Director Mulligan's purpose in making the film was to provide a subjective experience for the spectators from the point of view of a child, in this case Niles, which the film does quite well.
The movie does a good job in keeping it primarily in Nile's point of view both narrative and cinematically. There is a sort of stubborn innocence about him that carries through out, an intriguing refusal to move out of the imagination of the young protagonist for the most part, and the story does a brilliant job expressing the more dangerous qualities inherent in imagination.
There is of course a bit of choppiness here and there between scenes. Other than Ada, Niles, and Holland, the other characters didn't bring anything much to the film. This could be in part because there were scenes cut out of the film post-production.
Despite that, the beautiful summer atmosphere reflected Nile's perspective of the golden moments while people dropped like flies all around him, and the Udvarnoky brothers and Hagen did a good job with their characterizations within this environment.
In the end, it's mostly a film that uses the environment to reflect the theme of dangerous imagination combined with the folly of the matriarchal desire to preserve the child from grief. It certainly does a decent job of that, though the film can be a bit plodding her and there for those who are looking for a more brisk paced plot and visuals.
The movie does a good job in keeping it primarily in Nile's point of view both narrative and cinematically. There is a sort of stubborn innocence about him that carries through out, an intriguing refusal to move out of the imagination of the young protagonist for the most part, and the story does a brilliant job expressing the more dangerous qualities inherent in imagination.
There is of course a bit of choppiness here and there between scenes. Other than Ada, Niles, and Holland, the other characters didn't bring anything much to the film. This could be in part because there were scenes cut out of the film post-production.
Despite that, the beautiful summer atmosphere reflected Nile's perspective of the golden moments while people dropped like flies all around him, and the Udvarnoky brothers and Hagen did a good job with their characterizations within this environment.
In the end, it's mostly a film that uses the environment to reflect the theme of dangerous imagination combined with the folly of the matriarchal desire to preserve the child from grief. It certainly does a decent job of that, though the film can be a bit plodding her and there for those who are looking for a more brisk paced plot and visuals.