Rivetingly bizarre. This one goes into the "masterpiece" category.

After watching a movie like this, where can I even begin? The stor(y|ies) it tells cannot be summarized in a paragraph or two. Hell, the movie itself spends over an hour just on exposition to introduce everything. After 60 minutes, I was still just barely starting to fit into the shoes of the main characters, and puzzling about where it was all was going to go. But thanks to clever editing, pacing, and an amazing sense of storytelling, it never became boring.

(Woe to the poor saps who had to put together trailers for this thing. I remember watching those trailers many moons ago, and scratching my head. "And why would I want to see... whatever that was?" Thank goodness for critics and word of mouth to get the truth out.)

I'll attempt to discuss story in a minute. First, a bit on the style. The movie continuously and repeatedly pulls the trick of diving into a storyline just long enough to peak the viewer's curiousity about what will happen next. Then CUT (or wipe, or blur, etc) to somewhere else, leaving you in suspense right before the punchline hits. "Wait, wait, wait. Go back and show me what happens next. Just one more moment!"

But in the world of movies, the director's splicer (or digital equivilant thereof) is king, and the director of this film says it's time to look at something else now. Grudgingly, the viewer relents, and allows their mind to focus on whatever is being presented. So gradually, you sink in and become interested in what is happening the new scene, and start to grow attached to it. Then, bang again. On to another story, which will undoubtedly be interrupted in like manner.

By the time your mind has pretty much forgotten the scene it was so interested in initially, conscious interest having been redirected several times over, the movie returns to reveal what happens, and go on to the next event of the character's life, until the middle of another really interesting scene. Then jump away to another fascinating moment which was left hanging minutes before. Rinse and repeat.

This is the rhythm of the movie. Cumulatively, it adds up to 3 solid hours continuously on the edge of your seat. Masterful manipulation of the orienting response.

Now that style is out of the way, let's talk about the substance. If the "theme" or "message" of this movie could be summed up in one sentence, what would it be? Minor spoilers next. Major spoilers later. (But I'll warn again before discussing the major spoilers.)

Maybe the theme ends with a question mark? What happens when the facade of the life of a human being is laid bare? What happens when emotional defenses that have been crafted so carefully for years -- devices we use to convince ourselves of safety -- crumble into nothing? What does a person do when death unflinchingly stares them straight in the face? What happens when all the filters are cast aside, and each person openly acknowledges the unbelievable amount of love their soul?

MAJOR SPOILER BELOW...

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Really, this is a serious spoiler!
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If you haven't seen the movie, you shouldn't read any more...
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Only keep scrolling if you're really, really, really sure...
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Don't say you weren't warned...
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Last chance. Final answer?
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Frogs fall from the sky.

I'm sure every person who watched this movie was thinking the same thing during the last few minutes. "What the BLEEP is going on?"

The film spends longer building up a serious character drama than movies' entire run length, and in the final moments, smacks us dead in the face with an event not even Fox Mulder would find credible. Very intentionally, very consciously.

What is the point?

On top of everything other thought the movie brings to mind before that point, I am left with a curious wonderment as I ask myself what the writers were trying to say with that ending. What does it mean to me?

No aye banda! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the urge to throw in a reference to that other movie that I watched not too long ago that left my brain reeling afterwards.)

I like it if for no other reason than for the sheer novel boldness.

Perhaps it was a way of reminding us that it is, after all, fiction. Before taking it all too seriously, and getting our minds too involved with the characters, we should step back and recognize that what we are watching is a mere construction. Don't grow attached. Whoops, a little too late for that. No, that explanation doesn't quite do it justice.

Could it be bleakly pointing out that that kind of surrender, honesty, and reconciliation is about as likely to happen in real life as frogs falling from the sky? Not a happy interpretation.

Another thought that occurred to me is that when one experiences the kind of life-transforming events that our "heroes" did, the world is so altered that it might as well be frogs falling from the sky.

"but it did happen"

Believe the unbelievable. Coincidences so wild that they just can't be coincidences. Supernatural intervention?

I don't know what to make of that ending, but it's a damn fine movie. The funny thing is, even with the frogs falling, it still stays true to the characters, right up to the morning after. Absolutely wild. And what's with that cryptic final shot, with the barely audible under the music dialog, and person (presumably the policeman) at the edge of the frame? Another question mark.

But somehow, it all fits together. Riveting and bizarre.