Author: cinemadilemma

The Undoing and what’s wrong with Nicole Kidman

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman, Noah Jupe, Matilda de Angelis, Donald Sutherland
Where to watch: HBO Max and JioCinema (India)
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, 6 episodes, 50 – 60 minutes per episode
To watch or not to watch: Watch it if you must. This can be a decent thing to pass time, nothing spectacular

Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) is a psychotherapist, married to pediatric oncologist named Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant) and they have a son Henry (Noah Jupe). They have, for all intents and purposes, a perfect life, with successful careers, well-behaved son, wealth, home in the Upper East Side which reduces the school run to a stroll across the Central Park. The couple has also maintained the spark in their marriage, with most of the credit given to Nicole Kidman’s apparent sex appeal. Their schedules are quite busy but they do manage to squeeze in time for their social events, including the school functions for their son (Grace’s wealthy father is a huge donor). To complete the picture of the perfect American family, Grace is a part of the fundraiser committee of mothers for school events. There she is introduced to Elena, who is a not-yet successful artist and whose son goes to the same school as Henry on scholarship. On the day of the fundraiser, things start to unravel for Grace from the time she finds a disturbed Elena crying in the bathroom. The next day Elena is found dead in her art studio, which causes an uproar with the parents of the school. Grace is unable to reach Jonathan on his cellphone for a few days and as the police discovers clues to the murderer, things start coming closer to home for Grace.

The protagonist of the series is essentially Kidman, but Hugh Grant is charm made flesh. We have seen this version of him in A Very English Scandal and The Gentlemen, but imagine if the whole personality of such a character is only charm. Impossible not to simper. He brings his inherent sarcastic and self deprecating nature to the fore, which is in a high contrast to the way upper echelons of New York is shown to behave. Then we have Matilda de Angelis and Edgar Ramirez who have more than deserved to work in a high value production. And there needs to be special recognition for Noah Jupe who is very promising.

The plot of the series feels quite similar to Big Little Lies, even when it is not. They both have affluent parents playing a major role in their kids school events, and they have high powered jobs which provides them with privilege the rest of us will need 9 lives to attain. Both series have a much less affluent female protagonist who is mysterious and trying to fit in with other mothers. Not to mention, both series are book adaptations. But while Big Little Lies did a fantastic job of balancing the drama with the thrill, The Undoing is totally lost in trying to find its vision. The makers were torn between showing privilege but not really, resulting in a murk where opportunities to show some key elements of the story were lost, while focus on glamour took center stage. Glamour is not a story and has a shelf life of approximately 12 seconds.

This brings us to the reason which inspired this post – Nicole Kidman and where acting is victimized by sexual appeal. Take Big Little Lies for example – it is centered around Kidman. She had some character traits, primary being clueless about what people closest to her are doing, ultimately being a “victim” to them. In Undoing, she is supposed to be a psychiatrist with close to 2 decades of experience and couldn’t figure out there was something wrong with her husband??? Then she is not a good psychiatrist, not earning as much, dependent on her father to provide for her, and her whole character strength falls away. The compliments paid by her well-wishers is that she is strong, beautiful, cleans up well, has expensive clothes and is successful in her chosen career. But in the series, she is totally lost, depends on her father to clean her mess, is unable to take decisions which affect her son, and as cited above, not really a good psychiatrist. This leaves us with her being pretty and attractive. This is one of the biggest reasons her husband is with her.

This is not a Kidman bashing, but this is apparent in the two roles she has done recently, which are getting attention of audience and news media alike. This peaks through in her other works like Nine Perfect Strangers and older works too. The problem is that through Kidman women are still being reduced to objects of physical appeal. Women are still not seen enough to fight their battles, but always have to be a victim and rely on the men in their lives. Their female friends are also done a disservice where their lives are around how their more popular friend is doing. Haven’t we had enough discussions on this toxicity, how unreal and harmful this portrayal can be? Is the best thing a woman can bring to the table her feminity? Is there nothing more to a female character? Are other females supposed to be in service of the victim queen? C’mon, we have moved from this discourse a decade back. Bring more to character building than just one easy thing.

