Chrysanthepop Harrison's 'November' is quite an interesting piece of cinema. Shot with HD camera on a minimum budget, the film take us through the stages of of a young photographer's grief. But for whom is she grieving or who's death is she coming to terms with? That becomes apparent in the end. The movie's divided into three chapters: denial, despair and acceptance (stages of grief). The director presents hints through each stage as the truth slowly unfolds. Harrison's execution is quite simplistic in terms of technique. The visuals have a washed out look but are nonetheless intriguing. He uses a lot of symbolic elements, like the different gloomy colours in each segment, and a gloomy soundtrack. The entire film rests on Courteney Cox and she does an exceptional job. It's great to see her in a different role and the actress needs to do more movies. The supporting cast, that includes James LeGros and Anne Archer are very good. 'November' is quite a well made film. It is thought provoking and dark but many will dislike it most likely because of the theme. Many have complained that there is no plot but, in my opinion, I find that to be a ridiculous statement as the story (which I briefly mentioned earlier) is pretty obvious. Whether one likes it or not, I say 'November' is worth the watch.

raymiroyo I can't really say that I liked this movie. The quality of the movie, in terms of photography and editing, including sound, is incredible. I am highly amazed that this was shot in 15 days and with a very small budget. However, the plot of the movie did not convince me at all. I agree with the comment of another user, it seems pointless at the end. It took me a while to actually get that this is what was going on in her head as she dealt with the fact that she was dying. I can't really say that I am a film expert, but I don't think that the message was handled clearly. What I mean to say is, there are some films in which they leave the ending message to the consideration of the audience. This one seems to try to do that, but, in my humble opinion, it doesn't really get there and if that wasn't the idea and what they wanted was to tell you straight up that this was all in her head before she died, then they don't manage to do that either. Don't get me wrong, I love psychological thrillers, I think they are very difficult to achieve and get through to the audience. Sadly, not everyone can actually make those kinds of films. In my opinion, even the big guys like Hitchcock and Polanski had their hits and also their misses. Anyway, that is what I think.

stelladoracookie I saw November and it's a good movie, not great, but good. SPOILERS COMING IMMEDIATELY! Right in the beginning of the movie, during the opening credits, I saw Courtney's character dead on the floor and so I was tipped off right away that this movie will not end well. I didn't realize at the time the movie would always be ending and never beginning. The entire movie, all three acts of the same scene, is Courtney's character coming to terms with her death and of course it would never take that long. She dies in a matter of a few moments and that's all the time her mind is allowed to work through her death. I noticed the dreamlike quality the director used to tell the story is being confused with or mistaken for what the character's thought processes might be. The use of clues, symbols, and metaphors is how we dream or tell stories, it's not how we think. We can only guess what we may think about during a shocking and dramatic death, but I don't think it will be done in dream like thinking. I think if I got shot in the stomach, I'd be thinking holy s#*t, I'm fooking dieing and then the blood will run out and I'll get weak and then I will accept the coming darkness or hopefully the bright light will start shining and I'll hear my late mother's voice or see some Saint. Many of us know about the steps to dieing (Ross), many of us have seen a family member with cancer go through the steps. Courtney's character has to go through the steps at warp speed. The rest is all "movie business" and telling a story. All the business of clues and metaphors is for us, the movie goer, not for the character. This is not the stuff that Courtney is thinking about how could it be? Courtney is not dreaming, she's dieing. That's why so many people don't like the movie. I liked the movie, not a lot, but enough to be pleased I saw it. Not because I think I just saw what someone thinks while dieing. I didn't see that. I saw a movie tell a story the way we dream and it's interesting to be reminded the way we dream is so universal.

garythomas891 Confusing? Yes. Fractured story line? Yup. Could I recommend it to family members? Certainly not. The reason for the confusing narrative is because the director divides the film into quarters (instead of the traditional three act format). Without telling us in advance, he also "tints" each quarter segment with colors. The 'Denial' quarter is filmed in a blue tint, another quarter in sepia, another in 'white light', and so on. Subliminally, all this confuses the viewer, on a script which also filled with flash-backs and flash-forwards. Too much fractionalization to follow coherently for the average Joe.November has a cool and artful look. But artful looks can't carry a storyline if the majority of viewers are puzzled.If your a film student however, or if you have a Panasonic DVX-100 and want to make your own movies, this film is a goldmine. Film students: go to the special features menu and click on where director Harrison converses with his DP about how they made the film.He describes in the greatest detail how the film was made. All technical aspects of recording on mini-DV, transfer to non-linear AVID, sound recording imported from a 48k DAT at 29.97 is all discussed; location work, practical lighting, shooting without a crew, editing special FX, etc. Transfer to digi-beta and filmout steps all expertly explained.Harrison also discusses INDIGENT Films, the NYC studio that bankrolled this film. Indigent produces high quality - low budget movies and distributes them to markets worldwide.So in conclusion, I am purchasing a copy of November because it is an incredible training tool for the straight-to-video filmmaker. But also because I want to support Harrison and Indigent Films. Harrison will do better on his next film. And praise must be given to Indigent for producing these otherwise marvelous low budget features.In the DVD's director's commentary Harrison calls this a "no budget" movie. Then he tells us it was made for $500,000. Hardly a no budget film. In Texas, we would have shot this film for one fifth that price.But in all fairness, I really liked this film and it's arty, cranked up editing style. I'm looking forward to following Harrison's work and will definitely be tracking anything coming out of Indigent's movie inventory. Keep an eye on these folks. They're going places.Gary T filmmaker/Texas