~~ Dragonfly ~~

I have a strong interest in anything supernatural; if you like you could say I like anything spooky. I came across this movie quite by accident, until recently I used to have sky movies and one night I flicked through the channels and started watching a movie, I had missed the beginning of it, but from watching a couple of minutes it had attracted my interest, so much so that when it had finished I had to find out what it was called and get myself a copy. Ok, I am going on again, I know but it has got me here writing this review and wanting to share why I love this film so much.

~~ The Movie ~~

Kevin Costner plays a Doctor at Chicago Memorial Hospital, he is highly respected and the Head of his Department, oh you want to know his name don't you, it is Dr. Joe Darrow, his wife is/was also a Doctor in the Oncology department, her name is Dr Emily Darrow. Emily loves children and also works with the Red Cross, going to countries in need.

It was on one of these trips with the Red Cross in Venezuela, South America, where our story starts, she is in the Red Cross bus on a cliff when it gets caught in a landslide and goes over the cliff into the river below. She is lost presumed dead, her body never found. We see Joe searching for her and her memorial service back in America.

The story then takes us to six months later and Dr. Joe Darrow as buried himself (excuse the pun) into his work, working around the clock seven days a week to overcome his grief. The film takes us through flash backs of Joe and Emily's time together before his tragic loss? Jo is stressed and sad; he has not come to terms with his grief or faced it as yet.

Strange phenomenons occur throughout this movie, Joe starts seeing dragonflies, hearing Emily's voice and seeing strange symbols of two wavy lines in the form of a cross. These peculiar things make even Joe doubt his own sanity.

How come these out of the ordinary events are occurring?
What are the messages trying to convey?
Is Emily still alive?

You will have to watch the movie to find out.

~~ The Cast ~~

Kevin Costner as Dr Joe Darrow - he is very good in this part, the director has played on his strong emotional points. He is very good at getting his emotions across without having to say a word. He fits the part well.

Susanna Thompson as Dr Emily Darrow - although they killed her off at the beginning we do back track to the past on a few occasions so we do get the benefit of seeing her in her role. You tend to have a mental image of how she would look, being a Red Cross Doctor, I felt she fitted my Mental Image, perfectly apart from at times, she was a little too clean.

Kathy Bates - played neighbour, friend and confident to the Darrow's, Miriam - she was the one that Joe Darrow went to, told her all what was happening, she advised and listened.

There were many more and some wonder child actors playing their parts really well, also a very funny, scraggy looking parrot which definitely deserves a mention.

~~ My Opinion ~~

I think the Director got this picture really spot on, he got the pace of the events just right, how you question yourself, doubt yourself before acceptance was brilliant. This has got to be the best film in this supernatural category that I have seen in a long time.

It takes you through the emotions, it can make you anxious at the right moments, nervous, sad, and happy, grab the tissues, and yes it takes you through your emotions. So this film is supernatural, but it is also romantic and dramatic. The box calls it a suspense filled thriller. Well I will have to leave it up to you to decide.

If you have not guessed it by now I absolutely loved this film and would highly recommend it, especially to anyone that enjoys a good love story or haunting.

~~ DVD Extras: ~~

I should mention that at the beginning of my copy I have two movie trailers to sit through before getting to the film, they lasted approx 5 minutes.

Scene Selection - Considering the film is 100 minutes long, there was only 12 scenes to choose from.

~~ Set Up ~~

Languages - comes in English, German and Italian

Subtitles - English, French, Italian, German, Czech, Spanish, Hungarian, Croatian and Slovenian.

~~ Bonus Material ~~

Spotlight on Location - this is interviews with the actors, the writer, director and producer, discussing the movie from their points of view. It lasts around thirteen minutes.

Deleted Scenes - there are eight deleted scenes in this section, looking through them there were some I thought would not have been any good in the film, some I said to myself were good, but I prefer the one they actually used and others I had no preference, but they are worth having a look at. It is amazing that each one lasts roughly about one minute long.

These scenes are:-
Playing God
Late Night Visitor
Advice on the Racquet Court
Memories of Emily
Awakened by Dragonflies
Am I Dreaming
Am I Dreaming Part 2
The Crib

Betty Eadie Segment - Betty is the author and this section is a six minute interview with her about her near death experience and how it changed her outlook on life.

Audio Commentary - on/off - if you switch this on you can have a commentary talking you through the movie, interesting if you like to know a little more, but off putting if you just want to watch the movie.

~~ My Opinion on the Extras ~~

I have learnt to love the extras; they seem to have a little something for all interests, especially for film buffs who like to know all about how the film was made. The interviews with the main actors; I find the most appealing as it's interesting to hear the opinions of the people directly involved with the movie, you can without a doubt feel the pride from the director when he speaks of his work.

~~ Finally ~~

This film is a cert 12. It has extremely mild language and nudity (very tasteful), no violence and they class is as having some moderate horror.

I also want to say that I have deliberately missed some details out of the review as I do not want to spoil the movie for you.

Thank you for reading

Lyn x