Reviews

... and i mean this in a far more positive way than it sounds!

A slow-burning B-movie with a single-setting scenario and American Rust atmosphere, Yuma County introduces lovably one-dimensional characters (again I mean well, they are so by design) - right until the plot decides to have a lil bit of macabre fun and put them in the most complex, unresolvable, dilemmatic (most often life or death) situations. The second half of the movie recompenses for the viewer's patience with the first: it is dark and hilarious and sad and unnerving, and more; there's twists and turns worthy of a James Patterson novel, and soon enough it all escalates faster than you can say -escalation-...

In short: One can see where the good ratings throughout come from. This is an enjoyable little gem of a movie that also doesn't overstay its welcome. Technically and acting-wise it does a fine enough job as well.

As the commentator before me pointed out, this certainly isn't a 360°-degree study of the US justice system. The description is misleading and/or exaggerated; I don't know if a movie or series could even do a complete analysis of any social sphere, given their inherent complexities and intricacies.

But the previous commentator was also a wee bit overhasty, what with just two episodes out. So I want to give you a more thorough account.

While the show goes back to Juvie a lot, even in later episodes, this is not a bad thing: between normal teenage risk behaviour, serious and widespread juvenile delinquency and overcrowded prisons, this is a supremely relevant aspect, and one should want to know how the adults working in the system try to find solutions to it (two of which are prevention and rehabilitation).

But the show is quite balanced and nuanced in general; it has its casuistic approach, meaning it presents individual cases from a specific location which together form a fresco of the inner workings of the justice system, and which can to a certain extent be considered representative nationwide. Without going into detail, issues related to racism, classism, poverty, violence against women, ableism, mental disorder, drug abuse, trauma, education, etc are adressed, as is the question how they not only play a big role in the everyday life in society but also in the total institutions of the judicial apparatus.

Concerning the different defendants, the focus is less on whether they are guilty or innocent - I believe most are both - than on the fights they battle and the plights they go through inside the wheels of the system. On one thing though the show is very straightforward: they are clearly portraying these individuals as victims of said system, regardless of the (severity of the) crimes they committed. You may disagree, but knowing the dehumanizing side of prison, there's definitely some truth to it.

In conclusion, the series may not be 360°, but it is, in its own way, and as social commentary, pretty complete and quite insightful.

There may be a certain expectation, on the part of viewers, for showrunners to keep their most expertly crafted -arrows- in the holster until the very end of the season, but still: this beauty of an episode, with its daring, even experimental narrative structure, truly left me in awe. And while criticism was often directed towards Charlie being reckless and unprepared when confronting the culprits, they here go their own, completely unexpected way of showing her vulnerability as a young woman on the run. Anyone claims -I saw that coming-, well, you know the answer to that^^

Here's me hoping to succeed in not spoiling too much when I say that chapter 9 of this little gem of a crime series has gorgeous cinematography and a lovely setting (Fargo & The Shining come to mind), yet another round of impeccable guest actors (boy do I love JGL in THAT nasty role for a change!), amazing, positively mind-boggling storytelling, and the already signature slick humour mostly transported by the witty dialogue of the main character.

To me, this is Rian Johnson at his finest and one (way too short, or so it feels) hour of unmitigated enjoyment for crime buffs.

After a slightly underdone episode in a similar setting (theatre) and last week's racing-themed and twist-heavy open-ender, Poker Face is back in shape with a beautifully crafted and meticulously paced crime mystery of dostojewskijan dimensions.

This time, nothing to guess about the identity of the victim(s) and/or culprit, but all the more fun - and educational! - to watch how the latter struggles with legitimizing its acts, how themes like necessity, pressure to succeed, legacy are used to tell a tale of hubris, immorality, guilt and eventually fatal, irrepressible regret (yes, murder is against nature, it's the right time to remember...). The guest actors again are well chosen, production value is on point - it had to be in this particular episode, it's literally a monster cabinet at times, thanks for the retro horror flair, Rian! -, and the ending, while not surprising, still does add another layer of variation to the series.

Add to that a quite particular, even quirky touch of comedy - Charlie being basically on -truth detox- in the beginning, to the point of developing tics; the thing with the horsey (I won't spoil, you'll see) -, and you'll get a pretty consummate hour of television entertainment. Enjoy it like I did!

Benoit Blanc's latest (but, as we already know, not last!) case can best be described as a spectacular, crafty, bombast-heavy and scintillatingly witty crime flick that almost reaches the excellence of its predecessor (emphasis on almost!).

It doesn't try to reinvent the formula and sticks to its strenghts: again you have your collection of freaky characters - call them colorful if you mean well, call them mostly unsympathetic if you don't -, with big dosages of ego in between 'em; there's a plot/mystery that seems to have its own mind, jumping around, back and forth, twisting here and there; and we meet again our gentleman detective, always the oddball and ever the brainiac, somewhat socially awkward, but the only one who eventually makes this meandering, hyperactive plot behave. A touch of comedy to lighten the thing up - thanks to great dialogue and some cool cameos too (Ethan Hawke! Natasha Lyonne!) -, and very high production value to make it look the part. Et voilà.

Two things to mention specifically: it is NOT a whodunnit (neither was Knives Out), and it doesn't try to be. One could say you just need to pick the nastiest, the shiftiest character of the lot, and the mystery is solved. Don't go in with that mindset, don't be theorizing at all. It really is about the how and the why, opportunity and motive, and the movie makes this perfectly clear along the way. Good thing too, because that's when it shines the brightest.

And secondly, if you must absolutely have a quibble with it, somewhere to point the finger, then yes: the finale is kind of an overreach, I wouldn't call it silly as some did, but in its formulaic simplicity and clumsy attempt at conjuring the wow-factor it doesn't do justice to the intricacies that we enjoyed the two hours before.

(Edit: The repeatedly reported pacing issues, mostly due to a big flashback in the middle of the movie, are another valid point to make, but did not bother me personally. I was more unhappy about the writers needing to resort to a quite overused plot device in the crime genre, which I won't spoiler here. Again, one can graciously overlook this, as well as minor logical errors; the end result with its enormous entertainment value makes it quite forgettable.)

Now stop reading, enjoy the movie, and if you're as into crime as I am and want something entirely different afterwards, a little pullback into reality, check out Holy Spider.