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Review: ‘I Lost My Body’ Disorients at Times, but Shines as an Original and Mesmerizing Experience

I Lost My Body is a French animated film directed by Jérémy Clapin that glides through the love, loss, and self-discovery of a young man named Noufelle. The story is a gritty, beautiful, and while the original plot confuses and distances moviegoers at times, it becomes worthwhile by its conclusion.

To the audience, one of the more unique parts of the film is the added storyline of Noufelle’s severed hand’s mission of reunification across Paris. The scenes involving the hand truly showcase the beauty of the animation style; Its careful pencil-sketched movements are delicate, deft, and deliberate. One small caveat to this is that there is a bit of an uncanny valley effect with the characters that leave them looking a bit creepy, but the realism of their moments and actions usually offsets this. Furthermore, good lighting in animated films is a mesmerizing thing that is often hard to find, but this film gets it wonderfully right in bright sharp scenes that pop out among the dark comic-book look of other scenes. This expertise livens the scenes with the severed hand that focus on various actions or struggles, emphasizing its role of survival and robotic determination to find its body. The excitement, wonder, and suspense the hand experiences are enhanced by perspective shots forcing the audience to experience the tumultuous world as the hand does. However, whenever Noufelle’s story became interesting, the hand seems more like an unwelcome distraction. The audience gets a little bored following the random wanderings of the Addams Family’s Thing on the other side of the city over the heartaches and longings of a breathing intriguing human Noufelle. If the audience braves this directionless side story for some time, the harshness of the hand’s reality wears away into beautiful gestures and dream-like visions that leave them with the lovely wanderlust an artsy independent film secretly promises.

Though there are beautiful mini-monologues and stunning visuals scattered throughout the movie, I Lost My Body is no romantic film. The premise of the movie is fantastical, but Noufelle’s life is realistic, disappointing, and yet hopeful in small unexpected ways. The flashbacks to Noufelle’s childhood and the mysterious few characters that blend from past to present pull the audience in and throw pieces of a puzzle up into the air for the audience to attempt to put together. It’s disorienting at times, throwing out a little bit too much vagueness that leaves the audiences floating alone in a pool of ideas, images, and feelings. However, if the viewer pushes through these moments, the connection of all these ideas is masterful and well worth the confusion. This movie would be even more brilliant the second time when the audience can find more pieces and put them together more efficiently; There is so much to uncover with every subsequent viewing. However, I believe that this film is a good movie to watch once for the moment-to-moment experience of something fresh and interesting, but not necessarily something I would personally want to watch to enjoy again. The film doesn’t give the moviegoer what it wants in terms of relationships between people and their goals that run throughout the movie. Instead, the moviegoer understands something at the end that they can’t quite put into words, some shared novel mutual human understanding Claplin reaches out and slowly uncovers for them to see.

3/5 STARS

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Review: ‘Queen & Slim’ is a Disappointing Roadside Adventure

There are two kinds of bad independent films: The low-budget Sundance indie that is afforded the opportunity to take risks, good or bad; ones that end up as reactive cases that can be meshed into the Sundance drama category. Then there is the other, albeit much rarer, type: the reductive, safe type, hiding a banal plot underneath the glitz and glamour. With a director like Melina Matsoukas (a multi-ethnic female director of color known for her indelible music videos) and Lena Waithe (Emmy winner of the masterful “Thanksgiving” episode from Master of None), Queen & Slim had a lot of potential. Add in Daniel Kaluuyah of Get Out and decade-worthy Widows fame and a new up-and-coming starlet in the form of Jodie Turner-Smith, this was a potential late-year wild card up Hollywood and Universal’s sleeve. Instead, what we get is the rare type of bad indie, the one too wrapped up in self-mythologizing and a shallow black experience story to creatively shift the on-the-run genre and shine above the rest.

The film follows the promising story of a date gone bad. Queen and Slim, named at the end in their martyr state, are off to a rocky start, with one seeking attention and the other seeking brief solace. But when a routine traffic stop turns to anything but, Queen and Slim go on the run. Their journey takes them across the roads of Americana as their legend and love for each other grows larger. Once the central story evolves into something more, Queen & Slim presents its thin foundation with an awkward two-hander, landing somewhere between plot-less visual piece and laborious plot-driven drama.

