I started passively watching and quickly got sucked in by the quirky characters and the fresh musical interludes. I don't usually like musicals but found myself singing along and looking forward to the next. The writing is intelligent and the style is original. The film moves slowly, but leaves much to savor.

I dislike most musicals, but every song in this was written and sung rather well by all the actors. The couple had an unusual chemistry that felt awkward, immature and yet quite natural given their supposed naive backstories. It's hard to fault a movie or show when Will Poulter is involved he really is intriguing to watch and made the film that much enjoyable with his comedic interactions with the other cafe customers.

You don't find movies done like this.

I put this on just to eat dinner, and ended up captivated by the dialog, subtle, clever, meaningful. This movie is never gonna please everyone and no musical has ever come off as "natural" but they kinda pulled it off(the songs are poems and they are meant to capture the characters internal fire). It's obviously done like a play(campy) and in the first couple minutes they talk about Shakespeare and poets.so you get the hint. Its one of those movies you might be embarrassed to get caught watching, if someone walked in during the singing but honestly, it was well directed(well acted, well shot) very well written and the story was quite captivating(the mystery of not knowing exactly what's going down) i didn't notice the pace being slow, i was too busy paying attention to the interactions of the players.

I'd say give it the fifteen minute test, if you don't like it, move along.