to keep in careful control. What happens to her when she can't fit everything into a careful box? What happens when she realizes she was missing a lot of information about her carefully constructed world? How does she respond?

If you watch THAT story, there is a very complete arc with a very satisfying ending.

absolutely awful

[doctersmooth · 1/10 · 15 January 2017]

ignore the good reviews there obviously by the producer or someone involved in the film. An what a bunch of pretentious bull they are.

the story line sounds good but is not executed at all. its like a child's story where they have an idea but no clue how to action it especially the ending were a child would end it with it was all a dream! honestly ignore that voice in your head saying it sounds good an worth a try and save yourself.

the end

Apparently I have too have ten lines of text to submit a review? why? am not re writing the script just giving a quick review!

honestly first the film annoys me and now you I m d b. well now I review you.

the rule of ten lines minimum means most wont bother giving a review as they don't have that much to say about it. if that's the reason you do it then what's the point of the site? 7/10 for you, you was 9.

A sensitive view of neglected relationships

[joeldodd · 7/10 · 22 January 2017]

This is a very thoughtful story that some people may have difficulty coping with, as it has no special effects, no major reveal or build to a climax that answers all questions. No, this is not like that. It is a study of human experience, a section of the lives of a wife and son left behind by the disappearance of the husband/father. As she encounters strangers who knew her missing husband, she comes to realise how much she did not know about the one man whom she was supposedly closest to. People have their secrets, sometimes purposefully hidden, sometimes open to those who can see them but unknown to those who have lost their focus. On the whole the characters were believable, although a couple were clearly under- developed devices to help the story along. The photography was well executed, despite the frequent lens flare, and the use of lighting and variable exposure levels were a subtle enhancement of the woman waking slowly to the harsh reality of abandonment. Yes, the execution is flawed in places, but the movie flowed along well enough. There are a few levels that can be unpacked in the story and how the characters interact, but if you prefer facile, strictly linear formulaic movies with action, body counts, CGI etc, then this is not for you. If you appreciate a "slice of life" approach with sensitivity to shifting emotions and neglected relationships, then this is worth a watch.

The worst movie I've ever seen.

[dcotts · 1/10 · 26 September 2017]

This movie starts slow, ends slow and never picks up in between. The story is shallow and there is not one question answered. I would have turned it off but I had to see what happened. I still don't know what happened. What a waste of my time. I can't believe anyone wasted money on this.

Beguilingly good movie

[sonztwin · 8/10 · 22 January 2018]

Do not ignore the hyperbolic "If you can think of THE worst movie imaginable as a mole hill, this is Mt. Everest" - cuz, you know what, for some folks this really isn't "a good movie". But with all due respect, I think those looking for resolution are really missing the point. No, this is not so much a 'mystery' as it is a study of human nature and, well, life itself. Sometimes we ARE left without answers (although, in this case, it's pretty clear to me that Paul likely disappeared to start a new life, leaving a LOT of loose ends behind). What I find really astonishing is that this was written and directed by two WOMEN! Reason? The sentiment of I don't feel like I'm appreciated, let alone loved, was what Paul felt, and he's a guy! Now, of course, they could just be flipping the husband/wife thing around, and perhaps a WOMAN disappearing would be perhaps less believable unless her safety or that of her children are at stake. I can honestly say that there have been times when I feel like pulling a stunt like that. We know that he didn't cheat on his wife - that'd be too cliched. But if I have to find fault with the plot, it is the failure to fully establish Paul's desire to disappear like that - that little video clip where he says she's not looking at him doesn't carry with it that broad a shoulder. Still, I enjoyed this as a thought-provoking movie, and I'd watch a thousand of these, flaws and all, over watching some mindless special-effect, 'clever dialogue' crap that Hollywood is habitually churning out of its butt hole on a regular basis - those and the 'sequels' and remakes. GAG!

searching for answers

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 12 January 2017]

Greetings again from the darkness. A math professor and an art professor are apt to view the world discordantly, but it doesn't mean they aren't capable of a strong personal relationship together. After planting a morning kiss on the cheek of his wife, Paul sets off on a one-man survival hike through the hills and forest. When he doesn't return, the mystery begins. Only it's not really a mystery, and it's certainly not the thriller it seems to be disguised as. Rather, it's a character study of how a rational mind works to make sense of a world that can't always be explained logically.