The film, and subsequently its script, shows all of its cards from the opening scene; In other words, once you know the story, it is easy to see where this will go. The two characters have a beguiling resentment for each other, born from contrasting backgrounds and ideologies. Queen, one of the many underwritten elements of the film, comes from a background of eye-rolling authority, initially refusing to go with Slim because she will figure it out on her own. However, an hour later in the film’s running time later, she is caressing Slim while they make love – a scene notable as one the few risks the film takes as it crosscuts with deadly riots in support of the two lovers. If you think you’ll miss anything in between, you won’t. They dance in a sun-soaked bar; They almost get caught a couple of times; they change clothes. That’s it. That’s the plot.

Queen & Slim is filled with clunky and self-aggrandizing dialogue. For every thoughtful (albeit heavy-handed) dialogue sequence, there is a loopy sequence appealing to God or legacy. The imagery is colorful and sultry; Matsoukas shows an adept ability at framing the camera in isolated frames in the beginning; the general distrust between each other presented in a clear way. By the end, the isolated frames have collided into one another, heads and arms flying outside the window as they learn to embrace life. Waithe may have an inept ability to write her main characters, but her supporting character glows with aberrated rhythm. Additionally, Bokeem Woodbine has a riotous role as Queen’s uncle. On top of that, even Flea shows up as another supporting character. There is a generous virtuosity to the film’s delectable images as the film bursts with style from the seams. But the film wants to be more than that. There are supporting characters that Waithe wants to beam with operatic complexity that turn out to be – well – nothing but average, albeit wacky, supporting characters. The story wants to explore societal fragments located within a Bonnie and Clyde mythmaking tale of black love and resistance. Instead, the script and storytelling let the premise and potential down, resulting in a forgettable Thanksgiving option.

2.5/5 STARS

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Review: ‘The Irishman’ is What I Call Real Cinema

Ever since the announcement of a Scorsese film starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino, film lovers have had The Irishman in the back of their minds, patiently waiting in anticipation. Martin Scorsese is no stranger to the gangster film genre, so it comes as no surprise that he chose to return to it with The Irishman. He brings with him his long time collaborators, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, and for the first time, Al Pacino, for the best gangster film this decade. DeNiro plays Frank Sheeran, a truck driver, who gets involved with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), a high ranking member in a mob family. This connection eventually leads to Frank getting a job with a Teamster representative, Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), who is involved with the mob. What many thought would be another gangster film from the legendary filmmaker, The Irishman is both an exciting gangster epic and an output for Scorsese to reflect on his career and the gangster genre where he found so much success.

First, the elephant in the room: the three and a half hour run time. Though the time didn’t exactly fly by, it also didn’t feel like any of that time was wasted. Everything included in the film adds to the story being told and nothing in the final cut can afford to be lost. The movie is a bit of a slow burn, but it never slows down enough to lose any of its momentum. It feels like the film is constantly moving forwards, even towards the end. The performances are outstanding. Nobody will ever be better for a Scorsese long shot than DeNiro. DeNiro is a master at conveying so much with so little and it easily seen in his amazing performance. The other big standout is Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa. Although he looks nothing like the real person, he is able to transform himself into Jimmy Hoffa, and as a result, his portrayal is utterly enthralling. Less enchanting however, is the de-aging of DeNiro and others. While it doesn’t look bad, during flashbacks, you have to look at supporting characters to figure out when the scene is taking place because DeNiro always looks at least 50 no matter how much they de-age him.

From beginning to end, Scorsese never lets the audience forget about the ever-looming presence of death. You can feel the weight of every loss whether it’s the death of a character or the death of relationships between characters. Everyone loses something by the end of the film. All the lower ranking mobsters are introduced with text about how and where they died; most of them young and murdered for one reason or another. The ones that do survive are in prison or die alone, those who once had it all are left with nothing. In his past films, Scorsese dawdles on the the glitz and glamour of the lavish lives lived by gangsters, and while that is present in The Irishman, what’s more prominent is the fall of the gangster. He lingers on the fall by illustrating how the gangsters who do live long enough to die old slowly lose everything until they have nothing left but themselves.

This infatuation with the fall of the gangster feels like Scorsese is looking back at his career and the image of the gangster. With Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed, Scorsese made it cool to be a gangster, and the lifestyle they live something to aspire for. The Irishman warns that this fame and fortune is temporary and will eventually come to an anti-climactic end. Hopefully this is not his last film, however, The Irishman would be a strong ending to an accomplished career.