Kill Boksoon

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https://decider.com/

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring: Jeon Do-yeon, Esom, Sol Kyung-gu, Koo Kyo-hwan, Kim si-a
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: A highly recommended watch for all the action lovers and thrill seekers

Gill Boksoon (Jeon Do-yeon) has been rechristened Kill Boksoon by her peers, as she has the most and the best kills within the contract killer agency, MK Entertainment. She is a single mother who participates in PTA, has lunches with other mothers, drives a G-wagon, can also drive a beat-up van to a secluded spot to fight to death against a Yakuza. She has a clairvoyance-like ability to sense the victim’s next possible move, clout within the contract killer community, respect of fellow PTA mothers, a ton of money as evidenced by the high ceiling flat, the ultra premium school she is sending her daughter to, and a boss who is slightly in love with her. What she doesn’t have is a close relationship with her daughter, which she desperately wants, even though she is a “cool mom” and has kept her personal and professional life totally separate. Now, as in any good story, comes a conflict which challenges this precarious balance. Her agency has asked her to kill a minor, something that is not aligned with her principles. This gets the ire of her boss, fueled and fanned by his jealous sister (Esom), a betrayal by her booty call, and a run for her life. All this culminates in one of the most visually appealing and well choreographed fight scenes.

The movie does well what it sets out to do – give a thrilling and chilling action movie with right emotions dotted along the way in the relationships between Boksoon, her boss, her daughter and the boss’ twisted sister. It is centered around the titular character Boksoon. All the other things are mere decors. It doesn’t pull punches when describing Boksoon’s life, but even better is that it doesn’t overdo it either (of which a lot of Korean action movies I have seen are guilty). Boksoon is flawed, she doesn’t always treat people well, her position in her work community has led to conceit, not to mention what she does for a living. But in conjunction with this is also her irresolute principles even within the contract killing, her motherhood, which is reflected in the guidance she gives to the trainee under her and the way she handles the problems her daughter faces in her school. And, as already mentioned, the choreography and direction of the action sequences make up for all the other flaws which the movie has.

Why do we watch movies? To get entertained, to be taken on an emotional roller-coaster, to see experiences we may or may not have experiences ourselves depicted through other people. This one is surely entertaining, and that should be enough to make for the reason to watch it. It also does one thing which is commendable – it portrays, single-motherhood and unconventional relationships which come along with it as part of course. It is much needed to normalise this also-reality, specially coming from Korean cinema which is has been rather binary in this (Oldboy, Handmaiden vs K-dramas). It is a small step in the right direction.

All this rant just to say that it is a good movie to watch after a tiring day, just to get that adrenaline pumping, the heart beating and to feel good. Watch it with popcorn for sure.

Barbarian – Breaking the 4th wall differently

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis
Where to watch: Prime
To watch or not to watch: A must watch for all the thriller lovers, and non-thriller lovers. Will need a tolerance for violence

Tess (Georgina Campbell) has booked an AirBnB in Brightmoor, Detroit, only to find it double booked with Keith (Bill Skarsgard) already staying there. Since it was late, raining heavily and most hotels booked because of a convention, Tess decides to stay in the same house, albeit reluctantly. Keith is all thumbs trying to make Tess comfortable, going as far as to open a wine bottle only in front of her, in case she is suspicious of adulteration. They have a nice chat and the evening ends on a good note. The next day while inspecting the basement, Tess discovers a labyrinth of tunnels, a (creepy) room with a bed, video recording equipment and a bloody handprint, and encounters a vicious, ferocious creature, which looks like it slipped in the evolution after Homo erectus. In another world, AJ (Justin Long) is a struggling actor who has recently been accused of raping a fellow actor, which he vehemently denies. To pay for his legal fees, he decides to sell off his property, which is the same AirBnB.

This is a difficult review to write, difficult to know where to begin. It falls under the “Monster” category of horror movies. But, it is not the monster in the traditional sense, not even in the sense pictured in the movie. There is an adage “show, not tell” which makes a movie good. This one surpasses even that, in that that the true monster is actually to be perceived by the audience, from all the instances shown in the movie. Let me explain…

The movie has the regular tropes – a single, vulnerable girl in a house on a deserted street with a strange man who has previously portrayed predatory characters successfully. The house also has a basement, which leads to untold (perceived) horrors, with doors which have suspicious and irregular opening and locking mechanisms. The girl gets locked in the basement where the monster lives. And that’s the end of the tropes. What is truly beyond brilliance is the way the tropes have been used to blind the audience, to create a pre-conceived notion, only to be shown something so extraordinary that anyone would be horrifically surprised. This is how the movie and the director break the fourth wall. Spoilers ahead…

