Henry Poole Is Here (2009)

Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) returns to the neighborhood where he grew up, wishing only to be left alone. A mysterious stain on the wall of his house becomes the catalyst for several unexplainable events, among them Henry's reconnection to the world.

I really had no idea what this movie was about going in. It's a quiet, gentle film with appealing characters whose message of faith creeps in rather subtly. Being a nonbeliever, I might not have gone to this film if I had known about the Christian, specifically Catholic, subtext, but I'm glad I did. Director Mark Pellington and writer Albert Torres do not hit us over the head with a message, but rather present a story in which faith means different things to different characters, and we are not forced to accept one interpretation as correct. This is a very touching, low-key film.

This movie came out the same week or two as Tropic Thunder, a film that featured several other members of the Frat Pack to which Luke belongs. Once again we see a difference between Luke and the others. Luke is the anti-hipster, often preferring sincere works that don't debase people. I am an Atheist but found this film to be low-key and charming. It firmly depicts someone suffering from depression who slowly makes a turn for the better. Yes, people may argue over the religious undercurrent of the film, which insults the nihilistic tendencies of young filmgoers, but one can also interpret the film's central theme of as renewal (our ability to change who we are).

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The director said it best in the BD docu, "...a hopeless man finds hope". I was surprised that this film received no advertising for being a Luke Wilson film (no poster placement, strange pricing structures, limited release, etc.).

I have been playing it in the store for a couple days now and it truly captivated the crowds. The film contains a nice mix of suburban visuals with an excellent soundtrack that repeatedly catches the attention of those that might only be listening. It has become one of those films that sells itself but in a good way.

The story revolves around a man that is obviously extremely depressed that wants to skip human interaction by buying an empty suburban house. Instead he encounters several neighbors that end up changing his life and in the end, helping those that helped him. Regardless of the large volumes of hate one can find about this film out there (and I do mean a lot) I did not categorize this as a religious film, or an agenda film, I just saw a good emotional film filled with believers and non believers, love and incredible events.

The BD quality is excellent, and was very appropriate for this film with the amount of landscapes and overhead shots. The music sounded wonderful in the TrueHD (lots of music) and special features were worth the time. The production docu is informative, as was the commentary. The selling point though is the deleted scenes. They removed over 30 minutes from the film. A great deal of the questions I have read about this film (and was asking myself while watching) were answered here. Even after listening as to why the director removed them, I strongly disagreed and felt they should have been in the movie (hence I rated it one star lower). The scenes would have made the film a great deal more believable and would not have been lagging with all of these questions about why this whole event was happening.

Some nice performances, a solid BD, and a worthwhile film make the BD price here on Amazon a steal.

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This movie prompted great discussion with my wife -then I found myself replaying the dialogue in my mind for the next week. I took my kids to see it and, to my surprise, three of them absolutely loved it. They lived their childhoods in a poverty stricken country (until ages 12, 9, and 5), suffering hardships I probably will never understand. They connected with this movie in a powerful way. I realized that all of us have struggles, many of which we try to hide from everyone we see. In order to progress beyond our initial reactions, we need to surrender in some way -moving past self-pity (or other selfish instincts) and gain an outward perspective. There is only one source of true joy, but it can be very painful to get there -and it's a different road for all of us. Like Henry, we need Patience and Hope (in something real), and the Dawn will be there (as it was from the beginning). The movie is simple as it covers these concepts, but add in a great soundtrack, cool visuals, and some poignant conversations -and even the Henry in all of us can make the change. I loved the understated ending -for those of us who believe in miracles, we know the miracle was that Henry didn't do anything to help himself -but he ultimately couldn't resist the change that was freely given to him. Miracle complete.

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Briefly, Henry is presented with a series of unexplainable things (as he sees it) and has to decide what he truly believes.

I loved this film but I like religious and philosphical films. I think they got this film just right and the performances are spot on. May be too slow and thoughtful for some that is why Die Hard 4 is only a click away (which I also liked).

I am curious what others think of this film after watching it on DVD presumably a larger audience than those that saw it at the theater (there was one person at the theater when I saw it and that was me).

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