Seven Pounds (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #25 extract: Seven Pounds (2008)

A genuinely great movie that, somehow, has flown under my radar for a long time - and seemingly many others', too. 

An amalgamation of the Robin Hood myth, the sacrifice of Christ story and the archetypal redemption narrative put into a modern setting with genuine romance, Seven Pounds is something close to a masterpiece. There are, however, elements of this that feel a little too genre-like, meaning that this film is often very clearly trying to make you cry tears of melancholic joy (and this may work for some). For this, there is a certain, yet very, very minimal, contrivance about this story that keeps it mere inches from mastery. With a modified sound track and about 5-10 minutes cut from its run time, I think this would be a perfect movie. 

A highly under-rated, hyper-criticised and overlooked film, Seven Pounds is, without a doubt, something to check out.