Rating: 
Summary: A Rare Gem
Review: This low-budget film from down-under is a character-study of three everyday people, played by Hugo Weaving, Genevieve Picot, and Russell Crowe. Be warned that it does not have a happy Hollywood ending, and similar to "Secrets and Lies", is more character rather than action-driven. Weaving, who later stars in "The Matrix", shows his trademark sterness as a blind photographer and misanthrope. He has lost touch with humanity, scarred by a notion since childhood that his mother had rejected him because of his handicap. To verify what he senses, he photographs his surroundings. He has a seemingly cold-hearted housekeeper, who he torments. She continues to work for him because she's secretly in love with him and his dependence on her at least partially satisfies her desires. Their relationship becomes threatened when he befriends a dishwasher at a local restaurant. Weaving's character trusts the dishwasher, Andy, played by a young Russell Crowe, to describe the photos he takes. Fearing that she'd be displaced, the housekeeper sets out to discredit Andy and makes her moves on both Andy and Weaving. The performances are all superb. Picot shows the vulnerability of a woman who masks her loneliness with a cold exterior. As the film progresses, the viewer increasingly sympathizes with her. Her character is the most interesting of the three. And reminiscent of a young Mel Gibson, a lean and not-yet-so-masculine Crowe plays Andy with sensitivity, innocence, and a hunkiness and easy-going down-to-earthness that he'd project in his later films. Proof is a must for all Crowe fans.
Rating:
Summary: A great, small movie
Review: Utterly compelling, meticulously performed and unsettlingly true. Watch this one carefully!
Rating:
Summary: A great, small movie
Review: Wonderful performances by all involved make this intimate contemplation of truth and friendship very compelling. No wonder Crowe and Weaving became stars!
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