We have Bill Skarsgård, who is the stranger in the double-booked rental with Tess. He is terribly awkward and tried too hard to make Tess comfortable, almost as if he has no good intentions on his mind. He also has a lanky, towering visage, sunken eyes, added to he popular role of Pennywise which he portrayed with aplomb, we are predisposed to associate him with ill-will. We are inclined to believe the source of horror to be Bill Skarsgård.
Cut to: a carefree Justin Long cruising along a shore in a red convertible with top down, singing along to a beat-filled song. He gets a call to inform him that his female coworker has filed rape charges against him. He denies vehemently, and tries gather his already dwindling resources to pay for a lawyer. And, we as audience are rooting for him. After all, he is the one who played a lovesick boyfriend in Going The Distance, a sympathetic listener in He’s Just Not That Into You, he has to be the good guy.
Zach Cregger uses these already implanted notions and break the fourth wall. He is telling the user “You think Keith is evil. You think wrong”.

This goes beyond the actors, in truth. It is also questioning what we experience as regular people in our daily lives. A man with clear skin, charming smile and the gift of glib can be as big a threat, if not more, as someone who is apparently out to get us. And the female-attributed traits of acquiescence, quiet and caution are needed for survival in the world with monsters made by men. The real monsters are the men who use their powers to inflict pain on women and they end up creating bigger monsters than who they are themselves.

The Menu

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https://www.hotstar.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Aimee Carrero, Judith Light
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Run time: 1hour 47 minutes
To watch or not to watch: An original script, which might not be perfect but is fun to watch

A boat (yacht) is filled with 11 people who are embarking on a journey to a private island called Hawthorn, which has one of the most exclusive restaurants owned by Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The multi-course meals are $1,250 each, are invite only and are a strictly +1 (or more) event. The meal is an event, yes – the customers tour the entire island which shows the raw ingredients grown/bred, the military discipline enforced and followed by Slowik and his staff, the descriptions of the courses are like a soliloquy by the respective chefs. Only in this case, the soliloquy is followed by terror. Let me elaborate…

The people who have managed to bag a table at the over-exclusive restaurant are 3 finance bros, a washed-out actor with his manager (John Leguizamo and Aimee Carrero), an ultra-rich couple (Judith Light and Reed Birney), a renowned food critic (Janet McTeer) with her obsequious editor (Paul Adelstein) and a self-proclaimed foodie, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his companion Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy). Each meal is presented by the chef with a resounding clap which jerks everyone’s attention to the aforementioned soliloquy on the dish – the reason it was designed, what are the ingredients and what is the emotion the dish is designed to bring to the eater. Each of these courses get progressively darker, including drowning of the man who invested in the restaurant, a public suicide of the sous chef who dared to compete with Slowik, a run for survival by the men while a woman stabs Slowik for sexually harassing her in the past. The list of the macabre activities go on, while there is little to no change in the schedule of the service, complete with the clap and descriptions. The one person who is the proverbial fish out of water is Margot, who is not the initial companion planned by Tyler. This does throw a spanner in the works but not necessarily a bad thing for Margot. Read on…

The movie is supposed to be a satire on the wealthy. The intended message is that, well, wealth corrupts (no shit). The people present during the dinner are pretentious, full of themselves, and in general, have had life easier than most. And that is their biggest crime, according to the movie, that they have had it easier, as depicted by the character of Aimee, who went to Brown and her education was funded by her parents. It is all difficult for a person who hasn’t had these privileges but not sure if the rich are to blame. The whole movie falls short in attaining the premise. What is the crime here? Being rich? Wanting to be rich? Wanting to be the best? Just wanting? There are multiple plot holes which cannot be explained by any amount of explanations, as explanation do not brick and mortar make. Even the climax which has been lauded for its unexpected and triumphant nature is unexpected because it doesn’t logically follow.

The movie is made almost flawlessly. That is, the performances, set design, dialogues, sound, character nuances, lighting, editing, etc is what is great. The only thing lacking is a script which has been worked on till it was sparkling. The audience member will find the movie understandably quite unsettling, as the experience for the clientele in the movie is supposed to be comforting and it is anything but. The problem is when plot holes are left in the core or climax of the movie, everything leading up to it feels false. Why was the 90 min storyline needed, if the 20 min conclusion was going to be cutting corners, you know? The primary emotion this movie left was confusion, like was it a good movie, or just a good execution, because the ending didn’t make sense. Don’t think The Menu will go down well in history.

