Review: ‘Love Me’ (2025), starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun

February 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun in “Love Me” (Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street)

“Love Me” (2025)

Directed by Andrew Zuchero and Sam Zuchero

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unspecified part of the universe, the sci-fi dramatic film “Love Me” features two inanimate characters who appear in human form as a white woman and an Asian man.

Culture Clash: After an apocalypse has destroyed Earth’s entire human population, a satellite and a buoy with artificial intelligence fall in love with each other and try to live as manifested forms of two humans who previously existed.

Culture Audience: “Love Me” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and who don’t mind watching a witless sci-fi movie.

“Love Me” wastes its potential to be an interesting sci-fi romantic drama about a satellite and a buoy that fall in love with each other and appear in human form after an apocalypse has destroyed Earth. This incoherent film is dull and pointless. Although the acting is serviceable, there are too many repetitive scenes that go nowhere.

Written and directed by brothers Andrew Zuchero and Sam Zuchero, “Love Me” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Although “Love Me” is only 91 minutes long, it feels like longer because of the film’s sluggish pace where not much of anything happens. Fans of Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun (the movie’s only two cast members) will be disappointed that these two cast members are seen on screen in their real human forms for less than half of the film.

“Love Me” takes place in an unspecified time period after the apocalypse. A buoy (voiced by Stewart), which has artificial intelligence, is stuck in an unnamed body of water when the buoy is discovered by a satellite (voiced by Yeun), which is looking for forms of life. The buoy and the satellite are attracted to each other.

The buoy looks at old YouTube videos and sees a live-in American couple named Deja (played by Stewart) and Liam (played by Yeun), who documented their lives on social media. It takes a while for the movie to get to the point in the story where the buoy and the satellite appear in human form as this couple, so that they can replicate the human experience of being in a romantic love relationship.

Before and during this transformation, “Love Me” consists of a lot of repetitive breakups and makeups between this outer-space couple. If you think it’s entertaining to watch arguments from characters that are machines and A.I.- generated imagery, then “Love Me” is the movie for you. Everyone else should steer clear of this time-wasting flop.

Bleecker Street released “Love Me” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025.

Review: ‘Alarum’ (2025), starring Scott Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Willa Fitzgerald, Mike Colter, Isis Valverde and Joel Cohen

February 1, 2025

by Carla Hay

Scott Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone in “Alarum” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Alarum” (2024)

Directed by Michael Polish

Culture Representation: Taking place in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, the action film “Alarum” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two married assassin spies, who used to be opponents, are targeted by an intelligence network of criminal anarchists, who want to gain possession of a valuable flash drive.

Culture Audience: “Alarum” will appeal mainly to fans of the movie’s headliners and people who don’t mind watching bottom-of-the-barrel action flicks.

Mike Colter in “Alarum” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

Creatively bankrupt on every level, “Alarum” is a mindless mess of an action film that goes through the motions until its very lazy and abrupt ending. The performances are never believable in this moronic story about spies fighting over a flash drive. That’s essentially the entire limp plot of “Alarum,” which is time-wasting junk, even though some well-known actors are in the movie’s cast.

Directed by Michael Polish and written by Alexander Vesha, “Alarum” takes place mostly in Gdańsk, Poland, and briefly in Prague, Czech Republic, and in Prešov, Slovakia. The movie was actually filmed in Oxford, Ohio. “Alarum” has characters that you won’t care about because they are so hollow, and most of the acting in the film is terrible.

The protagonists of “Alarum” are two American spouses who are assassin spies: Joe Travers (played by Scott Eastwood) and Lara Travers (played by Willa Fitzgerald), whose maiden name was Larissa Moss. As shown in the movie’s opening scene, Joe and Lara met in Prague, in 2019, when she was assigned to kill him when he worked for the CIA. They crashed out of a high-rise hotel window during this life-or-death fight.

