If the whole movie was like the first half then I wouldn't hesitate in giving it a 5/5 but the second half loses that cutting maximalist tone. However, I didn't hate it and it was beautiful to see Veronika learning how to live life again. Personally, I have had a lot of thoughts like Veronika from time to time and seeing her gain confidence through her own piano playing is something I can heavily relate to. I wish more films touched on how music can affect you emotionally and get you through turmoil. I would've preferred if the second half wasn't centred around a romance but the film has such a genuine emotional core that I can't get mad at…

It may seem that, with the track record she has had during the aughts, Sarah Michelle Gellar really couldn’t find her foot in a great role after Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off-air. What did she really have to flex her thespian muscle? The Grudge movies? One thing that I feel many shouldn’t really jump to is hating on the actress because, outside of the mainstream films she’s done, Gellar has proven that she has what it takes to deliver, if only she has the right material to work with. Fortunately, she has found that type of role. Sadly, her film was stuck in distribution limbo.

If I mentioned the film’s title, Veronika Decides to Die, you’ll probably just shrug…

I don't know whether it's the director, the writers behind the adaptation, or Paulo Coelho's source material that is to blame most for the letdowns I felt throughout most of this movie. I haven't read Coelho's novel, and I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to do so after this experience. I do however think there is a good story hiding within, but it's just not released.

It's a shame, for acting performances from the likes of David Thewlis, Melissa Leo, Sarah Michelle Gellar and--even--Erika Christensen are well above what this level of storytelling deserved.

It's like it misses all the beats. We know the next steps at least two or three minutes before they happen, and it's really…

The best intentions...

The concept of the film is definitely of interest. The film purports to take a look into the life of a woman living with depression who attempts to commit suicide. All the pieces are seemingly in place: a capable cast, a powerful subject, interesting commentary, and some twists that are effective. The execution completely kills it though.

The film is almost two hours long but it feels like seventy minutes. This is usually viewed as a good thing but it's quite the opposite here. The reason the film feels so brisk is that the unfolding of the plot is completely haphazard. It seldom makes sense from scene to scene as it is just skipping around all over…

Poetry on film.

Emily Young’s adaptation of my favorite book is really a beautiful thing in the universe.  She absorbs every nuance Paulo Coelho exercised in his book about life - dissatisfaction, anger, entitlement, curiosity, pushing boundaries, and of course, love, happiness, and appreciation. Veronika Decides to Die also understands the philosophy of society, madness, and emotion in the novel. Many of the big moments for Veronika in the first half of the film are operating on such a high intellectual level about life and choice, some viewers may find it bizarre. But that’s exactly Coehlo’s point of Veronika’s journey and the discussion of insanity/the majority.

Putting all of the narrative aside and the successful transition from Slovenia to New…