Film Recommendation of the Week...

Two Lovers
Release date November 19, 2008.
Running Time 1 hour 40 minutes.

This adaptation of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "White Nights" finds the protagonist, an incredibly unhappy young man named Leonard, in the midst of yet another suicide attempt. He has a seemingly understanding and incredibly boring girlfriend and an opportunity to advance in the exciting field of dry cleaning, yet a sort of emotional morass looms over his head like a dark cloud.

In walks in the proverbial blond bombshell, who is clearly on her way to fucking with this poor guy's head. Her clinically undiagnosed dysfunction puts his bullshit life into its' proper perspective, and the ending serves as an abject lesson in humility only a Russian author like Dostoyevsky can appreciate. Great film and excellent acting by both River Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow.

As an aside, the sign of great acting in this day and age of 3D bullshit is when the actors delve into their roles to the point where you actually believe they are normal, everyday people caught up in the same type of loser bullshit everyone else gets into. Phoenix and Paltrow achieve this in spades.