The movie then fast-forwards to 2024 in Gdańsk. Joe and Lara are now married. (Their courtship is never shown in the movie.) It’s soon revealed that Joe (whose code name was Archibald) went rogue and abandoned the CIA in 2019, which is why Joe and Lara have gone into hiding. It’s implied that Joe and Lara make money by being low-level con artists.

Joe and Lara are in a hotel room as they get ready for a dinner double date with a married couple named Roland Rousseau (played by Joel Cohen, who is one of the producers of “Alarum”) and Bridgette Rousseau (played by Isis Valverde), who don’t know that Joe and Lara are spies. Before going to this dinner at a restaurant, Joe and Lara are in their hotel room and have a petty disagreement over what lies they will tell the Rousseaus.

Joe wants Lara to pretend that she has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), while Lara wants Joe to be the one to pretend he has OCD. Lara agrees to be the one to pretend to have OCD, but then Lara blurts out during the dinner that Joe has OCD. Back in their hotel room, Joe tells Lara that he’s irritated that Lara didn’t go along with the original plan. It’s one of several pointless sequences in “Alarum.”

Not long after this awkward dinner, Joe and Bridgette are part of a tourist group that witnesses the crash of a small plane, which was shot down from behind by snipers in another plane. At the crash site, Joe sees that this plane (which has no survivors) is from the Drug Enforcement Agency. The only two people on the plane were the pilot and a co-worker passenger.

Joe somehow knows that he needs to get a flash drive (which he calls a “flight pill”) from the dead pilot’s stomach. Joe retrieves this flash drive in a gruesome manner. And somehow, there’s a secret surveillance device on the plane that picks up the sound of Joe talking and transmits this audio surveillance to the CIA. That’s how the CIA finds out that Joe is in Poland.

It’s later revealed that this flash drive has something to do with Alarum, a secretive group that “wants to tear down the tyranny” of the government intelligence network. Now that Joe has the flash drive, he and Lara are targets of people who want to kill Joe and Lara and get the flash drive. Various chase scenes and violent fights ensue. All of them look phony and badly choreographed, with tacky visual effects.

Other characters in this cinematic garbage dump are a corrupt operative named Orlin (played by Mike Colter, an American actor doing a terrible African accent), whose African nationality is vague and who has a team of henchman; CIA deputy director Roland Burbridge (played by D.W. Moffett), who just talks on a phone while he’s sitting at a desk; CIA agent Kirby (played Mark Polish), a generic subordinate who’s eager to impress Roland; and a rebellious mercenary named Chester (played by Sylvester Stallone), who is hired by the CIA to find and kill Joe because Roland thinks Joe has joined Alarum. Everything about “Alarum” is so mind-numbingly horrible, it’s an embarrassment for anyone involved in this junkpile film.

Lionsgate released “Alarum” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and on VOD on January 17, 2025.

Review: ‘Heart Eyes’ (2025), starring Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster

January 31, 2025

by Carla Hay

Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding in “Heart Eyes” (Photo by Christopher Moss/Screen Gems)

“Heart Eyes” (2025)

Directed by Josh Ruben

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in Seattle, the horror comedy film “Heart Eyes” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A masked serial murderer, known as the Heart Eyes Killer, targets romantic couples to be murdered on Valentine’s Day.

Culture Audience: “Heart Eyes” will appeal mainly to people who like watching movies that are equal parts horror and comedy and can tolerate seeing a lot of bloody violence on screen.

Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa and Mason Gooding in “Heart Eyes” (Photo by Christopher Moss/Screen Gems)

Very gory and intentionally campy, “Heart Eyes” is filled with the types of pop culture references and absurd horror comedy expected from the filmmakers of the 2020s “Scream” movies. The showdown scene is long-winded, but the film’s pace is mostly snappy. “Heart Eyes” is occasionally too smug for its own good because the movie is not as clever as it thinks it is. However, “Heart Eyes” is watchable for anyone looking for a better-than-average horror comedy that pokes fun at slasher movies and romantic comedies.

