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Performances are heightened create edgy drama, while the actors' offhanded touches ground the action. Cornish has terrific presence as a woman who refuses to be intimidated. The way she stands off against Alonso's earthy alpha male is intriguing, as is the way Alonso clashes with the alert Bloodgood. Side roles are also nicely overplayed, adding specific angles to a dysfunctional team. Each actors adds details that make these people interesting, if not likeable.

Because the truth remains so deliberately fuzzy, the film never quite gets under the skin. Characters speak in movie-style dialog that has little resemblance to real life, so it's difficult to see anything going on in the subtext. Most of the side characters are little more than plot points, and much of what happens is carefully set up in ways that are too derivative to feel organic. So in the end, while there's plenty of style, the film feels gimmicky and rather pointless.

themes, language, violence

29.Jul.24

Mollica gives a skilfully understated performance as a young man who isn't quite sure how he feels about any of this. Because he lacks perspective, Max is struggling to connect the various strands of his professional and personal worlds. This adds intriguing spark to his interaction with the people around him, each of whom is played with striking authenticity as they make a specific impact on Max's odyssey. And it becomes clear that what he needs most is to be honest with and about himself.

Max's mum (Gonet) knows that he's writing fiction, "but it has to come from somewhere. So I worry about you." And he's ashamed that he's feeling shame, which reflects his own internal battle about what he thinks is right. These kinds of thoughts reveal a moralising gaze in the script, which rings a bit false. But they also provoke us to think deeply about the issues, which makes Max's journey strongly moving.

themes, language, sexuality

29.Jul.24

Each performance is fully invested. Petticrew offers insight into Tuesday, who has accepted mortality in a way that her mother never will. But she can't help but ask Death for a little more time. Because her mother is so aloof, they have distance to travel before she's ready. Louis-Dreyfus shines in a rare mostly dramatic role as a woman trying to control her fragile life, often impulsively, refusing to ask for help. So meeting Death triggers something surprising inside her.

Of course all of this is thoroughly symbolic, sometimes bewilderingly so. At one point, with existence in question, chaos breaks out across Britain in inexplicable ways. How events play out is strange, confusing and also rather wonderfully resonant from an emotional perspective. Pusic is an imaginative filmmaker with a lot to say about parent-child connections and the intense reality of our impending death. This film sometimes feels overstated, but it's also hesitant, curious and thrillingly defiant.

themes, language, violence

3.Jul.24