User Reviews

Time-travel. Of all the various things that cinema has to offer, its play on temporal motifs by using the illusion of real-time action and changing it via editing to disestablish real-time movement from continuitous, straightforward action is one of the greatest gifts it brings art. What we have here is a relatively simple concept that nevertheless gets rare play in cinema, a sort of quantum possibilities narrative that usually requires a device (Primer) but only rarely is done just for the dramatic effect (Sliding Doors). A couple meets on the Brooklyn Bridge (Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins, playing characters named Kate and Bobby, counterrespectively) on the 4th of July. They cannot decide whether to go to a barbecue chez Kate's family, or spend the evening tout le doux. So they break off, running in two different directions, and live entirely different lives over the next 24 hours. Green-clad couple Kate and Bobby meet up in a car and go to the barbecue. Yellow-clad K&B grab a taximeter cab and are on their way downtown. Green are going to find that their dinner is met with family politics, secrets revealed, uncomfortable situations, and melodrama. Yellow are going to find themselves immersed in a lottery conspiracy that will threaten their very lives. The two stories are cross-cut together and developments in the one affect the understanding of motivations and choices in the other, while those things that speckle daily lives such as cellphones, computers, and trains stand as rough bridging points between the two stories.

Very fun, as well as I'm wondering if Siegel and McGehee read themselves some Mark Z. Danielewsky before or while writing this script (the yellow and green flip-side of character development preexists in Danielewsky's Only Revolutions, a book where the same story is told from two different perspectives of a couple, and, like this movie, contains a revolving narrative that brings the characters back to the starting point). The careful attention to maintaining the color coding of the story lines (including splashes of yellow at times when things in the green story get threatening, or splashes of green at times when the yellow story gets safer), is pulled off really well. From there, however, the narrative is a little unbalanced, though in some ways that allow me to appreciate the risk the filmmakers are taking.

See, we are in fact having to relate emotionally to the subtle dramatic narrative arc of one story while simultaneously engaging in the pulse-pounding suspense of the other. That means for the larger part of the movie, I and I feel many other audiences get impatient with the more subtle, delicate moments in the family because they're so eager to see what will happen next in the race for their lives. Ultimately this unbalance is fractured further by the end, where the endings of both arcs reveal the ultimate difference between such modes of storytelling, as the open ending serves the dramatic side very well in terms of conflict resolution, but the open ending of the thriller side just makes it feel like the filmmakers had to end it for lack of a better idea. Which, unfortunately, may have been the case. The meeting of polarities at the end with the characters coming to the same conclusion feels more forced than it should.

This is unfortunate considering that the whole movie (called "Uncertainty", after all) is about the difficulty of making choices. So when it feels like the filmmakers themselves had a difficult time choosing how to end their movie, it sort of breaks apart the whole point of the movie in the first place. However, this is also a situation in which I do not believe I would have come up with a better ending myself. The methods in which the two stories inform each other is too important to risk losing by having the characters end up in vastly different places. The ultimate decision the characters have to make as regards their relationship still HAS TO be made in both narrative arcs, so we can't as well have the characters end up the worst or the better for having made an otherwise insignificant decision as regards their day. If this movie struggles, it mostly has to do with the fact that it contains such strongly contrasting and hard to cut between genres as the romantic drama versus the suspense thriller.

Nevertheless, the most exciting and fun thing about watching the movie is watching how the characters, incapable of being definitive and strong when surrounded by the pressures of family, are completely forced to make minute-by-minute decisions that they are required to commit to while running through the streets trying not to get killed.

So yes, this movie is not perfect. But as Gordon-Levitt says, "If the story is good, I'm in. It's that simple." This movie is pretty awesome when taken on its own merit.

--PolarisDiB

There are some movies you're not supposed to take anything away from besides an experience, a feeling, a rush. The obvious comparison for this film is Run Lola Run, as another reader indicated, but that film had far more cohesion than "Uncertainty." It had potential: running a domestic drama in contrast to a thriller is an interesting concept. After all, bringing your boyfriend to meet the family when you're secretly pregnant and unmarried is as ripe for tension as being chased by gunmen through the streets of New York. If you had to choose one, which would you pick?

