The film has some interesting moments but the term "thriller" should not be used. It is more a story of a young woman's escape from her past (and domineering mother) while learning about the father she never knew. The thriller element is not needed nor used well.
The acting overall is good but not impressive. Gadon walks through the movie just being dull with an open eye glaze that represents whatever feelings she is having at any given moment. Rosanna Arquette plays an irritating role that you are meant to hate and she does it well. I loved the way she delivered her last line to her daughter. A few of the minor characters were good. I liked the female neighbour although I don't her name.
It is hard to tell if it is the script, the editing or the directing that makes the story to abbreviated in place - inappropriate pacing. Some are serious such as the dialogue between Gadon and Arquette about Octavio's sexuality which is delivered bluntly, too quickly, the revelations too fast and without any real repercussions by the daughter. The scene were Gadon is forced to leave the men's club the first time is too abrupt especially as it leads to her dressing as a male and a major part of the storyline. Some times it is the small things that aren't paced when the mother shows up and then almost immediately the apartment is being sold. Throw away lines like having the place cleaned out by the end of day (really?) or the movers taking things out and throwing them into the back of a pick up truck (we last see them removing a sofa which certainly was not going into that truck) and then we see them boxing up books into rubbermaid tubs in the back of another pickup although there are only enough tubs for a fraction of what was in that apartment. And there was no time frame to examine which books might have value, economically (certainly an issue with the mother) or emotionally. And the last scene about calling the movers to come that day but the house is still full of belongings.
I found the locations very average and in that I really liked them. The house that mother and daughter are living in is as average as they come. As always I like movies that show winter especially city winters with piled, dirty snow, half melted on the streets. Too often when a director wants to show winter - it is always pure white and never dirty. Not this time. Although it is always hard to maintain that image as in one scene you'll notice far less snow than there should be considering the snow in the previous scene. Could be the time frame of the filming or it could be a weather change that actually did change the snow level. Octavio's apartment was a disaster but the set was great. You really did think a person lived here who only focused on his books (and his smoking) and keeping things clean were not an issue. It was also a surprise for if the movie was going to follow a stereotypical route - it would have been a much nicer apartment.
I will admit that if there is a metaphor or allusion in the last scene when the daughter finds the door hidden behind a tapestry then I didn't get it. I guess where I already felt the apartment had been created so well as to be a character in the story and yet the pacing of the story wasn't fitting that characterization - the finding of a room that no one knew about was bizarre. You just sold an apartment to people who don't know there is an extra bedroom they never saw. Some would love that. Others wouldn't. You lived in this apartment, even for a week, and didn't notice another room.
In the end the movie didn't hold up well. Removing the misplaced thriller elements and replacing them with some more emotional moments, like the daughter exploring her father's belongings esp his books, would have told a richer story.
The acting overall is good but not impressive. Gadon walks through the movie just being dull with an open eye glaze that represents whatever feelings she is having at any given moment. Rosanna Arquette plays an irritating role that you are meant to hate and she does it well. I loved the way she delivered her last line to her daughter. A few of the minor characters were good. I liked the female neighbour although I don't her name.
It is hard to tell if it is the script, the editing or the directing that makes the story to abbreviated in place - inappropriate pacing. Some are serious such as the dialogue between Gadon and Arquette about Octavio's sexuality which is delivered bluntly, too quickly, the revelations too fast and without any real repercussions by the daughter. The scene were Gadon is forced to leave the men's club the first time is too abrupt especially as it leads to her dressing as a male and a major part of the storyline. Some times it is the small things that aren't paced when the mother shows up and then almost immediately the apartment is being sold. Throw away lines like having the place cleaned out by the end of day (really?) or the movers taking things out and throwing them into the back of a pick up truck (we last see them removing a sofa which certainly was not going into that truck) and then we see them boxing up books into rubbermaid tubs in the back of another pickup although there are only enough tubs for a fraction of what was in that apartment. And there was no time frame to examine which books might have value, economically (certainly an issue with the mother) or emotionally. And the last scene about calling the movers to come that day but the house is still full of belongings.
I found the locations very average and in that I really liked them. The house that mother and daughter are living in is as average as they come. As always I like movies that show winter especially city winters with piled, dirty snow, half melted on the streets. Too often when a director wants to show winter - it is always pure white and never dirty. Not this time. Although it is always hard to maintain that image as in one scene you'll notice far less snow than there should be considering the snow in the previous scene. Could be the time frame of the filming or it could be a weather change that actually did change the snow level. Octavio's apartment was a disaster but the set was great. You really did think a person lived here who only focused on his books (and his smoking) and keeping things clean were not an issue. It was also a surprise for if the movie was going to follow a stereotypical route - it would have been a much nicer apartment.
I will admit that if there is a metaphor or allusion in the last scene when the daughter finds the door hidden behind a tapestry then I didn't get it. I guess where I already felt the apartment had been created so well as to be a character in the story and yet the pacing of the story wasn't fitting that characterization - the finding of a room that no one knew about was bizarre. You just sold an apartment to people who don't know there is an extra bedroom they never saw. Some would love that. Others wouldn't. You lived in this apartment, even for a week, and didn't notice another room.
In the end the movie didn't hold up well. Removing the misplaced thriller elements and replacing them with some more emotional moments, like the daughter exploring her father's belongings esp his books, would have told a richer story.