"Downloading Nancy" is the best film I've seen in a while. What is so impressive about it is its ability to make the characters in an almost unbelievable story so believable.

Nancy wants to die. After suffering horrific childhood abuse, and being stuck in a loveless marriage for 15 years, she can only really feel alive when she's in physical pain. To cope, she cuts herself, but her fantasy is to find a sexual sadist willing to take her life for her. Enter Louis, who she meets on the internet, and who is willing to serve as her sexual dominant and eventual murderer.

Louis is the yan to Nancy's yin. He deals with psychic pain by inflicting physical pain. His demeanor is calm and controlled, as opposed to Nancy's histrionics. They're soul mates. They understand each other. And ultimately, when Louis acts, it's out of love.

What makes the film is really Maria Bello's powerhouse performance. Nancy is not an easy character to like - she's a person who's so determined to die that she's lost any desire to maintain any kind of dignity. She can be harsh, abusive, cruel ... and yet the actress makes her pain so real that it's hard to fault her for anything she does. She is somehow able to make this disturbed, ruined woman both relatable and even lovable.