The shots are beautifully crafted, the performances are captivating, and the film as a whole is a wonderful film that only Martin Scorsese could craft this elegantly. Martin Scorsese has once again hit the nail on the head and created a masterpiece that will go down as one of his best. With the very limited theater release, I highly recommend finding a theater showing it, otherwise, on November 27th, sit down for three and a half hours and enjoy a piece of “real cinema”.

4.5/5 STARS

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Review: ‘Knives Out’ is the Funny, Fresh, Twisty Thrill We Need Right Now

In my opinion, there are two reasons that movies exist. Either they are a medium of self-expression or they are a way to entertain us. The latter of these two is almost certainly going draw thousands to the movies over the Thanksgiving break.

Knives Out immediately draws you into the mystery surrounding the death of wealthy author, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). You are there at the scene of the crime, the Thrombey estate, and immediately are shown the dead body. The location scouting and production design teams have to be given credit for their work. In the estate (the primary location throughout the film), the Thrombey family’s wealth is immaculately stated in every detail of the house; whether it be the excess of ridiculous objects, narrow hallways with many rooms, or the many paintings of Harlem himself, it’s clear. They are wealthy; part of the elite.

However, the stellar writing of writer/director Rian Johnson’s script clearly makes this family out to be spoiled and ridiculous, leading to some genuinely solid laughs from start to finish. However, Johnson interestingly takes an approach that completely undermines the conventions of the murder mystery genre. Johnson initially follows the tradition of giving us a motive for all the characters to kill him, but he pulls the rug from under you. Once that happens, the movie becomes something fresh. It’s unpredictable and will keep you on the edge of your seat with an atmosphere thick with tension and dialogue designed to keep us laughing.

The narrative juxtaposes three sides of this story: the family, the police, and, our main protagonist, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas). As with many films of this generation, there is clearly a social commentary in this movie. There are clear connections that Johnson makes between the contained story of the film and our present political climate. It’s not subtle at all, and the message is not revolutionary, but it leads to a great punch at the end that ultimately leaves you in a good mood.

Nothing needs to be said about say anything about acting in this film. The cast is star studded. Chris Evans. Daniel Craig. Toni Collette. Jamie Lee Curtis. Michael Shannon. Lakeith Stanfield. All of the performances here are solid. Ana de Armas in particular grounds the film with an excellent performance. It’s believable and has some genuine (albeit, limited) depth. Prior to Knives Out, she had never held a lead role in a major Hollywood film. Praise must be given for being able to give such a good performance among the powerhouse actors in the movie.

Overall, this whodunnit has excellent direction from a talented writer/director that continues to make great movies. Yes, you could wait to see the film when it comes out on digital, but you risk being stabbed in the back with spoilers. This is the type of movie that doesn’t come along that often. It’s an original story in a mostly underrepresented genre in today’s studio releases. It’s definitely worth multiple viewings when the chance presents itself.

4.5/5 STARS

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Review: Gripping and Profound, ‘End of the Century’ is a Modern-Day Romance

Pensive, piquant, and provocative, Lucio Castro’s End of the Century is a vibrant drama that perfectly captures the shallow yet strangely intimate dynamic of modern romances. From his Airbnb balcony, Ocho (Juan Barberini) catches his eye on an attractive passerby, Javi (Ramon Pujol). The two feel an instant connection, and as they get to know each other, they realize they have met before. As the film explores their timeline, Ocho and Javi expose new facets of themselves and confront what they really want out of a human connection.

End of the Century is markedly realistic in the way the characters interact. The small talk, light jabs, and slight pauses in conversation that live on the brink of awkwardness are remarkably accurate in the interactions of new acquaintances. Barberini and Pujol are masters of subtlety, and both do a wonderful job of portraying the tempered chemistry between their characters, treading the gentle line between passion and nonchalance. Rather than displaying blazing passion from the get go, they put on a bravado of restraint that swells and wanes with desire. This dynamic provides an interesting and profound relationship that dissects how people become intimate with strangers.

Adding to the realistic acting style, the cinematography maintains a lifelike atmosphere. The rawness of the footage slides the viewer into the intimacy of Ocho’s daily life. The simplicity of the editing relaxes the mood of the film into a slow ebb of tranquility, almost to the point of stagnancy. The minimalist style places focus in the natural beauty of the setting. Expect to be enthralled by the gorgeous streets of Barcelona, from its peaceful beaches to the cozy street markets. On aesthetic alone, End of the Century has a lot to offer.

