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Reviews
Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015)
Too linear, farcically predictable, & requires maximum suspension of disbelief
Spoilers, right now, spoilers . . . "Is that fake blood," some random concerned citizens ask; naw, we're just makin' a movie in the hostel's dirty basement, just ignore the lady screaming hysterically for her life in another language, she's really that great of an actress guys! Ok, cool bro, carry on . . . Eh, I wonder if my neighbors can hear my eyes rolling into the back of my head?
Listen, I've never been within 4000 miles of Romania and I don't know the cultural norms, especially in terms of travel, hostels, and the occasional women screaming in absolute terror from an unfinished basement. Granted, it's 2024, and I am watching this film ten years after its production, filmed during a time when people were perhaps less suspicious of one another, but come on, this is just stupid! This film wants you to pretend really hard for an hour and a half that this many people might actually behave in the way the film's plot needs them to, that all the while, these young women ignore the bazillion-watt flashing red neon signage with 100 foot danger alert arrows pointing down from the sky directly at the film's cartoonishly goofy antagonist. Additionally, for a found footage genre film, the narrative is too straightforward. There should be some disjointed moments that play out off script and help build suspense, but nope, it's just one heavy handed event to the next, and there's never any doubt what's going to happen.
But wait, what about that deeply unrealistic yet expectation subverting ending? And the constant self-actualization as Adrian goes from comically obsessed fan to murderer? That added some depth & dimension right? Isn't there anything good to be said about Be My Cat? Nope, just more of the same stupid writing, terribly unconvincing improv, and all-around bad acting. Move along folks, there's just no substance or merit in this low budget stinker.
The Night Clerk (2020)
Poorly scripted, Plot hole laden & Humdrum Rain Man / Rear Window mash-up
Tye Sheridan seems to have a lot of potential, and I always enjoy seeing him on-screen. It would be nice to see him land a true breakout role and elevate himself to A-list status similar to that of Miles Teller post-Top Gun 2. Unfortunately, Tye is the only good part in this otherwise mundane & unsatisfying film. The rest of this 'thriller' follows a convenient-to-the-plot series of events that ultimately goes nowhere and says nothing . As far as being a character study of Asperger's syndrome, this movie meanders along with its half-baked mystery, exploring very little past it's surface elements. The other actors in the film are scripted with straightforward one-dimensional personalities making us not care about their motivations nor fates. This is a quiet, explosion-free 3am insomniac theater type of movie best watched as background white noise.