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5/28/2014

The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012) - The 2004 tsunami depicted in one of the strongest disaster films ever



+ Best Spanish movie of the Year
+ Best Disaster Movie of the Year 

Naomi Watts in one of the staggeringly realistic moments of J.A. Bayona's The Impossible


The true story of a family's survival during the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Naomi Watts in one of her best performances yet, as the mother in J.A. Bayona's The Impossible

Ewan McGregor (I Love You Philip Morris (2009)) and Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive (2001)), who was Oscar-nominated for her performance, both turn in incredible work in this the definitive movie about the 'impossible' mega-catastrophe that killed more than 230,000 people across several nations.
With a fascinating visual side that recreates the disaster in uncanny realism, subdued use of music and brutal reality in terms of the survival on the South-Thai island in the after-wake, the audience is made into sobbing participants in the struggle for unity and survival for the family that we follow. 
Only the first 20 minutes of the movie could perhaps stand a bit stronger.


Tom Holland and Naomi Watts on a poster for J.A. Bayona's The Impossible

The Impossible is a beautiful, healing film, and the child actors Oaklee Pendergast (Wer (2013)), Samuel Joslin (Paddington (2014)) and Tom Holland (Heart of the Sea (2015)) as the bigger son all play incredibly as well. I have seen the film both in a jam-packed Copenhagen cinema and with Thais in Northern Thailand, and I can attest to its strength across peoples, cultures and borders of all kind. The Impossible is a transcendent, incredible film.
The Spanish director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage (2007)) has now also directed a few episodes of Penny Dreadful (2014-) and is also attached to A Monster Calls (2016) and World War Z 2.


Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 







Watch the trailer here, devastating in its beauty and tragedy just as the movie is

Budget: 45 mil. $
Box office: 198 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of The Impossible?
If you have any personal stories about the film, please go ahead and share here

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