I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?

Silence (2016)

7.5/10 on IMDb
84% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Please, for the love of all things good and true, do not watch this;
Proceed at your own risk
Watch it if you: Want to see a really deep film about religion and spirituality;
Want to be bored halfway into the movie
The environment of 17th century Japan is one of hostility, as Christianity has been outlawed and Japanese officials terrorise small villages as they attempt to torture and execute the Christians out of them. Due to this, two Jesuit missionaries hear word that their mentor has renounced his faith after being tortured, and they decide to travel to Nagasaki in the hopes of finding out the truth about him.

I chose to watch this over Fences because the trailer looked fantastic in terms of cinematography, score, and storyline. It has also been getting some solid reviews from critics, so I thought it would be great.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise how long the movie was until I bought a ticket for it. 2 hours and 41 minutes! Nevermind, I thought. I've seen longer.

Turns out, I have also seen much, much, better.

The premise itself is pretty interesting. The film is a complex philosophical discussion about spirituality, faith, and human nature. Some of the themes that the film looks at are really interesting to delve into, such as "How far would you be tortured for your what you believe in?", "Are all religions the same?", "Can you keep your faith even if you publicly renounce it?"

But, as I said, the major downside of this film is the terribly long runtime.

I really liked the first half of the film, because of the fantastic cinematography, the opening and introduction into this anti-Christian Japan, and the solid acting by Andrew Garfield.

Then, I checked my watch.

And from then on I kept checking my watch every 15 minutes and internally sighing.

"Hang in there, just another 1 hour and 40 minutes to go."
So yeah, this is a short review, but basically, I wouldn't recommend this film. It is a pretty boring film, and the interesting premise does not make up for it. The cinematography and score are great, and Andrew Garfield does a great job here, but the film has too long of a run time for me to recommend it to anyone. All the interesting parts of the trailer are mainly from the first half of the film, and if you manage to bear through it all, it does become a nice philosophical discussion and religion and faith.

Also, Adam Driver's face is just so weird to look at on the big screen.