The primary romantic relationship in End of the Century is undoubtedly same sex. But the publicity management seems to market this element above all others, which can feel more like a warning instead of a tag. A lot of the advertising situates End of the Century among other LGBT films rather than broader world of film, keeping it in the bubble of a subgenre. While the gay marketing does help spread awareness, it does not necessarily normalize queer relationships. Films with heteronormative relationships do not have a tag attached to the title so why should films with gay and queer relationships? Though End of the Century is marketed as a gay film, the emphasis lies much more deeply in forming human connections and posing philosophical questions.

Castro dives deep into the philosophy that fuels and pervades our actions and thought processes. Notably, he anticipates the question of true freedom. Where is the line drawn between independence and codependence? How do we keep away from the monotony that inevitably dulls a long term relationship? How do we maintain commitment? A beautiful quote from a novel in the film likens commitment issues to the catharsis of reaching a destination. The author desires to be in a constant state of transit, which is where they believe true freedom lies. Reaching your goals can be burdensome in the eternal “What’s next?” question. After hitting your mark, the chapter closes, and the void that follows is consuming.

Though this is an excellent film, it is very sexually explicit and is definitely not suitable to any viewer under the age of 18. For adult audiences who feel queasy about erotic material, the sex scenes are not unnecessarily grotesque and somehow settle in the artistic gray area of actually supporting the plot without existing for the sake of shock value.

Albeit intentional, the pacing is slow and requires a lot of concentration to stay engaged with every plot point. The audience may have trouble piecing together the narrative as the timeline flips back and forth between the past and the present, as well as illusion and reality. Any viewer who needs closure at the resolution will likely not be pleased with the open-ended plot. But for those who enjoy the mind game, strap in for a beautiful, poignant story that leaves you with the thrilling yet depressing feeling of the end of a century.

5/5 STARS

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Review: ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ is a Perfect Biopic but Okay Film

“Fame is a four-letter word, like ‘tape’ or ‘zoom.’”

There is a frustrating paradox at the center of Marielle Heller’s new film. It’s the type of risky feature that feels warmly conventional and at other times radical – just like the man himself. It features soft-spoken sequences that have the cacophonous effect of a foghorn, sincerely and smartly ushering in a wave of complexity about Mr. Rogers, his message, his role, and how it connects the world in a time of disconnect and conflict. But the film also is consistently a droll film at times, using its radical edge to tell a dull story of a man with daddy issues. The third feature directed by the supremely talented Marielle Heller, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, centers around Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), an investigative journalist for Esquire, who is assigned against his will to write a profile on the famous Mr. Rogers (Tom Hanks). Lloyd, based on the real Esquire writer Tom Junod, must come to terms with conflicting elements in his life – his estranged father, his wife, his new baby, and everything in between.

Father issues are an inevitable part of cinema – for better or for worse. Just look at the best film of the year, Ad Astra, a film that combines the story of a man searching for salvation in the cosmos with a battle of toxic masculinity connected with his father. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood instead has Matthew Rhys stage intermittent panic and anger attacks with conventional rejection. Rhys, a welsh actor most notable for one of the best performances of the decade in The Americans, isn’t utilized to in his fullest compared to the former (a show that astutely lets his soft-spoken directness clash with innate primal anger). Heller initially plays the story of this man with no real interest, turning an accomplished thespian like Rhys into just another character actor who gets overshadowed by a legend (both in character and in real life). That legend is Hanks, who is so satisfying in this film, perfectly capturing the soft-spoken soul of the man at the film’s center. Hanks doesn’t go for an impressionistic appearance but one that is born out of tempo and feel. It is… remarkable. And ultimately, that’s where the film’s greatest strength lies. Heller perfectly pinpoints who Rogers was and isn’t afraid to show the tight rope that Rogers constantly walked on. He wasn’t a saint. He was a fallible man who worked profoundly hard to procure and maintain his core philosophy and ultimately his central sincere image.