The Patient

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http://www.hotstar.com

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring: Steve Carell, Domhnall Gleeson, Andrew Leeds, Laura Niemi, Linda Emond, David Alan Grier
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, 10 episodes, 20-odd minutes per episode
To watch or not to watch: A must watch for all the thriller lovers, and non-thriller lovers. Will need a tolerance for violence

Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson) is a serial killer, seeing a renowned therapist, Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) because he doesn’t want to kill anymore. Since the information given during the sessions can be used to implicate him in the crimes he commits, he kidnaps Alan and chains him in his basement. He then opens up about the abuse he suffers at the hands of his father, which might be the root cause of his killing behaviour. Alan is shocked to discover the truth about his patient and is appalled by the nature of the crimes. He is also struggling with the loss of his wife to cancer and the estranged relationship with his son. He tries his best to control Sam and also gets out of the captivity. There are bouts of clarity and craziness for Alan as he thinks through his situation.

The series is essentially a two-hander with Steve and Domhnall in leading roles. Other characters like Sam’s mother and Alan’s family come and go. Plus their roles are not entirely centric to the plot. The plot is completely about Sam’s struggle to stop himself from killing people he thinks look down on him and on Alan’s recollection of his past and hallucination of his therapist. The series is a slow burner, but it manages to keep the audience engaged by keeping with the theme of a kidnapped therapist to a serial killer. There are dark humour moments which lend a certain lightness to the theme and maintain balance, otherwise, the viewers might go crazy themselves. Alan’s past is well explored, including his relationship with his religion. It plays a major part in the story too, where Alan compares living in Sam’s basement to living in a Nazi concentration camp. That felt a bit tangential and if they had directly explained the feeling of being trapped, it would have garnered more sympathy.

Hats off to Domhnall Gleeson for this incredibly acted out part – it wouldn’t have been easier playing the role of a person who is so socially challenged. Steve Carell is perfection, but that doesn’t surprise anyone. These two are the main reasons that this series is a wonderful watch. Other reasons are the subject matter itself – imagine a serial killer wanting to get better and struggling. It is almost like Single Drunk Female, but without the hilarity and much severe consequences. It is by no means perfect – if they have given more insight into Sam’s behaviour and how his mother is also partly responsible, it would have made for a better protagonist, who also has some warranted sympathy. Right now, we have to take a lot at face value. Unless one sits and muses on the series, these factors will not take away from the enjoyment. It is highly recommended.

Sh**ting Stars

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https://www.koreaboo.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Lee Sung-kyung, Kim Young-dae, Yoon Jong-hoon, Kim Yoon-hye, Lee Jung-shin, Park So-jin
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons and episodes: 1 season with 16 episodes and around 1 hour per episode
To watch or not to watch: It delivers the promise of K-dramas – it is light-hearted, sweet, and gives hope of finding love to all the singles

Oh Han Byeol (Lee Sung Kyung) is a kick-a** PR manager for Star Entertainment and is usually kept busy handling the escapades of their biggest star Gong Tae Sung (Kim Young Dae). The both of them were friends in college and took separate paths after graduation. Tae Sung resents Han Byeol for a mistake she made which affected his reputation. And Han Byeol doesn’t trust/like Tae Sung as he is notorious and has decided to make her life a living hell. Eventually Tae Sung realises his feelings for Han Byeol and tries to win her over. In the parallel, there are people around the lead actors who have their own paths to finding their respective romance.

The above written synopsis is just about everything in the story. There is little to no depth to the characters or the story built up. But then Kdramas don’t promise anything earth shattering – they are to take your mind off real life, without adding intensity. There is a slight emotional drama related to the male lead’s apparent difficult childhood, but that’s easy to skip.

While this series does some things right, it does lose points on somethings which are touched upon but are not explored, namely the challenges in a celebrity’s life. This can be due to difficult relationships, adopting an untrue persona, etc. Tae Sung had a tough childhood, it is shown that it has impact in his adult life, but how, what and why are still unanswered. The jobs of a PR person and celebrity manager are have a certain set of challenges and are used as a comic relief. It feels hollow and unsatisfactory. The leads are all good actors. The choice of casting Lee Sung Kyung was a good one, as she fits this character and her expressions add to the humour. All in all, do watch it for a nice and breezy break from reality.