I thought to myself at times that I was watching the male and female versions of what we look for in suspense, the domestic manners drama and the gangster thriller. The parallel narratives work for a little while, but then strangely, the tension completely deflates in Brooklyn, while it continues to build in Manhattan.

If the dramas had both advanced and each situation gotten tenser, with the mother finding about the pregnancy and getting involved, just as the gunman found them in Chinatown, that would have made for interesting parallels. As it was, you're left with a very unclear ending and a sense of pointlessness to the whole enterprise.

While I'm slightly curious as to what the writers were trying to do, whatever it was, it didn't really work. So my curiosity is somewhat sated. Try "The Hurt Locker" for an excellent indie film out there right now, or for JGL fans, "500 Days of Summer" is just fine.

A couple in New York City rely their destiny on a coin. The story continues in two simultaneously way as they are in Manhattan or Brooklyn on green or yellow parallel events The green way happens in Brooklyn in result to a lost dog and a arranged 4th of July (USA Independence Day) Dinner at Kate's house, fireworks and drama about a family. The Yellow way is the dangerous part, They find a cell phone in a cab that is owned to someone as a murderer and The Couple tries to fish in troubled waters and take 500,000 $ for that phone which leads to being chased by That Man. The Shooting is very good for instance Starting shot was wonderful showing two boroughs of New York. Although the concept is great, the result is not what I expected. Also there is no uncertainty to enjoy the movie!

I think this is a good movie, but not a great one. The acting is good. The plots(there were really two distinct ones)were intriguing but incomplete.

The whole movie is based on choice made by Bobby and Kate,a young couple. After the choice-whether to spend the 4th of July with the Kate's family or not- is made, the story switches back and forth between the two different scenarios that would have played out based in either choice. The plot gimmick is interesting if not entirely original. As others have mentioned, it is certainly similar to "Run, Lola, Run"(Since I haven't seen that film in awhile, I'm not entirely sure how similar this movie is. I do think that "Lola" was better from what I remember though). Each choice essentially leads to a radically different movie- one domestic drama involving Kate's family and the other was about the couple in the middle of mob war over a lost cell phone( As one reviewer put it, the former plot is probably more interesting to women and the latter to men.)

The contrasts and connections between these intertwined stories made for a good movie, but neither plot was fully developed. We learn some information about the character through the two stories, but so much is left unexplained. Who are the mobsters? A possible explanation is offered, but never confirmed. Why don't the main characters eat meat anymore? It apparently has something to do with her mother, but that is never fully explained either. How did her brother die? No further information is offered. What ultimately happens to the stray dog that they pick up in the former scenario?

Each story offers yet more choices to for the couple. The main uncertainty in the domestic story is that Kate is pregnant and doesn't know whether to have the baby. The main choice in the other scenario is what to do about the mysterious and evidently valuable cell phone they have acquired. Unfortunately, neither scenario is offered much of a resolution. The pregnancy question is left undecided. the couple finally gets rid of the cell phone in the other scenario, but much is still left unresolved. The mobsters already know who Bobby is and they have tracked him down pretty easily throughout the movie. Won't they just come after him again? Also, the pregnancy is obviously still a reality in that scenario as well. How would such a harrowing experience affect that decision? I'd imagine that they would grow close and the prospective of raising a family together wouldn't be so scary. As a side note, just the fact that a couple in their late 20's/early 30's(it's not clear exactly how old either is supposed to be in the movie) are so indecisive about carrying to term a pregnancy speaks volumes about our culture(and not in a good way).

Also, the plot device might have been more interesting if it had evolved around the major choices(what to do with the pregnancy or the cell phone) instead of a minor one. The whole drama about making a choice might have been bigger if the possible choices had bigger apparent consequences then possibly making her mother upset or blowing off their friend's party. The whole mcguffin about finding a lost cell phone and getting involved in a mob war was something that could have just as easily happened in the other scenario. They had no idea that was would happen when they made the choice. What is this move saying? Are we supposed to be afraid or worried about every minor choice and the possible unknown, outlandish consequence that could result from it?