Despite all of this, it isn’t until the film’s final stretch that the stark simplicity of Lloyd’s story reveals itself to be satisfying. This is a story that is directed to perfection by a woman who sees the whole picture and doesn’t get in the way of the truth. It’s a straightforward story that hatches and grows into a complex organism, one that illuminates the constant daily struggles of empathy and forgiveness. It’s a shame the interest arrives late but underneath all of the wry simplicity is a smart, soulful film that gets half of the equation right, elevated by the ethereal presence of Rogers, acting as a ghostly narrator looking over the complexities of the world and giving it a guiding voice.

3.5/5 STARS

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Review: There’s 21 Bridges You’ll Have to Cross Before Enjoying ’21 Bridges’

21 Bridges is a film with an intriguing concept that falls flat on its face when it comes to its execution. Chadwick Boseman plays a police detective who lost his father, who was also a cop, at a young age to street thugs. Now as a cop himself, Detective Andre Davis is known as “the cop who kills cop killers.” Thus, when a robbery goes wrong and leaves eight cops dead in the street following a deadly shootout, Andre is on the case. In an effort to make sure the burglars don’t escape, he orders officers to close off Manhattan from the rest of New York City, shutting down its 21 bridges.

The premise of the film is that the 21 bridges in and out of Manhattan are closed so that the police can catch the two criminals responsible for murdering eight police officers. However, the criminals are never really trapped as a result of the island being shut down. They can move about the borough freely the whole time and are never looking behind themselves or worried about getting off the island. At the same time, the detective’s sleuthing skills are only on display at the very beginning of the film. In a Sherlock Holmes style analysis, he decides the robbers haven’t left the island, but from then on, he is told where to go via phone calls. He follows the path of the plot rather than using his investigative abilities to figure out the criminals’ next move. He is an empty character who is moved by the plot rather than moving the plot himself.

Andre’s past and family history set up an interesting arc that doesn’t lead anywhere. The film spends too much time establishing the fact that he’s ‘the cop who kills bad guys.’ It brings it up repeatedly like it’s the only thing it’s trying to make sure you know about his character. The only time he doesn’t kill bad guys is when it serves the plot for him to not kill the bad guy. Regardless of the character building, Boseman’s performance is nothing special. The performance that disappoints the most was J.K. Simmons. It was almost as if Simmons was so sad the Batfleck film fell apart he took the role of a police captain in a different project and didn’t care enough to try.

The action scenes are well shot and the best part of the film. Shootouts in tight spaces feel claustrophobic and the action is fairly easy to follow. The chase scenes are also exciting and a fresh break from the sloppy narrative. One thing that makes the plot interesting is much of the film follows the criminals; they almost get as much screen time as Boseman. The film also makes one of the criminals a likeable character and gives him redeeming qualities, which is an interesting idea, but it doesn’t develop in a meaningful way.

21 Bridges is a dumb cop drama that can be enjoyed for what it is: a dumb cop drama. It sets up arcs and themes that lead to nothing, but the action sequences are a great to watch. If you’re at all interested in 21 Bridges, just wait until it’s airing on TNT in between Law and Order reruns, because it’s not worth a trip to the theater.

2.5/5 STARS

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Review: ‘Dark Waters’ is a Stirring and Often Infuriating Story

“I’m still here.”

Todd Haynes, mostly known for his striking art films, including one of the decade’s best, Carol, is remarkably restrained and in focus directing his new film Dark Waters. The elegant artistry that has defined his long and shockingly unprolific career is hardly detectable in the environmental thriller. Yet, the film, based on a true story, nonetheless offers a stirring and often infuriating story of the cyclical and corporate greed that affected West Virginia’s employees, neighbors, and even the world at large. The story centers around Cincinnati lawyer Rob Billot (Mark Ruffalo), a simple man who specializes in defending the very type of companies he eventually fights. When a West Virginia farmer, Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), brings evidence to Billot that shows a local DuPont plant is poisoning his herd of cattle, Rob battles the various conflicts in his life – his firm, his family, and his career as a result of taking the farmer’s case. The case, however, proves to be exponentially more complex and far-reaching than he initially thought.

