MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

lastliberal This film was an audience favorite at Sundance, and it is easy to see why. I was captivated from the beginning and just could not turn away.The Taylors were 65 years old when they decided they wanted to hear for the first time. They managed to live their lives successfully (he is responsible for TTY) and raise three children, but they wanted to do more.They decided to get cochlear implants, and this film is the road to that operation, and how they adjusted to hearing. It is a feel-good film, not for any magical ending, but for our sharing in the lives of these two people and the love they had for each other.If you need some inspiration in your life, then this is the film to see.

Ruby Pedde This movie documents the writers journey with her parents so honestly that you really feel their emotions while watching this movie. I work with the deaf and found this to be very indicative as to what the deaf community faces when the decide whether or not to have this surgery done. The raw emotion of the writers parents will make you laugh when they laugh and cry when they cry. This is definitely a must see documentary. This documentary will also show the negatives towards getting a cochlear implant as well as the positives. I think that the daughter making this film is a wonderful tribute to her parents struggles and accomplishments. It also gives you an insight into hearing children being raised by deaf parents and how they adapted to it during their childhoods. Very good movie.

Sonetto I have just seen "Hear and Now" on HBO. I regret to say that my comments cannot be positive because anyone seeing this documentary would be profoundly discouraged about the possibility of a successful cochlear implant. It did not work for the couple in the film for a variety of reasons, none of which is discussed. It is much too easy for people to become discouraged because of this kind of movie. Here are a couple of experiences that have occurred that do not project the discouraging outlook of the people in the film.(1) One and one-half years (2006) ago one of my first cousins who had been profoundly deaf for at least 25 years had a cochlear implant. Her four sons tell me they are overjoyed that they can now carry on a conversation with their mother.(2) After my cousin's successful implant, I then told one of my best friends about the implant surgery. This friend had been unable to converse with others even with the most powerful hearing aids available. She and her husband had been misinformed by an audiologist about her eligibility for surgery. When she went to the hearing institute in the city we live in, physicians not only said she was eligible, but performed the procedure September 2007. This week-end my friend was at two parties given for one of my sons and she was able to engage in give and take conversation with all of the guests. She is now going to have an implant in the other ear.If I had seen this film and was eligible for an implant, I would have been terribly discouraged.The film did not present a balanced view.

metrojane500 The very first thing that turns me off from documentaries are biased perspectives. The second turn-off is overly emotional displays meant to endear the viewer to the character. Unfortunately, this documentary uses generous amounts of both.The fact the director is the daughter of couple probably wasn't a good idea to begin with. I felt that she was enthralled with her mother's sensitivity and she was fixated on filming her tantrums and tears. I personally found all the moodiness repugnant and hated her by the end. I was more interested in the father and his scientific accomplishments, but was disappointed by the director's passing reference to him. Instead I was fed more mommy tears and wailing.The was the Sundance audience award winner for documentary, and I thought it wasn't a good reflection on their taste. Awful, awful, awful!!!