The Signal

source: Little Wonders

source: Little Wonders

source: Little Wonders

I must have seen a different copy of the movie than other reviewers. All throughout the entire movie, the traffic noise, car noise, the relentlessly loud soundtrack, crickets, a light breeze, even the scene where the bed sheet and pillow is rustling is exponentially louder than any of the voices. How could someone sit through this? I had to make a very focused effort to even make out some of the voices of the murmuring actors against all the incredibly loud background noise and orchestral music. Even so, I probably only understood a fraction of it. My wife thought it probably wasn't meant to be heard, but to just show the narrative as it progressed. It really seemed like the microphones were a few feet away from the actors. Someone really needs to learn how to mix audio. I rarely see soundtracks this incompetent, even low-budget independent movies. This movie really NEEDED additional dubbing with the voices. Even if lip-syncing wasn't perfect, you would at least hear what was said. Even so, I will add that it sounded to me like Mid-Side recording utilized with the Mid missing. If the voices are centered, this results in loss of vocal audio and discernible only the background dynamics of a dialogue

The premise of the movie was interesting; the actual execution was terrible. The actors were quite good, but the dialogue was unrealistic and made the characters appear stiff. SPOILERS: The time travel premise was interesting and I kept waiting for it to happen or be disproved. But, it just fizzled. I couldn't figure out if the audience was meant to guess that it happened at the end or not or if the writer/directer just didn't know how to execute. While the overall theme seemed to be hopeful, even spiritual, especially when characters crossing each others paths led to good things, the ending was a punch to the gut. I could forgive the slowness, the bad dialogue, deus ex machina, but not the ending. A character who is saved two people's lives, is about to reunited with his long lost love, dies!! No, time traveling (which talked about the entire movie) for him to go back and get his true love, become a doctor and live a happy life. He dies from a bee sting in the dessert after he uses his epi-pen to save another man's life. Very disappointed with the ending. I felt cheated.

I am not going to give it a perfect score because unfortunately it reminds me a lot of Crash or Babel or even Magnolia from 1999. I also have to agree with a few reviews that mention the repetitive soundtrack along the movie!!I do think that the director chose to use it in order to provide some "movement/emotion" through the scrip so maybe not using it would change the whole feeling! It's visually astonishing with thatpart of the States represented. Not a great acting from none of the actors - even Joaquin D'Almeida didn't have much room for a great performance. I feel the scenario, soundtrack and script and also the slow motion scenes and flashbacks made the movie!Congrats to Fernando on that but overall, in my opinion it is a bit too dramatic and to easy to guess "what's happening next"! The end was just like...I bet he's gonna die over a bee!... Not a boring movie at all and a very good attempt for a Portuguese director!!

Started off well, became really boring as it went on. Too much talking, made for teens. Watched the entire movie on fast-forward. Unnecessarily long mouth-to-mouth to an old man makes you want to wash your own mouth. Good photography and desert locations. IMDb- this is pretty retarded that you require 10 lines for reviews. What if people have nothing more to say ? Please have your management review this requirement. You must lose lots of members due to this. Someone with a crazy idea shouldn't be allowed to sit on your board.

What a terrible disappointment this film was! I was expecting a nice film about the thematic the trailer suggests (crossed lives; destiny; etc) and not this garbage where broken cellular phones speak words or ghostly GPS leads the way or even hillbilly guys are allergic to latex!! I mean, all this is so stupid and absurd! The plot is silly, the characters are silly (excluding one or two), the soundtrack is unbearable (not to mention the scene when some popular Portuguese music is playing in a motel in California!!), the development and the disclosure of the plot are also annoying (I could use words like boring, pathetic, absurd, stupid, unrealistic; but no, all of those "coincidences" are just annoying!). As said, when I watched the trailer and I saw that scene when Joaquim d'Almeida is in the desert ready to commit suicide and the voice of the GPS said "Turn back you are in a wrong way to your destination" I found it a very good premise and I was expecting a nice film… I got this silly drama full of stupid lines (the screenplay is terrible!) and pathetic disclosures instead! Too bad to be true! I score it 3/10.

This movie has a beautiful and original story with engaging characters played by good actors. Everything just ties together so nicely until the end. Everything has worked out so far, everyone is happy, there is a lot of passion and hope. (SPOILER) Then the final piece of the puzzle, a couple who will finally be reunited, is destroyed because the guy gets stung by a frikkin' bee (he's allergic)! I mean what the heck is that? He's dying and the movie ends. So my advice, just don't watch this, or if you do turn it off right after the guy talks to the kid and receives the camera.

This film has great exterior shots of the American west and some really bad acting. The theme is OK--that coincidence may be more than just that. So what else is there to say?IF you have never been to the west or you want to recapture an experience, then you must see this film. So is this film fun: yes and no. If you can afford Mania's awful acting, then this film clearly is recommended for you!