I'm surprised this movie got no Oscar-love; it's quite an engrossing little movie that left me with a surprisingly deep feeling. Duvall delivers a brilliant performance as a mysterious old hermit, almost eclipsing the also-great performances of Murray, Black and Spacek. The script is suitably subtle, the pacing is spot-on, and the cinematography is wonderful, making full use of the 1930s setting and beautiful locations. If you're in the mood for an elegantly woven character piece that slowly delves into the mind of a mysterious hermit... well, you're being oddly specific.

A Rocky knockoff this is not. The only similarity is that this movie also features boxing, everything else is in a whole other league. Obviously, the acting is fantastic - mainly Bale's take on the slimy "Dicky" character, for which he developed mannerisms I'd never seen from him before, as well as doing his usual physical transformation - but also from everyone else, including the secondary characters. Of course, this was greatly helped by how well-developed every character was in the script; they really did feel like real people, with real motivations and real reactions. In addition, the top-notch script and story were backed up by imaginative cinematography (I dug the "TV-look" of the fighting scenes) and a wonderful sense of pacing. Basically, this is classic Oscars material... in the good way. And seriously... stop comparing it to Rocky. This is streets ahead.

This movie came pretty damn close to being a complete masterpiece. The credits are by far the best credits I've ever seen anywhere, and are more exciting than some entire movies. The cinematography, lighting, camera work and effects are some of the most original I've ever seen, and absolutely genius. The first half of the movie is tight, effective, fascinating and well-acted. But the second half is about 40 minutes too long, overindulgent, repetitive, and dull.

I could tell what the rest of the movie was going to be after about 45 minutes... this would've been fine if Gaspar Noé hadn't decided to then painstakingly show every last detail of it over 2 more hours. The storytelling technique used was great, but also very long in transitioning from scene to scene, which made it painful to watch when you had to sit through two transitions to see a useless 1-minute scene (which happens often in the second half). Plus, while I'm not usually one to complain about sexual themes in movies, I felt this one was completely gratuitous in being as explicit and close-up as possible, while throwing in sex scenes apparently at random. This was far from Black Swan's elegant use of shock value.

Still, the first half alone makes this not only worth watching, but a must-watch for any movie enthusiast. Who knows, maybe the second half won't bore you to death.