Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? I'm one who tends to avoid the discussion entirely by saying "both." One Day is the most real (save a few accents) movie I've seen in a long time. It explores time and how it often slips away from us. Our hearts' desires are often decimated by bad timing, and the movie finds a variety of ways to demonstrate this. So in the case of One Day, art imitates life to the fullest, as we can all sympathize (if only a little) to crushed hopes and shattered dreams, though hopefully we eventually find our way.

Anne Hathaway stars as insecure working-class woman Emma, who, for one reason or another is drawn to Dexter, (Jim Sturgess) a charming upper middle class man with a great amount of self-confidence. It may be hard to understand just what the two have on each other, but they are characters I'm familiar with. The woman who is way too into a man that's way too into himself, it happens and for the type, Dex is pretty likable. Em and Dex have nothing in common. But their opposite personalities do what a relationship should; make each other better. They are Yin and Yang, complementary opposites.

An interesting technique used by One Day, is that we only get to see the events of a single day, July 15, for each of 20 plus years. Some of my peers have taken to calling this a gimmick. In a year where it seems every other film is either a sequel or a remake/reboot, (which critics and public alike have grown tired of) I feel fresh ideas should be applauded, even if it doesn't quite work. For me, however, it worked to perfection. Director Lone Scherfig (An Education) paints the picture of Em and Dex's up and down relationship with great finesse, never having too much happen on the date year to year. The filmmaker fills us in on what has taken place throughout each year, without conversations seeming inorganic. The cinematography is beautiful, especially a scene where our would-be lovers break all their rules by taking a dip at sunset. There's plenty of humor, joy, sadness, regret and a number of other emotions to be felt. I caution viewers that this isn't a romantic comedy, nor does it end like one. One Day is, however, easily one of the most heartfelt films of the year and should be celebrated for its bravery.

"One Day", based on the novel of the same name, is the relationship of two people, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess), as we see it on July 15th of each year. As can be expected from the nature of the story, it's a little dry, lacking in comedy. But then again, it's a romantic drama, not a romantic comedy.

As is the nature of the two media, movies can never be exactly the same as the novel. But the problem with this one is that they tried to; no story lines were removed. Almost everything was there, just shortened into mostly meaningless segments. I personally could have done with one less event in their lives, and perhaps a different ending, but they tried to be as faithful as possible.

What we have here is a movie about a relationship, but the novel was about the people. They traded in character depth and development so we can see them in their more attractive years falling in and out of love.

I wasn't very familiar with Jim Sturgess, having seen him play skinny, slightly nerdy, not as confident kids. Dexter is a different breed of guy. Just has high on self-confidence as he is on drugs and alcohol, he gets by on his looks – literally – he's a TV host. Although the different characteristics of Dexter weren't explicitly shown in the movie, Sturgess brought them out in him perfectly. Emma is a more complex character, with significant evolution to who she is throughout the years, except none of that is in the movie, so it just wasn't really possible for Hathaway to portray her as a more interesting person.

I would assume that watching "One Day" without the benefit of having read the novel would be a fairly confusing, empty experience. With the background that the novel gave me, I could fill in all the missing years and the unexplored layers to the characters, so there was still something to their relationship for me.

Greetings from Lithuania.

I don't watch romantic movies often, but when i heard about story of "One day" i thought of giving it a chance. And it sure didn't disappoint me. This is a really good love story, told in a single day in a year in period of 23 years. Movie is beautifully filmed, with great acting by the two leads, especially from Anne Hathaway. She's just so ... beautiful in every meaning of this word. Can't wait to see her next summer in "TDKR". "One day" isn't your typical Hollywood love story and you can clearly FEEL that watching it.

Give this movie a chance and you can be really surprised that when this movie will end, you'll fell your self a little ... brighter.