StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Patience Watson
One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.
Sanjeev Waters
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Kamila Bell
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Jade Noir
This movie is scary, sexy, and sorrowful. Just lovely. I was SO sad to find that this was a novel and I hadn't read it first. I will say that this movie is not for everyone. I will also say that it is a work of art. It portrays perfectly that passion, love, and obsession one may feel for someone special literally teeters on the line of insanity. Richardson was classy, closed, and one could feel her entrapment and desire to burst free. Csokas is brooding, feral, and one can tell that despite his unpredictable, dangerous nature, he is capable of -if not, requiring- love and tenderness. While entranced by him, the audience just barely takes register of the brilliantly cunning and manipulative McKellen. He was the true master puppeteer of the story, and all amongst him were tiny marionette dolls to view for entertainment, study psychologically, and eventually destroy what was, sadly, doomed to begin with. Lust is a driving theme in the movie, and that may be off-putting for some, but that is only part of the ride, and I feel that the plot is also very much about the lengths people will go to for love, or at the very least, ridding themselves of loneliness. This may well be one of my new favorites.
love_ngyung
It would be unfair to say that this movie is merely mediocre, but there is nothing engrossing in "Asylum" whatsoever. The movie is about the wife of a psychologist who has a sexual relationship with a lunatic inmate in a psychiatric hospital.Stella, the wife of the psychologist, for some strange reason, began having a passionate affair with Edgar, the insane inmate who decapitated his own wife. Both of them kept having a so-called lascivious affair during his working outside her house. As well as telling the story about Stella's unfaithfulness, the movie portrays the same, old cliché of an unhappy married couple, which I found a tad arid and unimaginative. Despite attempting a bit of a twist near the end, the movie gives the impression that the story only was included so as to extend the duration of the film.This movie should have ended after an hour. The director or screenwriter, however, seemed to want to make sure that the viewers grasp the actual main point of the two lovers' situation: why were they easily allowed to engage in mischievous frolics and who was the person who pulled the strings behind the whole story?The protagonists and supporting roles give a real good performance. Ian McKellen, who played Dr. Peter Cleave, performed to his usual standard. The lead characters, played by Natasha Richardson and Marton Csokas were well suited in their roles and Hugh Bonneville, unsurprisingly, depicted a stuffy, loveless psychologist husband in a good way. The cast of this movie, as a whole, is a good cast.As mentioned, the movie, itself, had a sterile plot. There was nothing new in this liaison; this unfaithful tale has been told before, and several times. The movie, ipso facto, failed to impress me. Thanks to all the stars who excellently managed to keep this movie a bit interesting. Without them, I could easily have nodded off. Altogether, they ought to do it again in another movie, with a more riveting story to tell.
Gordon-11
This film is about the wife of a psychiatrist who falls in love with one of the patients in the psychiatric institution.At the start, I thought that the scenes seem disjointed. The scenes were so short that it seems truncated and underdeveloped. However, as the film develops, the film no longer feels this way. Instead, this turns into an advantage because the scenes are only as long as they need to be, and hence the film is tight and intense, and things happen all the time. There is hardly room for the viewers to breathe!This is an intense film with a lot of emotions. We get to see love, hate, jealousy and regret. Both the director and the actors capture the emotions in the most vivid manner that makes me feel for the characters.The ending is rather unexpected, and the reaction of all the parties concerned in the film are also portrayed.
spooly_montana
The romantic thriller ASYLUM stars Ian McKellen, Natasha Richardson, and Marton Csokas. McKellen, of course, played Gandalf in all three Lord of the Rings films, but also was a scene-stealer in the Da Vinci Code alongside Tom Hanks. Csokas played in this year's film version of MTV's Aeon Flux and also was seen in last year's medieval epic Kingdom of Heaven. Our story begins when Max Raphael takes a position at a mental hospital and his wife Stella (Richardson) and son Charlie have to get accustomed to life in this asylum. Max competes with another psychiatrist, Peter Cleave (McKellen), in trying to get the director spot at the hospital, while Charlie befriends an inmate, Edgar Stark (Csokas), a former sculptor who killed his wife years before. Max and Stella's marriage is stale, and Stella sees in Edgar's eyes something she desperately needs. So as she begins to meet with Edgar Stark secretly, a dangerous obsession is ignited. Ian McKellen is an outstanding actor, and again does a superb job in the role of Dr. Peter Cleaves. Cleaves senses that something is developing between his patient, Edgar Starks and Max's wife Stella, and is morbidly fascinated by the turn of events. Edgar's passion and Stella's obsession are the catalyst of this story, about a complex and tragic love affair, in which everyone involved, must lose. I found this psychological film intriguing and dark, definitely worth watching.