Filipe Neto This film follows five men and their problems, in five distinct historical epochs, ranging from the Neolithic to our time. What is common among all of them? The character has to be brave and face the problems. And, of course, all are played by Robbin Williams in one of his few serious and dramatic roles.The film tells five isolated stories. They are short, have no great meaning, and are not particularly interesting. Bill Forsyth, the director / writer, seems to have tried to pursue any philosophical approach in all of this which, I confess, has totally escaped my eye. The fact that the film presents so many disjointed stories is equally confusing and makes the film annoying. We have never adhered to the film nor to what it presents. It is as if there is a wall between the film (the mind of its creator) and the audience. That makes it all a boring, not to say detestable, cinematic experience.Although the film itself is bad, it counts on a good cast headed by Robbin Williams (in one of its rare dramatic works). We can also name the names of Robert Carlyle, Theresa Russell and Ewan McGregor. I believe everyone did their best, but with such bad material it was hard to do miracles.

brchthethird I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first heard about this film. All I knew was that it was composed of five separate stories that spanned centuries, with Robin Williams as the link between all of them. Sounds quite ambitious, right? Yes, but the end result was underwhelming and, dare I say it, a little dull. There are, however, some major themes explored here as indicated by the title. I guess if you were to boil the film down to its essence, it is, simply put, about being human. Being more specific, it is about mankind's search and need for companionship and family, along with all of the other small things, good and bad, which enter into our lives on our journey through time. Robin Williams' character Hector, a name which he has for the entire film, can be said to literally make a journey through time. It's not explicitly stated, but since he does keep the same name throughout, you could say that his character in each subsequent story is a reincarnation of who he is in the previous one. This is all fine, but there were some spots which felt underdeveloped and worst of all, the film is practically destroyed by some of the worst voice-over narration I've ever heard. Thankfully, by the final segment the narration isn't so omnipresent. By far the worst effect of the narration is to replace character development and spoon-feed the film's themes to the audience. I did a little research online, and apparently the director, Bill Forsyth, had to cut 40 minutes and add the narration after an initial cut had a poor test screening. It's a pity that that early version isn't available to watch, because I think the film would be better in that form. The closest I think the film got was the final segment, but that one segment didn't exactly make up for all that came before it. But it did tie the film together thematically, and provide a satisfying conclusion to the larger story arc. Overall it was a satisfactory watch, but it still felt like it was missing something. Better films like this would be CLOUD ATLAS and THE FOUNTAIN, but there are still elements to appreciate in this film.

Lee Eisenberg In one of his serious roles sans beard, Robin Williams stars in this somewhat confusing movie about a man portrayed in five different stories, always trying to find meaning in life...or something. Maybe the movie was trying to make a point about something, but I couldn't really tell. In a way, it almost seems like they made the movie for fun and just stacked the whole thing with a giant cast. Director Bill Forsyth, who had a very clear goal in making "Local Hero", seems somewhat confused himself here.I should identify that I didn't hate "Being Human". It's an interesting look at world history. It's just hard to get a grip on the movie. An OK way to pass time, but I wouldn't recommend making it your first choice. Also starring Theresa Russell, Robert Carlyle, John Turturro, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jonathan Hyde, Hector Elizondo, Ewan McGregor (in his debut) and William H. Macy.

kristi_wilson81 Dear Movie Fans, I am a huge R. Williams fan so for me this was a treat... I watched this movie by accident while waiting for an extended repair on my car.. anyway it was great...His journey through time had my own imagination going wild...I sat traveling w/him thinking how I would react to these situations...I started to forget it was even Robin Williams in the film as odd as that sounds to some... I was completely sad when this movie ended...from that time on it has been a movie that comforts me when I'm down... please watch if you like both Williams & some soul searching.Psst also check out Mrs Doubtfire for a pick me up ;) Happy Viewing!