Sometimes through it – and other times despite it – the conventionality of Dark Waters lets open a frequently stirring and meticulous story filled with all of the tropes of a strong narrative like this – obsession, corporate greed, socioeconomic grievances, home strife, and more. Hayne’s subdued touch most often shines in his attempts to de-Hollywoodize the film. Mark Ruffalo carries a bad haircut and a slouching, almost hunchback form. Anne Hathaway, the overt wrinkles of time showing in each scene, moves back and forth between frustration and empathy, with jealousy as the mediator. And Bill Camp, the film’s real star, let’s loose his broken southern accent and big bushy eyebrows as the film’s central metaphor – the everyday hard-working good guys always finish last. It is in Hayne’s systematic approach where the film ultimately succeeds. Rob’s painstaking detective work shows through complete detail, whether through methodical enactments of chemistry, public health, and regulatory law, that eventually, the personal price he pays in his decades-long battle against corporate stonewalling and delays is representative of the continuous fight we all suffer against our own personal Goliath.

This is less a story about Daniel winning than it is about Daniel persevering. Other underrated elements include Edward Lachman’s textured and gritty cinematography or even Tim Robbins and Bill Pullman as veteran attorneys who bring terrific character actor work that weigh the film down to its roots. But the film’s real intentions seem to show during after the final reel, highlighting the various cameos of the real people who suffered in this story, Tennant’s real-life brother among them. Even when the second half often strains for attention (you have seen this story 100 times before), Haynes elevates a typical job of a director-for-hire into another sturdy addition in the “you knew” genre.

3.5/5 STARS

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UW Film Club Podcast #59 – Jojo Rabbit

“You’re not a podcaster, Jojo. You’re a ten year old kid who likes movies and wants to be a part of a club.”

Taika Waititi’s newest film, Jojo Rabbit, is an “anti-hate satire” taking the film world by storm! It won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF and already has a copious amount of Oscar buzz, so what better time to start talking about the film! In this podcast, we talk about Waititi’s comedic sensibilities, the film’s memorable characters, and its sensitivity in approaching the subject matter. Be the rabbit, and listen to the 59th episode of the UW Film Club Podcast now!

On this episode: Jim Saunders and Ajay Rawat

Ajay’s Review: http://students.washington.edu/film/2019/11/04/review-jojo-rabbit-is-an-emotional-roller-coaster/

You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every Monday for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

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Review: ‘The Good Liar’ Confuses Instead of Shocks

After finishing a complicated movie, it is easy to feel a little lost and kind of unintelligent, but after a few hours or even days, it usually hits you. A eureka moment that makes your brain go “it all makes sense now.” Unfortunately, that never happened after I watched this movie. Bill Condon’s The Good Liar falls short of a notable film with its pointless distractions and shallow ending.

The Good Liar relies heavily on twists within its plot, so trying to summarize it without giving away any major plot points is like tip toeing around a minefield. Essentially, it features a widow named Roy Courtnay (Ian Mckellan) and a widower named Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) who meet on an online dating site. Upon their first date, they hit it off and gradually grow closer until Betty invites Roy to stay with her and her grandson, Steven (Russell Tovey), due to his injured knee. From the first time they meet, Steven is suspicious of Roy and tries his best to expose him for being a fraud, but Roy denies any sort of interrogation, creating a tension throughout this film.

From the start, this movie is a bit of a slow burner, but Condon does try to spice things up from time to time with some juxtaposed transition. For example, Roy’s transition from his bland lunch date with his future romantic interest, Betty McLeish, goes to a loud, colorful strip club for one of his business meetings. Ultimately, these smaller twists help make the first act a bit more bearable, but by no means are you on the edge of my seat wondering what is going to happen next.

This final act of the film felt very undeserving. Throughout it all, Condon throws in twists and turns to throw off the audience, but in the end, there is no way to follow what is going to happen. One of the most satisfying parts of watching this kind of movie is dissecting the clues given and coming to a conclusion of your own. Thus, when this film’s final twist comes without any connection to the previously presented information, you can’t help but feel a little cheated. In order for this film to work, the plot must be airtight and everything needs to be connected for the audience to feel they have solved the mystery in the end. Relying on shock value for the same effect just cheapens the whole experience. Also, it’s not like you don’t see it coming either. From the beginning, you know something is fishy, which builds the tension, but the reveal just doesn’t add up. Movies like Fight Club or Memento allow for a better understanding on what is going on during a second viewing, but The Good Liar fails to even reward the viewer for paying attention.

I came into this movie with low expectations, and those expectations were met. By all means this is a watchable movie, but it fails to leave you in shock when walking out, instead only leaving confusion. What could have been a great film fell short in the last half, sealing the fate of this sloppy thriller.

2.5/5 STARS