Directed by Josh Ruben, “Heart Eyes” was written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. “Heart Eyes” comes from several filmmakers who have made careers out of horror films. As a director, Ruben’s previous movie was the 2021 horror comedy “Werewolves Within.” Landon and Kennedy previously collaborated on the 2020 horror comedy “Freaky.” Landon wrote 2010’s “Paranormal Activity 2,” 2011’s “Paranormal Activity 3,” 2012’s “Paranormal Activity 4” and 2014’s “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones,” as well as directed the latter film. Landon also wrote and directed 2017’s “Happy Death Day” and 2019’s “Happy Death Day 2 U.”

“Heart Eyes” producers Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath co-lead the Divide/Conquer production company, which has produced “Freaky,” 2023’s “M3GAN,” 2025’s “M3GAN 2.0” and 2023’s “Totally Killer.” “Heart Eyes” executive producer Gary Barber is the chairman/CEO of Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the 2020s “Scream” movies.” Obviously, the filmmakers of “Heart Eyes” had a lot of inspiration for what’s in this movie.

“Heart Eyes” takes place in Seattle but the movie was actually filmed in New Zealand. The movie’s story happens during a wild 24-hour period on Valentine’s Day. The opening scene of “Heart Eyes” shows a man named Patrick proposing marriage to his girlfriend Adeline (played by Lauren O’Hara), outdoors at a winery. Patrick has arranged for a wedding photographer named Nico (played by Latham Gaines) to videorecord this proposal from a distance.

Someone else is watching from a distance: The Heart Eyes Killer (also known as HEK), a serial murderer who targets romantic couples on Valentine’s Day. Anyone who gets in the way could also become a murder victim. The Heart Eyes Killer wears all black, including a full black mask with hearts for eyes. The mask’s eyes can light up.

Needless to say, there’s a bloodbath at the winery, including one of the victims who gets crushed in a wine vat machine. The Seattle Police Department is now on alert that the Heart Eyes Killer is probably in the city. A TV news report mentions that the Heart Eyes Killer first struck two years ago, by murdering three couples in Boston. The killer’s next Valentine’s Day murder spree was a year later, when the killer massacred four couples in Philadelphia.

Two detectives from the Seattle Police Department arrive at the winery murder scene to investigate: Jeanine Shaw (played by Jordana Brewster) and Detective Zeke Hobbs (played by Devon Sawa) are cop partners who don’t really like each other. Hobbs is a sexist jerk who belittles bachelorette Jeanine because she looks for love on dating apps. “You need a real man,” Hobbs tells Shaw. The movie pokes fun of this Hobbs and Shaw duo because their names are the same as the “Fast & Furious” franchise characters Hobbs and Shaw, who had their own namesake 2019 spinoff movie.

Meanwhile, marketing executive Ally McCabe (played by Olivia Holt) is in a slump in her work life and in her personal life. She’s heartbroken by a recent breakup with her ex-boyfriend Collin (played by Ben Black), who has already moved on to a new girlfriend. Ally works for a company named Crystal Cane Jewelry, led by founder Crystal Cane (played by Michaela Watkins), who is a demanding and prickly boss. Ally has a marketing proposal (tragic romantic deaths) that’s such a huge flop with Crystal, Ally is certain that she will get fired.

On the way to work, Ally and her sassy best friend/co-worker Monica (played by Gigi Zumbado) stop at a coffee shop, where Ally has a “meet cute” moment with a handsome stranger named Jay Simmonds (played by Mason Gooding), who orders the exact same type of coffee as Ally. Jay and Ally have an instant attraction to each other, but Ally tries to hide her attraction and is embarrassed when she and Jay accidentally bump their heads together. Monica (who brags to Ally about dating a sugar daddy) thinks that Ally should jump back into the dating pool, but Ally doesn’t feel ready yet.

