Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

This movie was so intense! From the opening sex scene to the very end, I had an unpleasant knot in my stomach. It was incredibly well done and brilliantly acted but I don't know if I'd recommend it or not because of how upsetting it was and how uncomfortable to watch. There was just this constant level of tension that wouldn't go away.

I don't want to say what it's about because it is one of those movies that unfolds in a choppy, back-and-forth kind of way that makes basic relationships come as a revelation.

I will give one thing away. This came as a big surprise, so don't read on if you care, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character does heroin and those scenes were in some ways the most upsetting. He played a creepy asshole, but he did it so well. Instead of hating him or feeling sorry for him I was just viscerally complicit in his self-hatred. Which is a very weird, and, like I said, unpleasant, feeling...