Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
SnoopyStyle
Lorenzo Odone is a regular kid who spent three years in east Africa. Back in the States, he starts having disturbances. It's a mystery that his parents (Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon) have difficulty solving until he is diagnosed as suffering from ALD. It's a rare incurable degenerative brain disorder that wasn't even identified 10 years before. There are no treatments and he's not expected to survive past 2 years. Then his parents goes all out to research his disease.This is a perfectly constructed sick-kid-drama. It excels because of the great performances. There is some science but the exposition is simple. And it's impossible not to like the old English scientist with 6 months before retirement. It is heart warming and a tear jerking. It is a great triumph of doggedness and parental love movie.
snicaodha
OK so this is my first time writing a review. I have recently noticed a huge amount of overly high ratings on the formerly reliable IMDb. For this reason I think that more reviews and ratings are needed to rectify this :/ I chose this movie with high hopes and hoped it would be like many of the inspiring greats from before the 2000's. I looked beyond the average rating of 7.2 and wondered if the story wasn't perfect perhaps the acting would be. From the beginning I was drawn in, but confused...the native with the knife...looks strange..is there more to this film than a disease and hope? Was the child cursed or something? OK I knew that wasn't going to be the case because I looked up the true story beforehand. Anyway, the native turned out to be lovely... I thought I was in for an emotional journey with this one..not so much.. It ain't nice to say but Lorenzos' crying noise was basically Tommy from Rugrats...over and over..which was distracting to say the least. Also, I know this is true but it seemed annoyingly unbelievable so I started to zone out...Noltes as the father was believable in his acting but having a dream with the solution? Much too dramatic...the white-board and extensive reading though, very believable, the urgency and desperation is admirable in the extensive research and you can see they are on the verge of a breakthrough...not with a helpful dream though.. annoying. Sarandon is great as always, wide-eyed with fear and fury. She is the perfect hopeful, desperate and adoring mother and you can't help but admire her strength and determination. However, the performance was just as I predicted it would be. That's not a bad thing...but not spectacular either. I would like to rate it 7.3, you will not be let down, but also will not feel uplifted either. The .3 is for the acting.
Geoffrey DeLeons
Certainly Nolte's best role and best acting job. Sarandon's best performance, as well. Rarely do we see a movie based on true events, with such an important inspirational message of faith and dogged determination, combined with such stellar screen writing, screenplay, acting and direction. Every moment of Lorenzo's Oil is captivating, without being oppressive. Engaging, without being overly technical or complicated. None of this was easy as a banker from a foreign country and his wife try, and succeed in, unraveling one of the most overlooked and urgent medical quandaries of the 20th century. Nolte's character is particularly unique in that his soft-spoken-yet-incisive charm proves critical in garnering support for his independent research. Sarandon's character's staunch refusal to accept the idea that her ill son can not hear nor appreciate displays of love shown to him informs all of us who have loved ones in intensive care, or any of the cognitive disorders that prevent communication as we clumsily define it. Love is never wasted. As I said, this is both Nolte's and Sarandon's performances of a lifetime. Add to this the vital message the movie imparts: "determination, study, work, can combine with faith for a positive experience", and you have a movie for the ages. On the cover of the VHS tape, it says, "Some people make their own miracles". Make yours today.
ShelbyTMItchell
Really one moving film. About a family who's only child, named Lorenzo suffered a rare disease. As the doctors and medical field after all has failed them. Decides to invent their own miracle. Hence the title.As we see the angst, sadness, and why me of Lorenzo's parents, played by Nick Nolte with an Italian accent and Susan Sarandon. It is Sarandon's Michaela who really suffers the most. As she refuses to leave his son.As Nolte's character a wealthy banker must fund the project. Despite everybody turning him down. For the record, Michaela dies in 2000 and after being told he would die in childhood, Lorenzo would succumb to his own disease eight years later.Still a moving movie and yes, get the tissues out!