At a Crystal Cane Jewelry staff meeting in a conference room, Ally is humiliated when Crystal (who has a heavy Southern accent) rips into Ally for Ally’s admittedly depressing marketing campaign idea. Crystal announces that she’s hired a freelance consultant to help come up with a better marketing campaign. The nickname for this marketing guru is Consumer Cupid. And in walks Jay Simmonds.

Ally is mortified and feels more than a little threatened because she thinks that Jay could replace her on the job. Jay privately assures her that he’s only been hired on a temporary basis. In fact, he says that he has take plane trip the next day to go to his best friend’s wedding. After some back-and-forth conversation, Jay convinces a reluctant Ally to have dinner with him that evening. Ally insists that the dinner won’t be a date but will be a business meeting.

The dinner starts off awkwardly because Jay is late. Jay tries to flirt with Ally, but she tells him she’s not interested. Jay quickly figures out that Ally’s rejected marketing campaign idea was cynical and depressing because she’s recently been heartbroken. Ally doesn’t deny it and says she thinks romance is “a farce.”

Outside the restaurant, when Ally and Jay are leaving, they see Collin with his new girlfriend Sienna (played by Karishma Grebneff), who are about to enter the restaurant. They stop and have a conversation with each other. Ally gets jealous that Collin and Sienna seem to be in love and very happy together, so Ally spontaneously pretends that Jay is her new boyfriend. Ally gives Jay a long romantic kiss to “prove” they’re in a relationship.

Unbeknownst to Ally and Jay at the time, the Heart Eyes Killer sees Ally and Jay kissing and decides that Ally and Jay will be the next murder victims. The rest of the movie shows Ally and Jay trying to escape, as the killer goes on a rampage. The movie eventually reveals who’s responsible for the murders.

“Heart Eyes” has a very “Scream” movie tendency of people doing a lot of talking and explaining in the showdown scene instead of actually doing what would happen in real life: killing an opponent as quickly as possible. The movie has a lot of fun skewering romantic comedies and rom-com clichés, such as a race to the airport to confess true feelings before a loved one gets on a plane. This satirical tone makes “Heart Eyes” more enjoyable to watch than a horror comedy that plays it too safe with its jokes.

“Heart Eyes” has some comedy that gets somewhat repetitive (Ally is very squeamish when she sees blood), but the action scenes deliver the right amount of adrenaline that should satisfy horror fans. This is the type of movie where the characters crack jokes while being chased by the killer. It’s obvious that the filmmakers want the Heart Eyes Killer to be as iconic as the Ghostface Killer from the “Scream” movies.

Holt and Gooding are an engaging duo who are more convincing in the terror scenes than in the romantic scenes. Many of the other characters are comedic stereotypes or not in the movie long enough to make a lasting impression. “Heart Eyes” is not for overly squeamish viewers, but it delivers the expected gruesome scares along with some well-earned laughs.

Screen Gems will release “Heart Eyes” in U.S. cinemas on February 7, 2025.

Review: ‘Companion’ (2025), starring Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén and Rupert Friend

January 31, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher in “Companion” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Companion” (2025)

Directed by Drew Hancock

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the horror film “Companion” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Latino, one African American and one Asian) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A female robot companion fights for independence from the man who wants to control her.

Culture Audience: “Companion” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching twist-filled horror movies that have a lot to say about power dynamics between males and females.

Lukas Gage, Harvey Guillén and Jack Quaid in “Companion” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Companion” is a twist-filled sci-fi horror film that offers a darkly comedic depiction of conflicts over gender roles and how much a human-looking robot powered by artificial intelligence should have free-thinking independence from its owner. There’s a lot of bloody gore in “Companion,” which also has many overt messages about the type of toxic masculinity that deliberately exploits females. The movie’s ending is predictable, but “Companion” is still a fairly wild and suspenseful ride to get there.

Written and directed by Drew Hancock, “Companion” is his feature-film directorial debut. “Companion” producers Roy Lee and J.D. Lifshitz previously collaborated on the 2022 horror film “Barbarian.” “Companion” takes place in an unnamed U.S. city. (“Companion” was actually filmed in New York state.) Although “Companion” has plenty of horror clichés—such as the main characters being in a remote area with a killer on the loose—there’s still enough originality in the movie to make up for the formulaic plot points.

