Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

lasttimeisaw JULIA is a crime drama directed by French writer/director Erick Zonca, his third feature where the story takes place in USA and Mexico, follows the downward spiral of a single middle-aged alcoholic Julia Harris (Swinton), who hatches a plan to double-cross Elena (de Castillo), a young mother whom she encounters in the AA meeting, to kidnap her son Tom (Gould), and blackmail his rich grandfather.Without any accomplices, Julia impetuously implements her criminal activity with the help of a gun and a black mask. Initially, Julia is shown as a complete train wreck, drinking herself into oblivion and sleeping with random guys, utterly self-serving, antipathy is the only thing viewers can project to this character, it reaches the pinnacle when she roughhouses Tom during the kidnap action, as if he is merely a cargo than a human being. Slowly things start to head into the point of no return, the script frustratingly allows the incompetence of police force and a convenient border-crossing plot-device to unconvincingly keep Julia at large, and shifts the locale to Mexico, where the Stockholm syndrome swells up, a mother-son bond becomes apparent, nevertheless, being flirtatious and unsuspecting with a local guy Diego (Bichir), Julia's negligence puts Tom in the possession of a gang of Mexican kidnappers, this karmic double-cross will cost Julia everything she to keep herself and Tom alive.Rambling in almost 2 and a half hours, JULIA is unequivocally too long for its own good, but owing to the fantastic Swinton, who is the error-free backbone of the picture and almost appears in every and each scene, it is gripping enough to keep us hooked to watch her fight her way against all the odds. Ms. Swinton is fearless as ever, creates a magnetic persona out of Julia's own flaws, maternal instinct is a woman's most puissant weapon, even for the childless Julia, she transcendently achieves this enthralling metamorphosis from a disheveled woman has nothing to cling to in life to a fleshed-out protector of an innocent life. Among her eclectic filmography, this is simply a high water mark acting-wise. In the supporting group, Aidan Gould, who is a shameless empathy provoker for being cute and adorable, while Kate de Castillo in her de-glamourized state, embodies excellently as the lunatic mother of Tom, which only makes her sudden disappearance from the movie feel more grating, is she dead or in hiding? A fairly unwise loose end from the screenwriter's slack job. Otherwise, the movie is worth your time.

SnoopyStyle Julia (Tilda Swinton) is a hard partying angry drunk. She loses her real estate job despite the help of sponsor friend Mitch (Saul Rubinek). Mitch forces her to go to her A.A. meetings. Her fidgety neighbor Elena (Kate del Castillo) is also at the meeting. She tells her about a plan to kidnap her own son Tom from his grandfather. She begs Julia for help offering $50k. Julia decides to kidnap the boy on her own for a big payoff.It's the first film I've seen from french writer/director Erick Zonca. He shows a lot of gritty realism. The most compelling aspect of this movie is Tilda Swinton. She's going all out as the half-dressed drunken mess. It starts off more of a character study. The characters are so hopeless that it seems more like keystone cops caper. After the kidnapping, the movie drags a little as clueless Julia tries to make the scheme work. The kid isn't compelling enough. The pace really needs to pick up. It does pick up later on but the 144 minutes running time is too long.

KissEnglishPasto ............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FL JULIA = A living-in-denial, acid-tongued, fortyish and usually sporting that "oh so disheveled buy me a few drinks and I'll go home with you but won't remember or care in the morning, total-lush" look; with serious stability/maturity issues. That, ladies and gentlemen, pretty much sums it up! Swinton carries the movie on her "more often than not slipping out of her dress" shoulders! JULIA will continue to ricochet around your brain, tumultuously, long after viewing. KUDOS to Ms. Swinton! After her Oscar winning role as the anal-retentive executive you love to hate in Michael Clayton, she seemed like a truly excellent actor. With this ground-breaking, Oscar-caliber performance, there can be no doubt her acting skills are nothing short of legendary! The only actor who could hold her own on camera w/Swinton was Kate del Castillo(Under the Same Moon), who turns in a brief, but incredibly intense performance as the disturbed biological mother.Remember how the Supreme Court used to define pornography? "Totally and utterly devoid of any redeeming social value"- What's mystical about Ms. Swinton's performance is that despite portraying a detestable and neurotically unpredictable adult, she manages to plant a seed of expectation/compassion in the viewer's mind. Throughout, there is a flicker of hope that, somehow, someway, things will manage to right themselves.**** Possible Very Minor SPOILER Ahead ****JULIA certainly pulls the proverbial rug out from under your feet on more than one occasion. My hands are tied when it comes to discussing the final minutes of the film. But you absolutely mustn't give up on JULIA beforehand. Please, be patient! Everything hinges on that final scene! Soon afterward, upon reflection, the real implications will remind you that things aren't always as they seem! Immediately after JULIA-6* was my rating. After my cerebral dust has settled, JULIA rates a rock-solid 8*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome! KissEnglishPasto@Yahoo.com

jlongstreth-1 An outstanding film, Julia is full of improbable plot twists, failures, missteps, and desperation.Tilda Swinton stars as a woman at the end of her rope and probably, at the end of her life. Her despair and desperation in the throes of alcoholism are so real and so painful to watch. Julia is in pain from which she'll never recover, pain she's stopped trying to recover from because it's just too hard. Then Julia gets an offer she can't refuse. A sane, rational person would recognize the insanity and illogic from the beginning, but Julia is not sane or rational. And so the journey begins.Fantastic acting by the entire cast, and Tilda Swinton shines above them all. Gritty and realistic sets that reflect the characters in them to perfection. Relentless plot twists and turns that leave you wondering when Julia will take that final step of desperation. A slow blossoming of tenderness in a swamp of despair, an unexpected scene of real love where you thought love could never be, and then, you're thrown off the train at last.Highly recommended.