Could this have been one of the year's most promising off-beat movies? There's much style to be admired, with a good deal of thoughtful dialogue delivered by a cast of impressive performers. So what went wrong? Right from the opening it has the power to draw you in - giving you good reasons to be interested in each introduced character. You actually can't help becoming emotionally involved in their varied situations - you want to feel for them, and hope for the best outcomes as you learn more about their stories. John Oritz might arguably own the movies most interesting character as insurance assessor Daniel Kalman but, there are many good characters and performances introduced as the story/stories continue to unfold. This is possibly where it begins to unravel - it strives for one too many sombre situations, becoming like one of those seventies French dramas - where for one reason or other everyone seems to die. Its heart is in the right place but it's so unrelenting the viewer starts to seek some relief or simply to go back to the beginning and learn more about the earlier characters - who are never heard of again.

There are some interesting observations examining the value we tend to place on 'things', be they photos or artefacts gathered, as we journey through life. The stories have an odd linking device that doesn't work as well as it should, creating an overall episodic feel. Direction, writing style, photography, impressive cast, and thoughtful music score almost save it but fold under the weight of unrelenting loss. Pity, the screen needs more movies with emotional feelings - if only this picture didn't strive to serve up so much in one sitting.

A beautifully adapted story illustrating the joy and pain of nostalgia (in all its forms) and how it impacts on the lives of the characters we are introduced to in the movie. But it's much more than that. The movie is a work of art. The performances are believable. The screenplay is spot on and the soundtrack is sublime. What a pleasure.

Well this was just a bit depressing wasn't it? I'm all for nostalgia, but this sure isn't what I think about when it comes to pulling up past memories. I try to reserve that for the warm, comforting moments that lend resonance to a person's life. Even something inspirational that might have occurred in the past that glows with fondness over time. So I'm not sure what the film maker was trying to do here. To be sure, there were some defining moments in the picture, as when the insurance adjuster (John Ortiz) stated to some clients - "Every story has details I've never heard before". And two very emotional scenes had exceptionally well written dialog; one was between Helen (Ellen Burstyn) and the memorabilia shop owner (Jon Hamm), the other occurred in the diner between crash survivor Kathleen (Mikey Madison) and the parents of Tallie (Annalise Basso). But gee, having the young teen die in a car accident seemed like an awful way to frame a story about nostalgic moments. More than anything, I felt bad for mother Donna (Catherine Keener) who initially nixed the road trip that ended in her daughter's death, and then relented when it became apparent that Tallie had no inclination to hang around with her Mom and Uncle Will. Now Donna would be left to contemplate her measure of blame in Tallie's death, even if irrational.

On top of all that, it was quite apparent that the scriptwriters did no homework at all regarding that Ted Williams signed baseball. The figure cited by Will the shop owner was in the range of eighty to a hundred thousand dollars, and his phone conversation with another collector hinted at a reasonable profit for him upon resale. But all it takes is a quick internet search to reveal that a similar ball sells in the neighborhood of three hundred fifty to four hundred fifty dollars. They're just not that rare, no matter how pristine the condition. Internet auction sites will suggest more, but usually in conjunction with other famous player autographs as well.

But the kicker for me personally in this story was the name of that insurance guy who opened the story with Ronnie Ashmore (Bruce Dern). His name was Daniel Coleman in the story, and the reason it's so poignant is because I knew a Daniel Coleman from my hometown who died years ago as a young adult from leukemia. That's a bit of nostalgia that depressed me even more as this picture unfolded.