In “Companion,” an unmarried couple named Josh Beeman (played by Jack Quaid) and Iris (played by Sophie Thatcher) take a car trip to a remote lake house for what is supposed to be a relaxing getaway trip. Josh and Iris have been together for an unspecified period of time. They have been invited to the house by Josh’s materialistic friend Kat (played by Megan Suri), who is dating the house’s sleazy owner Sergey (played by Rupert Friend), who is a wealthy Russian-immigrant businessman.

Two other guests at the house are another couple: Eli (played by Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (played by Lukas Gage), who uses cooking skills to be the chef for everyone in the house. Eli and Patrick—just like Josh and Iris—seem to be blissfully in love and in a happy relationship. Observant viewers will notice that Josh and Eli are the dominant partners in their respective relationships.

As already revealed in the trailer for “Companion,” Iris is really a companion robot controlled by Josh. A flashback in the movie shows that when Josh received Iris (Josh rented her from a company called Empathix), he was told by the Empathix delivery people that Iris can be programmed by Josh to do many things, but she cannot lie, and she cannot kill people and animals. Josh controls Iris’ intelligence levels, and he gets to choose Iris’ memories, such as their “meet cute”/”love synch” moment at a grocery store, where Josh accidentally tipped over a container of oranges in front of Iris.

Without revealing too much of the movie’s plot, it’s enough to say that Sergey ends up dead after he sexually harassed Iris when they were alone together. A lot of chaos ensues when Iris tries to escape. And not everyone else makes it out alive. If Iris ends up killing anyone, the movie has an explanation for it. “Companion” has some “inside joke” pop culture references, such as a scene where the Goo Goo Dolls’ 1998 hit “Iris” is played; the song’s lyrics apply to the situation at hand.

“Companion” is the type of movie that does a lot with a small number of people in the cast and the limited number of locations. (Almost the entire movie takes place in the lake house and within a few miles from the lake house.) Thatcher gives a standout and convincing performance as a robot who discovers her humanity and fights for her independence. The other cast members also do well in their roles, but some of the supporting characters are intentionally shallow.

Although some of the technology shown in “Companion” did not exist at the time the movie was released in 2025, companion robots are most definitely a reality and have existed for years. The majority of these companion robots are females that are used by men as sex toys. This “Companion” movie invites viewers to look beyond the “slasher flick” aspect of the story and think about how this type of technology can be used and abused in real life. In many ways, the potential real-life consequences are much more horrific than what’s portrayed in this fictional film.

Warner Bros. Pictures released “Companion” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025.

Review: ‘The Colors Within,’ an anime drama about a rock band, friendships and music

January 30, 2025

by Carla Hay

Rui Kagehira, Totsuko Higurashi, Kimi Sakunaga in “The Colors Within” (Image courtesy of GKIDS)

“The Colors Within”

Directed by Naoko Yamada

Available in the original Japanese version (with English subtitles) or in a dubbed English-language version.

Culture Representation: The Japanese animated film “The Colors Within,” which takes place in an unnamed city in Japan, tells the story of three very different teenagers who form a rock band together.

Culture Clash: All of the teenagers have different reasons for hiding their band activities.

Culture Audience: “The Colors Within” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in anime films about the subtleties human relationships.

Kimi Sakunaga in “The Colors Within” (Image courtesy of GKIDS)

“The Colors Within” is a lovely and low-key anime drama about three teenagers who become friends when they form a rock band together. Each band member has different reasons for keeping the band a secret. “The Colors Within” might bore some people who are expecting this anime film to have more action. It’s a movie that’s geared more to viewers who want to see a story about this friendship evolves between the three teenagers.

Directed by Naoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida, “The Colors Within” takes place in an unnamed city in Japan. The three teenagers don’t know each other very well when they decide to form a band, but they share a passion for music. The music they want to perform is pop-rock.

