The Unsaid (2001)

Direct to video release produced and starring Andy Garcia. Also starring Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) and Linda Cadellini (Freaks and Geeks).

Definitely a melodrama, slow moving but with some interesting plot points. Vincent Kartheiser is good as the troubled young man, playing both creepy and vulnerable. A young Linda Cardellini is beautiful as always and as anyone who saw Freaks and Geeks knows is excellent as portraying a realistic teenager. She also sings a song. Andy Garcia is a bit subdued but realistic enough in the main role.

Overall it's fairly middling. Overly melodramatic at times and the ending is poor. Honestly I enjoyed it mostly because of seeing a few more famous actor's (Kartheiser and Cardellini)in an early role.

It's a 2:00 AM on a cable kind of a movie. Not terrible, but not exactly good

Fmovies: There are many kinds of thriller/drama movies.

Some have the ability to confuse and bore you to death during most of the time, with just some good twist in the end, which "should" compensate for the "lentish", sacrificing hour before that. And many overrated movies have that formula, which only works because you become so numb as you watch it, that you feel very surprised by the final outcome of the plot, and then believe that it was such a terrific film.

Others are the exact opposite, meaning that they have a great starting point, but the story gets duller and duller until the final result becomes very predictable. And so many other variations of this genre may arise.

With `The Unsaid', however, you can expect to be tied to your seat the whole time as the plot develops. It has a dramatic starting point, a powerful and constant *thrilling* middle section and well, I won't refer the ending because, believe it, if you start watching this flick, you won't go away until you see the whole thing. It's that good! But that's me, I personally like movies that grab your attention from the start and make you not even take bathroom breaks or answer to your cell-phone calls. What about you?

The acting by Andy Garcia was brilliant; he really got inside his character. Only with a role like this could he show his true dramatic acting skills, and was followed very well by the rest of the cast. The directing was ok, and had some notorious influence on our understanding and dramatic effect of the scenes. It was done the way it's supposed to, clean and sober, even in action sequences. I won't refer to the story or the subjects it's about, since none of that is necessary here. This is a review, not a `plot outline'.

The bottom line is this: it's a definitely worth watching film! And if you're not entertained during and pleased after it, well. admit it: You watched some movie other than `The Unsaid'.

Even though this movie was clearly made with a small budget, it looked very promising to me. I was almost certain that this would be such a movie with a disturbingly realistic subject, that goes right to and through your heart like a knife ... but it didn't. I'm not saying it was a bad movie, it just wasn't that good.

The subject on itself isn't bad though. A young boy is kept in an institution because he saw his mom being murdered by his own father. Since then he hasn't shown much emotions and hasn't spoken about the incident. When Dr. Michael Hunter, a retired college professor and psychologist, examines the boy, he's convinced that they should keep him in the institution a bit longer because he isn't ready for the real world, that he might be a ticking time bomb. He starts working with the boy, in who he sees his own son who committed suicide a few years earlier, and gradually he is able to reveal the horrible truth...

The acting in this movie isn't bad, but it wasn't great either. However, I guess you can't expect any better from a crew without many well-known names (Only Andy Garcia and Teri Polo I had heard of before seeing this movie, the rest of the cast was a complete mystery to me) and it has to be said, I've seen a lot worse in the past. The same can be said about the story which was OK, but not excellent. It was compelling, but somehow I missed something in it. Anyway, I'm already glad that it was a lot better than the average TV-movie that would deal with this subject. But if you want to see an excellent psychological thriller about this subject, than I suggest you watch "Primal Fear". That movie offers about the same story (murder, child abuse,...), but does it in a much better way. I give this movie a 6.5/10. It's worth a watch.

The Unsaid fmovies. I have seen a lot of movies with actors/actresses playing psychiatrists and how they are portrayed. Most of them are quite horrible, a few have a clue, but are saying things, psychiatrists in the field wouldn't say under any circumstances. However, the title THE UNSAID is; if not perfect, very close to it. Andy Garcia again pulls off what I feel maybe the hardest thing to pull off; a professional actor being a professional psychiatrist. I think the acting on every ones part was superb as well as the lighting and make up. I think a lot of detail was put in things as simple as sitting in a chair, when to lean back, when to lean forward. An excellent movie, I highly recommend it.

This is a surprising movie that sneaks up on the viewer in many ways--starting off with a bang and never lapsing into self-indulgence or violence for it's own sake; Andy Garcia, who produced the film, obviously cares about his part and surrounded himself with actors who felt likewise, the entire cast convincing in a combination of teen problem film crossed with a psychological thriller. It is also a film about family problems, and I found it never trivial and frequently a nail-biter.

I'd never heard of this film, and would stress, with others who have written about it, that if you're thinking about watching it, you avoid written material about the plot: the surprises are half the fun!

`A shrink trying to save a psycho kid,' one would say about The Unsaid because it seems slightly so. It is about a psychiatrist called Michael Hunter whose son commits suicide. After his son's death, Hunter loses his life spirit and stops taking patients. He feels guilty of his son's tragic death and never overcomes it. One day, one of his former students asks him to take a look at a case of a boy, who has a corrupted past. Dr Hunter handles the case of this boy who refuses to be in peace with his past. The boy reminds Hunter of his dead son and this is a challenge for him: he needs to be able to put aside his feelings for his son and handle this patent. This is a story of a father and a psychiatrist struggling to overcome his guilt about the death of his son.

This film is full of emotions and the tension increases towards the end. I think it is a `must see' for the sake of the passion put into this work. If you are a real movie-goer, do not miss it!

Andy Garcia (Hunter) has an impressive performance in this movie. He is very realistic as the man of the struggles.

The Unsaid has an amazing soundtrack, which is speaks to you even if you have not seen the film.

It has been three days that I have seen this movie and I am still thinking about it. You feel such sympathy towards Dr. Hunter that you can not get it over with. It has a nice scenario, I must admit: there are unpredictable scenes which make you keep thinking ` It can't be true!'