For me, this movie was two decent stories that never really coalesced or gave much closure to the viewer. It was good, but it could have been better. Perhaps the makers of this film should dwell on some of their own choices...

When it comes to the crazy side of the coin, one of two things would have solved this young couple's dilemma:

#1 Ditch the phone

#2 Turn the damn ringer off, put it on vibrate or something. Then, as soon as you confirm that you will more than likely be killed before you'd be able to get any money, DITCH THE PHONE. and then change your blasted yellow outfits. This can be done long before prego GF is forced to run miles up and down stairs and into traffic, almost guaranteeing a miscarriage.

Seriously, if you and your prego GF find a cell phone in a cab and foreigners start calling it and talking all kinds of scary mess, chuck that s--- out the window and get on with your life.

Also, if you abandon my sound advice and the two of you find yourselves running and hiding from an Asian guy with a gun, tell your prego GF to stop making so many unnecessary piercing vocal noises- because this, along with the bright yellow matching hipster outfits, makes it really hard to hide from a gunman.

Potential for a lot of suspense. But I had to constantly and viciously swat away nagging questions about their illogical behavior just to get some slight enjoyment out of this could-be suspenseful drama.

And then the movie ends, and we assume they live happily ever after out of wed lock.

I'm not AS negative about the movie as some are, but it really was a headache from the get go. It's two separate movies trying to be one "indie" movie. Upon a repeat watch, I can certainly see where the "correlations" are between the decisions to be made, but there's not enough connection(..one…line) between the two stories. The two stories felt more disparate than the two they crammed into "The Majestic".

Solid acting from both JGL and Lynn Collins(looking 2 decades younger than she did in Wolverine).

The cinematography was at times absolutely stunning in the very divisive use of color(you'll see) and in the landscaped shots. At times it was also completely confusing, blurred, poor angles and bad composition.

That may have been the intention of the filmmakers, to show the rugged edges and heart-pounding pace, but it was overused like a student film. I didn't get convulsions like I did from Cloverfield, though.

Worth a watch, if you like the actors. Honestly, either film would have been a solid release even at the shorter lengths. The fact that they were supposed to(and I guess kinda did) tie together left me waiting throughout the whole film for the revelation that would bring both world's together and make the lead-in worthwhile. When there was so little resolution to the connection between the two, it leads me to believe that maybe the director was trying to cast his own moral beliefs on to the characters, like one big decision could ruin their lives(hint: it involves pregnancy) or lead to familial bliss.

Kate and Bobby meet on top of the Brooklyn bridge during a Fourth of July. They have to make an important decision. It is a time for celebration. After all, it is summertime in New York, so what could be pressing on this couple when Bobby decides to toss up a coin probably to see what route to take to solve their problem. After they look at the result of the toss, both run in opposite directions.

What is really going on here, one wonders. We are given two stories that run parallel to each other, in two narratives that serve to make it difficult on the viewer not paying attention to what appears on the screen. On the "green" theme, we see Bobby and Kate in what seems to be the present time, working through problems in their lives. Bobby, a Canadian musician, needs a green card if he wants to stay in the United States. Kate, on the other hand, must face the final scrutiny when she faces her family for a barbecue at their Queens home because she is pregnant, but has not told anyone about her condition.

Running into the other story, we see Bobby and Kate dressed in yellow, riding on a taxi, as they go to a Chinese dim sum place on East Broadway. Bobby notices something he is sitting on, and he discovers a cell phone. Kate's instinct is to turn it to the driver, but Bobby wants to do the honest thing in notifying the owner about his loss. What neither one expects is the reaction they get from the man that lost the phone when he tells him he will come to meet him dressed in a red jacket. Bobby and Kate witness as the man walking toward them is shot almost in front of them. They are in for the adventure of their lives, to say the least.

"Uncertainty" a film written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, works in two different levels in a surprising way. The creators take their viewers for a dizzying ride through downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, with a story that shows a realistic situation that may well be happening because it is not too far fetched, or does not ring true. The filmmakers got an inspired Rain Li to photographed New York from a perspective one does not often see. The downtown area, the new Brooklyn parks along the East River, and even Queens, get the amazing treatment of the excellent Ms Li.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins are seen as Bobby and Kate. Both give nuanced performances of the characters they are supposed to represent. Lovely Ms. Collins keeps getting better all the time. Mr. Gordon-Levitt has been dazzling audiences for a while now. Others in supporting roles include Spanish actress Assumpta Serna playing Kate's mother. Olivia Thirlby, is on hand to play Kate's sister Sophie.