Lisa Robinson and Annie J Howell have co-written and co-directed this story that gives Betsy Brandt a chance to really spread her dramatic acting wings after her time on "Breaking Bad". Here she plays Claire, a math professor, wife, and mother to Connor (Zev Haworth). Being of sound mind and structured thought, Claire immediately starts trying to find the logical reason for the disappearance of her husband. What she discovers is her husband often secretly veered from the structured life she so valued. This leads Claire to an awkward meeting with Allison (Anna Margaret Hollyman), one of his grad students. It turns out Allison and Paul had a pretty close connection over an upcoming art project.

By now, you are probably sure you have this movie figured out. Fortunately, the filmmakers ensure it's not as predictable as you might think. It's not a thriller like Gone Girl or Deceived. We watch Claire re-trace Paul's steps on a path unfamiliar to her, and this evolves into a self-realization that she had been sleep-walking through life: doing her job, raising her kid, going home each day. There's a key moment when she's watching an old video of herself and Paul, and he says "look at me". It's at this point she begins to understand – and it's enhanced by a chance meeting in a bar with a former student. Maybe Paul isn't the only missing person.

Son Connor probably doesn't get the screen time his character deserves. Like his father, Connor has some secrets of his own. His friends don't know he enjoys knitting, and he intends to keep it that way. It's one more indicator that no matter how close we are to someone, we don't know or share all. Finding and discovering one's self can be a torturous process before it ever reaches enlightenment, and though the story short-changes the process of grief, we do understand not to mindlessly nod when someone says "you know me".

It's like an audition movie from Betsy Brandt to get noticed - but a bad one

[Voyage_Out · 2/10 · 18 January 2017]

(SPOILER) If you want the full story: Go watch the trailer - there is nothing else happening in the movie. Seriously! (endofSPOILER)

There are some good cinematographic moments in which the helpless and deserted feelings of the small family left behind are starting to grasp. But they shortly turn just plain boring and come across as space- filler for bad and uninspired writing.

The dialogues are poorly written and not good constructed as the actors fall apart during them. You can actually see the incomprehension in their eyes towards the "climax" (there isn't really one, but I will call it so).

The color grading is awfully green and bleach without context and the overused lens flare effects don't even make sense most of the time, especially in the "end" scene.

The worst part: The acting. It's not good acting if you have only three different face expressions throughout the entire movie, that goes for the lead role as well for every other character in the entire movie.

Betsy Brandt either tried very little, or is just not ready for big- screen stuff. She fails to convince me in either of her roles: Neither the distant math-prof, nor the newly-awoken person she is supposed to be at the end. I'm sorry, but a lead role isn't for her. At least not this one.

Her counterpart Anna Margaret Hollyman is your every-day-hippie-art- community-student you can't stand because she wants to be open and honest but withholds information and her intentions and is nothing else but selfish and annoying. With a total of two different face- expressions and body reactions the takes the cake of bad acting.

I won't talk about cat-lady here, because it would be even more waste of time, than watching this movie is.

Well, at least the kid was not annoying and does a pretty decent job, apart from the zero-emotion-policy this film apparently has.

All in all: Don't watch this one.

Snoozer

[wccoffee1 · 1/10 · 24 February 2019]

Don't waste your time. Better off watching news. From 10 years ago.

Waste of time.

[leland52 · 1/10 · 15 January 2019]

The premise of the film was viable. The filming, directing, and the acting were well below average. Yet another production, touted as a mystery, with no resolution. Apparently, for many people, this passes for art.

Not confusing, just a lot of NOTHING.

[user261483-194-518960 · 1/10 · 24 March 2018]

This movie didn't make sense at all. Maybe that is why the husband left....he went to the picture show in the next town over because he was BORED.

Different and Subtle

[Moviegoer19 · 7/10 · 28 October 2017]

I've just watched this for the second time, not remembering if I had seen it before. It's not the kind of movie that hits you over the head or leaves you gasping. But I believe it's a lot better than many of the reviews here say. First off, I believe Betsy Brandt did a fine acting job. She seemed perfect for the part: controlled and contained while giving small signs that she's full of emotion underneath her calm exterior.

One of the reviews here questioned how she leaves her son alone... in my opinion she played a mother who was trusting and almost all the time her son listened to what she told him or asked of him. She is also a math professor so that tells you something. Math/Art - Opposites?

