The Hottest State

one of my favorites
This is one of my favorite movies. The cast is stellar and it has a great soundtrack. Beyond that, it is one of the most "real" love stories I have ever seen in a movie. You can very easily see yourself in the shoes of the characters.

Surprisingly Hypnotic
In spite of critics reviews, I loved this film from start to finish. Wonderfully shot, delicately scripted, better than you'd really expect. The soundtrack is so deftly placed, it's as if it where a third character. It's a picture of a life in fractured state, but oh, how beautiful.

It's a near perfect blend of self-indulgence with a sense of humility. I was truly glad I saw this film, after months of ignoring and thinking that I would not like it.

Hawke Shoots From the Heart
Written and directed by Ethan Hawke, and based on Hawke's (I presume) autobiographical novel of the same name, The Hottest State is an intensely personal movie. Yet unlike, say, Woody Allen's autobiographical films (Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, Husbands and Wives), Hawke's personality doesn't flood his material. Hawke is quite casual about baring his soul to us, and audiences may not be aware how deeply he takes them into his psyche. But he holds nothing back.

The film recounts a brief, magical love affair between 20-year-old William (Mark Webber), Texas-born living in New York, and Sara (Catalina Sandino Moreno), a beautiful Mexican who has moved to the city to pursue her singing career. The film unfolds with an easy, natural spontaneity that is both engaging and faintly ominous (we know where it's heading because William informs us in voice-over). Working with his actors and crew, Hawke uses simple, unassuming brush strokes to communicate the joy and misery, and the...

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