For one time, there is a American movie who just wants to tell stories about an ordinary young couple and offers a new angle to shoot it: parallel lives. So there's a sure freshness coming from the movie and I encourage those choices. In addition, it's shot almost continuously on locations in NYC, in summer so it has energy, punch and coolness. The cast revolves around two sympathetic and promising new faces that are now all alone on the poster, Lynn and the smiling "Robin". There's a good chemistry between them and I was on their side.

Unfortunately, the hopes don't make a good movie. The opening is awful: long still shots, with cryptic sentences and cut by black screen is a sure way to destroy any coherence. The couple then divides, running opposite on the bridge and then, we have the two stories, yellow and green, for Independence Day. If the yellow part about the found phone is a thriller, the other part is a dull soap in a family reunion. But, coherence, believability are left on the way as Lynn's family is totally Latino (why?) with dumb characters (Diego, the disappeared brother) and the chase is unrealistic (they are left by police when they report a murder, the criminal knows exactly in what building they have run...).

And frankly, the parallel lives concept isn't very used: there's one event that happens in the two time-lines (the friend's party) but except that, you really think it's rather two couples played by the same cast as facts are really attached to one choice, either green (pregnancy, family) or yellow (job, home).

So, finally, it's a movie that walks outside the usual paths, that is well played and directed but that's very poorly scripted.

While this movie definitely has a different feel than your average flick it is very entertaining and well made.The cinematography and soundtrack as well as the clever use of yellow and green help to keep the audience engaged. However the whole premise of this movies is flawed as the main protagonists are never really faced with a life changing decision.the movie follows two parallel universes but none of them are connected to the initial scene with the coin flip.the two stories are not the result of a moment in time where a decision changes everything.as a matter of fact we are dealing with two stories that could not be any different from each other and might as well just be two different couples with different life experiences. However I like the aspect of how different these stories are and was really impressed by the actor in this underlying love story.one story follows a very mundane family situation while the other is filled with action and suspense.but the bottom line is that this did not really make sense as the stories do not have a common point in time. This is why the ending is also a disappointment.the audience would clearly expect the stories to somehow be tied together but will never get what it is looking for. But overall I was still entertained and felt that the love between these characters was depicted in a very realistic way that anybody could believe

The 2nd best of the four movies I rented last week. The best, by far, was The Green Zone. Uncertainty needed a final act to make it one of the most excitingly fresh low budget films of the year. We never got the final act. We got what we expected 20 minutes into the movie. I'm not going to divulge much of the plot, but let's just say that, had this film thrown together a big finale', we might have one of 2010's ten best.

The chemistry between the two leads is quite excellent, and the dual narratives are both interesting and well acted.

Uncertainty laid out the foundation for a fantastic story, but failed to develop the story down the stretch run. Just about every characteristic of the movie is above average - so I can marginally recommend this movie to film buffs and friends alike, but much like ' A Scanner Darkly' and 'Midnight Meat Train', Uncertainty seemed a bit uncertain(pun intended) on how to finish itself. It's missing the ingenious plot twist/storyline that could have really pushed it over the top, making us certain that it was a fantastic work. A couple of possibilities crossed my mind on how this could have been done.

As it stands, this is above average, but won't be garnering a cult following, or any academy awards.

64/100

This is the kind of movie that stands or falls on its ending - and the ending of "Uncertainty" makes the whole thing rather pointless. You expect the two "realities" to merge, or collide, or something, but nothing happens. The writers-directors get some tension going in the Manhattan section at least, but the Brooklyn part is incredibly mundane (intentionally, I know, but still....). The film is also too long, but good chemistry between the two leads and nice New York location footage keep it from being a total waste of time. If you take out one violent shooting, it could almost be classified as a high-concept "chick flick". ** out of 4.