I admit there were a couple of times in the film when I thought, if it were me I'd be shouting and carrying on, but that's not her personality. Ultimately that's what she winds up questioning because her husband accuses her, before he's disappeared, of not really looking at him. I think this is the essence of the film: a woman is forced by people and events to confront herself and who she is.

I have to agree that the ending was a surprise. I also agree I would have preferred a more specific ending, but this one was part of the writer's and director's vision. Maybe they'll do something similar in which the ending is more satisfying.

No.

[mscheeqs22 · 2/10 · 3 October 2017]

This movie sucked! Don't waste your time. If you are one of those types of people who need a full story line and like for movies to be interesting and have a point, this movie is not for you. I'm not even sure if it ended or if my TV just cut off on its own. I was intrigued at first, but after I realized that it wasn't going anywhere, I couldn't stop watching because I thought I was wrong. Well, I wasn't. It went nowhere. And slowly.

Sad and infuriating

[madworld-63503 · 7/10 · 7 February 2022]

Infuriating that anybody would do this to their life partner, but it happens all the time, and usually by men. The fallout is very sad, and the left behind partner is left trying to pick up the pieces. In my opinion (based on the dizzy spells, skydiving, and other weird behavior), the guy was dying, and went off somewhere to end his life alone. Still completely inexcusable to disappear like that. An added complication here is the student artsy ditz who he was at the very least having an intense emotional affair with. If I were Claire, I would have handed this homewrecker her behind on a plate several times over, but that's me. In any event, sad that people do this to their partners, it's unfashionable in my mind actually, but it happens every day (and read the book titled 'happens every day' for a disturbing similarly-themed memoir).

Do NOT waste your time watching this!

[xena-45579 · 2/10 · 30 July 2023]

I thought maybe it was going to be a thriller. WRONG. Then I thought it was going to be a case of student-crush-obsession murder. WRONG. Then,, thought it was going to be a case of a medical trauma while camping. WRONG! This movie gives you all the highs of different could-be's, but, then leaves you wanting to club yourself in the head, especially the empty ending. I was like "Wth was THAT?!" Stole an hour & a half from me, and made me so mad. I was looking for that club... So much effort to make a film ending up EFFORTLESS. I hate movies like that,& I hope I never come across another of this director!

Despite the many bad reviews, I really enjoyed it

[Oakridger · 8/10 · 18 October 2023]

It reminds me of independent films from the 80s that you don't really see much of anymore. Beautiful scenes of nature and place in the filming, and the main character is very interesting, complex and not predictable.

Thanks to these reviews I was sort of prepared for the ending. If you haven't watched many art films you could feel enraged at it, but I really think there were enough hints in the film to make it something to think about. The scene of the video she sees was haunting. In any case, the choice of the ending brings you closer to her reality, in the long run. But I really enjoyed watching it, even as, yes, I did scroll a bit ahead when I felt I knew what was going to happen in certain scenes.

Also interesting was how detached she was, the academic, and yet she would suddenly clutch his shirt and smell it, etc. It was very sad, too, the way she and her son were so alone, in a way, and I felt like that reflects what a lot of people's lives have become. We never saw "family", and that's the problem with the academic East Coast or Ivy League or just small town college mindset - aloof and needing to pose as someone. No wonder they hate the Rightwing, all about family and god, expressing love for country, etc.

Don't waste your time.

[speterson-44529 · 1/10 · 5 November 2017]

Very disappointing. Only ever saw one worse movie: Called "Baby the Rain Must Fall". Should have checked IMDb before investing my time. Could have saved some cred. if they'd found husband's remains off the cliff. Had hope when she found rock pile and after police chief shared security video with her. Those were just teases.

Wait, what happened?

[bonniehoy-56082 · 1/10 · 25 August 2018]

I wish I'd read these reviews before I ordered this lame movie on Netflix. As another reviewer said, there's an hour and a half out of my life I'll never get back. Absolutely pointless. I thought the DVD had skipped and I missed the ending, but there was no ending.

Confusing film

[carlaabra · 1/10 · 5 January 2018]

This movie reminds me of one of the abstract, trying-too-hard English essays we used to have to read in college. It requires the viewer to make most of the connections on your own. The plot is dull and slow, and I didn't recognize the climax when I watched it, nor can I find it looking back- the movie was one long trudge of boredom. The characters (especially the woman who licks her hand like a cat, and the man with a clown car) seem like accidental inclusions, and are never fully developed.

