Based on initial assumptions, this could easily be taken for the usual chick-flick weeper, and dismissed for that reason and because it does not follow the usual rules of narrative, but jumps before and after the key romance: but don't be fooled--while not intellectually complex, this is a film of some suspense and a good deal of character development, a film about how love could upend our expectations and about our reactions to sudden and permanent loss.

Waking The Dead is so crammed with genuine performances from the ensemble that if you allow yourself an immersion in Billy Crudup's confusion, you cannot help but think about those who perhaps you have lost and what they mean to you now; both Crudup and Connelly exude dedication, and one key scene stands out as an exemplar of acting technique coupled with intuitive choices; in his director's commentary, Keith Gordon reveals himself to be the sort of guy you'd like to know, not only for his direct honesty, but simply because he's fun to listen to

"Waking the Dead" is a film that didn't do particularly well when it was first released. However, over time it's gained a small following of folks who love the movie...and it's obvious when you read through the reviews that some just adore it. I tried, but just didn't enjoy the movie like they did, though I have to admit that the film was creative and had an interesting style.

The story involves a young man named Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) and his obsession with a girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) who was apparently killed in Chile during the time of the Pinochet coup. In the years that followed, Fielding goes further and further in politics...and loses more and more contact with a healthy reality as he's obsessed with her memory. He even things he's seen her at one point and whether or not he did and what happens next can be interpreted various ways.

So why didn't I love it? Well, two main reasons. First, while the film had a lovely style, it also moved glacially slow...too slow for me. Second, and much more important, is that I couldn't really understand Fielding's obsession with her since the two were so different...much like how Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand were different in "The Way We Were"...it just was too different to make the obsession seem reasonable. It also didn't help that Crudup often acted as if he was a zombie...and you wonder HOW he could get anywhere in politics and WHO would support him. Sorry...and interesting idea that just didn't appeal to me.

It's 1974. Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) watches a TV report of a bombing in Minneapolis killing his activist love Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly) along with Chilean dissidents. They met two years earlier in NYC. He was in the Coast Guard avoiding the war. She was working for his brother's leftist paper. In 1982 Chicago, Fielding is a county prosecutor recruited to run for Congress. He starts to wonder if Sarah is truly dead.

There may be an intriguing romantic political drama somewhere here but the jumping around in time disrupts any flow. The movie is terribly disjointed. Crudup and Connelly could have generated great chemistry but they don't have the consistent screen time together. The tension struggles. There is a nice haunted feel and this definitely has the promise of a compelling story but the jumping around tired me out.