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blitheblythe
Reviews
Red Rose (2022)
Promised a pumpkin pie but served up a lemon
I am amazed that between all the teams of execs at Netflix and BBC not one of them grasped the fundamental flaw in this kind of genre-twist.
Genre-bending is great when you set it up from the beginning, but if you're promising people a supernatural horror show and then in episode five you reveal actually they're watching a techno thriller (and an intensely predictable one at that) - then fundamentally you've misled your audience.
Disguising the show you actually want to make in a more profitable genre is the oldest trick in the filmmaking book - so I don't blame The Clarksons for this as much as I blame the producers. Should never have been commissioned this way. What a let down.
The Middle Man (2021)
This film is like being gaslit
All the way through you're waiting for it to be interesting. It never is. You keep wanting the 'quirkiness' to pay off. It never does. The storyline is both odd and predictable. It's like the filmmaker is trying to prove they're an 'artist' by making everything about the film awkward. Not so awkward that it would be notable, just awkward enough to try to be an 'art house' movie for people who hate art house movies.
The cinematography is excellent. The actors are excellent actors. The production design is impressive, if a bit on the nose at times. But the script and direction are just completely and utterly dull, directionless, and trying too hard to be cool.
It's the cinematic equivalent of one of those dudes at parties who quotes Camus and Satre but doesn't have anything to say for himself.
Indulgent. Irritating. Smiling smugly at you when you finally admit you just don't get it. Even though there is quite genuinely nothing to 'get' about this film.