However, I admit that the movie has the pretentious, "deep" ambience of a film that's meant to be full of meaning, if only you look hard enough. Unfortunately, unlike how I feel about great English classics, I found myself never wanting to think about the movie hard enough to connect the dots. The characters and the plot were too flat for me to care.

If you're someone who likes slow movies that you have to think a lot about, you might like this one.

"Claire in Motion": Betsy Brandt astonishes in an emotionally demolishing turn.

[jtncsmistad · 8/10 · 6 January 2017]

If you're one of those who need your movie's to be wrapped up nice and neat and complete with a little bow at their conclusion, with all the loose ends securely tied tight, and each and every question fully answered, then "Claire in Motion" is definitely not the flick for you, my friend.

However, if you appreciate a provocative story unfolding layer upon layer, allowing the viewer to absorb and assess what they believe may be happening as the chronicle progresses, and then to subjectively determine on their own what may or may not have happened in the end, then I can not recommend "Claire in Motion" more highly to you.

Co-Writers and Directors Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson have fashioned an impressively unconventional and beguiling mystery. Their narrative reaches that uncommon emotional place of being both fascinating and unnerving, often times even outright uncomfortable, in terms of how we are moved to feel in our experience as an audience.

Betsy Brandt, so extraordinary as Marie Schrader in the eternally iconic "Breaking Bad", is once again superb here as Claire. Brandt gives us a multifarious character whose faith in practically everything in her seemingly idyllic life is joltingly shattered when she comes to learn how she had completely failed to recognize she was systematically losing that which she holds most dear. Claire struggles to remain strong and hold out hope in the face of an increasingly devastating reality which threatens to crush her very soul into shards of regret. Brandt's embodiment of a woman living an endless nightmare day after day after wrenchingly draining day is a powerfully genuine portrayal. It is a mesmeric and stirring personification which, left to a lesser actress, would have almost assuredly registered as merely moribund and morose. Brandt imbues Claire with a far more fully-dimensional sensibility than that which we may typically expect as she creates an unusually complex rendering. Her performance borders on, if it doesn't launch fully into, brilliance.

Zev Haworth, appearing in his first feature film, is Claire's adolescent son, Connor. He is a quiet boy, but we sense early on that there is a lot going on inside this young man which he refuses to release, even to his mother. Connor's counselor-recommended letter to his dad near the end of "Claire in Motion" is at once heartfelt and heart destroying. Haworth is a natural wonder. Watch for him in the years to come.

And can we get some love for veteran supporting player Anna Margaret Hollyman ("White Reindeer") already? Can we manage to do this, all you Hollywood string-pullers out there? Hollyman's strange yet stunning depiction of the other woman Allison is not only an important role in "Claire", it is a critical component. For it is Allison who provides the voice, as well as the conscience, for the missing husband Paul. We would have never come to at least in part understand Paul if not for this curiously enigmatic art school grad student revealing to us some manner of the "why for" behind a man's bafflingly bizarre behavior. Hollyman's Allison changes as the situation dictates, and her versatility and poignance is as striking as it is searing.

Howell and Robinson team in tantalizing tandem with Cinematographer Andreas Burgess's irregular scene framing and unorthodox camera angles and Xander Duell's cosmically disquieting musical score. Their inspired work comes together seamlessly to craft a consistent and entirely appropriate vibe of disorienting otherworldliness which mimics the near-hallucinatory state of being we watch Claire slowly descend into.

Ultimately, and in keeping with the dynamic implicit in it's title, "Claire in Motion" is an unflinching examination of the excruciatingly painful process of "moving on" in the wake of unbearable loss, cruelly compounded in this case by the not conclusively knowing if your loved one is truly lost at all.

At least in the physical interpretation of the word.

******Incidentally, I do not work for a Motion Picture Studio, nor have I ever. I genuinely like the movie. To each his own...kinna makes this ol' world go 'round, don't it? ;]

Wonderful mystery - great directing & performances

[landrypaula-07083 · 10/10 · 31 July 2020]

I so enjoyed the shades of light and dark in the visuals, the writing of the characters and performances. So much nuance - the writing/directing is so strong and the performances are tremendous! The characters are written like real people - with depth and contradiction. The way the story unfolds makes you question your own relationships - how well do we really know the people we love?