Monica, O My Darling

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https://www.bollywoodmdb.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte, Sikander Kher, Sukant Goel, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Bagavathi Perumal,
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: A neo-noir movie which tries too hard and fails. Skip this one

Jayant (Rajkumar Rao) is a star robotics engineer at Unicorn Robotics, and is in a relationship with the owner’s daughter Nikki (Akansha Ranjan). He hails from a small town, intent on escaping it and lands at Pune. Now things are all looking up for him and he is as susceptible to ego as any human, and gets into a casual relationship with the secretary to his future father-in-law, Monica Machado (Huma Qureshi). She claims to be pregnant with his child and is blackmailing him. He is spooked, and rightly so, as it threatens his rise up the company. It turns out, she has been blackmailing other heterosexual male members of the company, namely Arvind Manivannan (Bagavathi Perumal) and Nishant Adhikari (Sikander Kher). The three of them hatch a plan to kill Monica and dispose of the body in a rather Strangers on a Train way. The case is handled by ACP Naidu (Radhika Apte). Needless to say, the plan goes awry and then there is confusion, anxiety and insecurity, which enhances the chaos.

The problem with any such movie (read: Netflix Originals and Bollywood) is that they try too hard. They have tried to do everything the great masters have done in their art, for example, there is quirkiness of Knives Out, confusion of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, opening credit fonts of Quentin Tarantino (seriously, this has to be the biggest crime of this movie, touching something so holy), etc. The idea of the movie, which by the way, is taken from a Keigo Higashino book titled Burutasu No Shinzou (Heart of Brutus) (another blasphemy), is superb, and so are the performances. What else to expect from Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte. But everything else just doesn’t reach the mark. The storyline is unnecessarily convoluted, with random flashbacks and parallels which do not add to the mystery, only serves as a distraction. There are multiple plot lines they tried to address, but couldn’t do justice to a single one. Radhika Apte as a sarcastic-comic police inspector adds no entertainment value, only succeeds in being a slight annoyance. Disappointing.

The movie gets aa few things right – Huma Qureshi’s femme fatale is no simpering mess in size 2, she is comfortable in her skin, slays in her character and succeeds in getting all men’s attention without trying too hard. Maybe this movie has rightly projected that it is not always the vampy females who manage to trap guileless men. It is the men who need to be better and not villainize females. It also shows Radhika Apte as a not-too-honest police inspector, something we don’t see, and don’t associate with females. Rajkumar Rao’s Jayant is thankfully not a toxic masculine person either, though is toxic in general. All these points, while good, do not a good movie make. A movie is an amalgamation of direction, story, screenplay, editing and acting. The other points defying convention only enhance it. And in this case, it was simply disappointing to waste so much good because some aspects did not put in the work required. Skip this one without regrets.

Run Sweetheart Run

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https://www.heavenofhorror.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeVideo
To watch or not to watch: A survival movie with an average amount of thrill along with a pinch of unsuspected supernatural. It is fine

Cherie (Ella Balinska) is a single mother to a daughter, works as a paralegal, studies part time to become a full-fledged lawyer. She has mistakenly double-booked her boss with a client and his anniversary dinner, and takes his place at the client meeting. She is part hopeful for the meeting to turn into something more, as she has been single a long tim, but carries pepper spray nonetheless. She meets Ethan (Pilou Asbæk), who is rich, considerate and says the right things, all of which is very refreshing for Cherie. What starts as a night of part hope, part skepticism, resulting in more hope than skepticism, ends up turning into horror and a chase for her, when Ethan attacks her after returning from dinner. She narrowly escapes his place and runs to cops who arrest her. Ethan posts her bail and gives her a headstart in the hunt he will pursue. Cherie explores all her options to survive and gives a tough fight.

This movie falls in the sub-genre called social horror (think Jordan Peele’s Get Out), only here the social issue is patriarchy. The problem with movies trying to address two things at once is balance, which is often difficult to strike. This problem exists in this movie as well. It starts as any horror movie, but the dialogues are discordant with what’s happening, like the flow of the movie is being forced in a certain direction only by dialogues. The whole chase sequence is pretty cool, and Ethan’s powers are revealed slowly and it is a good surprise, but mixing it with patriarchy was a bit much. Even the protagonist’s actions did not follow a pattern like it happens with a human in general. A lot of this made the thrill questionable. The second act of the movie was the one part which was great, really gory. But it is a very good execution as the actual violence is actually censored, happens off-screen and left to the imagination of the viewers.

The movie is pretty low-budget and it a testament to the director who has made it possible to remove the actual scares from the screen, and still made it possible to be thrilling. It has very small cast and next to no special effects. Other factor which carries the movie forward are the actors, specially Ella Balinska who managed to convey the pain, hurt, fear and strength through the acting alone. Pilou Asbæk is sufficiently hateful and creepy. The music is another positive aspect, complementing the movie in all the right ways. It is pop, lyrics are relevant to the concept and add to the movie where the story subtracts. Watch it for the average thrill, superb acting and vicarious response to patriarchy. It wouldn’t require too much popcorn though.

