Claire in Motion

With their second success, Howell & Robinson continue to treat mainstream log-lines with unique emotional and intellectual tenderness, offering a fresh take on our inherent need for closure.

Robinson and Howell know how to create an atmosphere of expectation; they succeed in outlining an elliptical and murky story and establishing a sense of vague unease. Perhaps their next film will give us more to go on.

Brandt impressively limns a character whose intelligence and complexity are always evident, along with a sometimes dislikable brittleness.

Ms. Robinson and Ms. Howell have kitted out their movie handsomely, but there's not enough story here or enough anything else, namely a persuasive psychological portrait of Claire, to make up for that lack.

In a mostly severe mode, Brandt carries the film well. But there's only so much she can do with the open-ended, underwritten script.

[A] somber and quietly affecting psychological mystery ...

If the viewer is expecting a mystery he will be disappointed. This is a story of a woman who has lost her husband and what her uncertainty does to her.

The story centers on Claire and her growing doubts and insecurities over what she had once perceived as an idyllic life.

Steady and sincere, even when it teases conventional conflict and resolution...Brandt is terrific.

Things are kept real, but that's not necessarily a virtue.

Throughout, writer-directors Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell's film buckles under the weight of its symbolism.

Howell and Robinson are certainly savvy when it comes to tackling big, emotional ideas with a light touch, but that doesn't always translate to gripping entertainment. Claire in Slow Motion might be a more fitting title.