Notice: SSI.php was unable to load a session! This may cause problems with logout and other functions - please make sure SSI.php is included before *anything* else in all your scripts! in /home/chucky/public_html/community/SSI.php on line 170
Login or Register to rate and discuss movies   Member Benefits  Find Movies
Latest Updates
Movie Database
Character Battles
Random Musings
Forum Discussions
Contact Us
0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z
BROKEN NOTES
2008 / Horror, Drama
 Movie Trailer
 Preview Clip
 Discussions
 Extra Content
4.0 / 10
Rate This Movie
Add To Watchlist
Podcast Request
Directed by Alex Slevin
Written by Hiroyuki Owaku and Alex Slevin
Starring Jose M. Paya, Raquel Alarcon Villena, Ana Miralles, Estefania Garcia Copete, Alejandro M. Selma and Alejandro Mira

Having lost his wife Mary to illness three years ago, James Sunderland is both distraught yet uplifted on receipt of a letter which is apparently from her. The letter is asking him to return to a place special to both: the ominous town of Silent Hill.

The following tags are associated with this movie: psychological, video game
Broken Notes (2008)
Review by Michael Mahoney

4 / 10
If you're a fan of Silent Hill 2 (the video game, to be clear), then you may get a kick out of this moderately obscure Spanish flick. It's basically a live-action version of the game, which has it's pros and cons.

Pros being, if you're a fan of the game, then you'll probably enjoy how closely the movie follows it. But if you're like me, and know next to nothing about the games, then the movie seems mostly like a mess.

There's a plot, being a man going to Silent Hill in order to find his wife (who died three years earlier, but as he got a letter from her, he's understandably hopeful), but it feels rather disjointed. The dialogue is both stilted and awkward (though that may be partially due to the fact the game's dialogue, to my understanding, is much the same), and some things don't make much sense. Almost everything's a metaphorical representation of something, and while occasionally deep, that doesn't do much for me.

Parts of the movie just don't seem to follow the previous scenes, and that's not something I care much for. What also has to be discussed is the audio quality of the film. There's not a whole lot of talking in this movie, but there's also not much "in-world" sounds, and by that, I mean if a character hits another character with a crowbar, there's no thump. It's just silent, as if it's in a vacuum. It happens throughout the film, and it's at best mildly distracting.

The color scheme of the film (sort of a faded palate; you can see different colors, but the only one that really sticks out is red) was unique, and did help with the dreamy quality of the film. That's one thing the film should really get props for - the dreamy atmosphere. It's helped along by the aforementioned disjointed scenes, odd dialogue, color scheme, and audio. So basically, everything in this movie adds to the dreamy atmosphere, which does come across as cool, but again, that's not something I'm a big fan of.

It's somewhat similar to another obscure film titled Silver Cell (2011), though I actually liked that one quite a lot more. Broken Notes seems to be for hardcore fans of Silent Hill 2, but anyone else who watches it, while they can get a plot out of it, will feel as though something's missing. So for the right crowd, this movie may actually be, if not a fun ride, an interesting one. For me, though, given it's hour and 40 minute run-time, it was just tedious. 4.5/10 (rounded down to 4/10 to fit site's format).
Other psychological movies that you may enjoy


The Bells (1926)


The Territory (1981)


Interface (1985)


Hour of the Wolf (1968)
More releases from 2008 for you to check out


Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)


Cloverfield (2008)


Ghost Voyage (2008)


Baby Blues (2008)




This site contains language and images which may not be suitable for persons under the age of 18.
All promotional art & images used on this site are copyrighted by their respective owners.