See How They Run

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https://film-authority.com/

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson
Where to watch: Disney+
To watch or not to watch: A comic whodunit which leaves the audience guessing till the end

It is the 100th performance of Mousetrap in London and during the celebratory party, Leo Köpernick (Adrian Brody) is murdered. He was a notorious drunk and had fluid moral values. He was also looking to direct the movie adaptation of the play. None of the people involved with the project, whether it be the play or the movie-in-the-works, really liked Leo, hence the suspect pool is quite big. The case is handed to a jaded, worn-out and alcoholic Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and an eager, inexperienced and by-the-book Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). After another person is murdered in the theatre during another Mousetrap screening, the whole situation gets a bit more urgent and serious, making the suspect pool more suspicious. Until it all comes to head Christie fashion.

This movie isn’t an aspirational movie, blazing trail for all the future whodunits to come, doesn’t take itself seriously and isn’t serious. What it is, is a fun movie to watch with a bit of nostalgia, served with a side of Christie-ness. The center stage doesn’t belong to the plot, but to the characters of Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan. Also, to the subtle jokes pulled at the cost of the cliched British murder mysteries. It does feel a bit like a parody of those mysteries, slightly, just a little bit, but tasteful. It doesn’t lead the viewers to an off-path of romance or back stories. It is mentioned and woven in the plot (as in the case of Stoppard) or informed to enhance the character (as in the case of Stalker). The cliched characters are the bedrock on which the story and plot develops.

This movie is a comfort-watch. Everything is in plain-view and repeated watches will not enrich the experience, but it will be an enjoyable watch everytime. It is fun, quirky, perfect watch for a pick-me-up after a long and disappointing day at work.

Rosaline

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Kyle Allen, Sean Teale, Minnie Driver, Bradley Whitford
Where to watch: Disney+
To watch or not to watch: A delightful retelling of the OG of romance makes for a nice, light-hearted watch

Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) and Romeo (Kyle Allen) are boyfriend and girlfriend, and Rosaline is absolutely smitten by the long, blonde haired hunk from the enemy camp. Her father, Adrian Capulet (Bradley Whitford) is attempting his best to arrange a marriage for his only daughter, and the daughter does everything to be as unsuitable a wife as possible. In one such arranged-marriage-date scenario, Rosaline is out on a boat with Dario (Sean Teale), is waylaid by a storm and is late in reaching the (famous) Capulet ball and a pre-arranged date with Romeo. Romeo’s excess of love is not to be hindered by the absence of his lady love, and remedies the situation by falling in love with Juliet (Isabela Merced), Rosaline’s cousin. Rosaline is understandably extremely pissed by this turn of events and now has a reason for intensely disliking Dario. She pursues multiple schemes to deter the couple, loses her moral fiber, sees the wrong of her ways, works to undo the damage and ensure the couple lives happily every after.

This is no 10 things I hate about you or She’s the Man. It is a refreshing retelling of the eponymous love story, which if viewed objectively is deeply flawed. Rosaline doesn’t make the wrongs right, it makes the wrong seem funny and well yes, rights some wrongs. The titular character is independent, intelligent, knows her mind, isn’t patriarchal but does stumble when it comes to non-platonic attraction – something to which a lot of females can relate. Then she has the normal human feelings of jealousy, rage and frustration when things don’t go her way, finally ending with the silver lining to it all when she finds the man who is a perfect match for her (spoiler alert – Romeo and Juliet aren’t too perfect for each other, by the way). It is joyful to see the other side of this mega love story, from the eyes of the jilted lover. It ties in with the character of the easily-swayed Romeo (though not publicised as such).

Rosaline is a movie carried on by female character, doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. There is no Shakespearean English (comically explained as being difficult to follow in the movie) and no English accents either. It is quirky, female-empowering, and explores love more than first sight. And if taken the time to think about it, it can actually be deep. What Rosaline’s character ends up finding is someone who is at her side when she needs it, calls her antics for what they are and is not completely, totally, irrevocably in love with her, which is more sane and real. Kaitlyn Dever is a delight, she is channeling her persona from Last Man Standing, and it fits well in this movie. To praise Minnie Driver is stating the obvious, but she is a straight-shooter nurse to the impulsive Rosaline and it fits well with the over-all tone. The movie is surprisingly well written and made. It might surprise even the readers of this post as these movies typically are bad. This one is not. Do watch.