The three teenagers at the center of the story are all in their late teens. They are’

  • Totsuko Higurashi, a religious student at an all-girls Catholic boarding school, where the students are not allowed to hang out with boys.
  • Kimi Sakunaga, a dropout from the same school, who now works as a sales clerk in a used bookstore.
  • Rui Kagehira, a student in his last year of high school, who is expected to become a medical doctor like other members of his family.

Totsuko, Kimi and Rui all meet at the bookstore and almost instantly decide to form a band. Totsuko (who is obedient and friendly) has the ability to read people’s colors or auras. It’s something that she doesn’t reveal to a lot of people because she doesn’t want to be perceived as weird.

Kimi (who is creative and slightly rebellious) dropped out of school because she was caught having a boyfriend. Kimi is being raised by her grandmother Shino Sakunaga, and Kimi is afraid to tell to tell Shino that she dropped out of school. Meanwhile, Rui (who is shy and nerdy) doesn’t want his parents to know about his interest in being a musician.

The three teens name their group the White Cat Hall Band, named after a campus library called White Cat Hall. Kimi is the lead singer/guitarist. Totsuko is the keyboardist. Rui plays the theremin.

One of the nuns at the school is Sister Hiyoshiko, who is younger and more liberal than some of the school’s other nuns. Totsuko confides in Sister Hiyoshiko that Totsuko is writing a song. Sister Hiyoshiko says this songwriting activity should be okay if the song she’s writing is morally righteous.

The voices of the “The Colors Within Characters” characters are portrayed by different actors, depending on the version of “The Deer King.” The original Japanese version (with English subtitles) has Sayu Suzukawa as Totsuko Higurashi, Akari Takaishi as Kimi Sakunaga, Taisei Kido as Rui Kagehira, Keiko Toda as Shino Sakunaga, and Yui Aragaki as Sister Hiyoshiko. There’s also a U.S. version, with the dialogue dubbed in English, that has Libby Rue as Totsuko Higurashi, Kylie McNeill as Kimi Sakunaga, Eddy Lee as Rui Kagehira, Lani Minella as Shino Sakunaga, and Eileen Stevens as Sister Hiyoshiko.

“The Colors Within” has a pleasant message about seeing and appreciating people for who they really are and not how others want them to be. The voice performances are adequate, and the movie takes a little too long to show the band members’ full musical talent. However, “The Colors Within” is a solid option for people who want to watch an anime film about friendships that begin and grow under unlikely circumstances.

GKIDS released “The Colors Within” in select U.S. cinemas on January 24, 2025. The movie was released in Japan on August 30, 2024.

Review: ‘Dog Man’ (2025), starring the voices of Peter Hastings, Pete Davdison, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Lucas Hopkins Calderon and Ricky Gervais

January 29, 2025

by Carla Hay

Chief (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) and Dog Man (voiced by Peter Hastings) in “Dog Man” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures)

“Dog Man” (2025)

Directed by Peter Hastings

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Ohkay City, the animated film “Dog Man” (based on the book series of the same name) features a cast of characters depicting humans and talking animals.

Culture Clash: A part-human, part-dog police officer battles his criminal nemesis: a cat named Petey.

Culture Audience: “Dog Man” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in seeing silly animated films that pander to the lowest possible intelligence.

Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson) and Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon) in in “Dog Man” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures)

Just like an unruly dog that becomes too obnoxious to tolerate, the animated film “Dog Man” is a noisy and incoherent attack on the senses that ends up leaving an unpleasant mess. The visuals and story are amateurish and unappealing. And even though the title of the movie is “Dog Man,” at least half of the movie does a detour into a subplot about the villain cat and his innocent cloned “son.”

Written and directed by Peter Hastings (who also voices the title character), “Dog Man” is based on Dav Pilkey’s book series of the same name. The “Dog Man” movie looks like a misguided vanity project that was privileged to have the financial backing of major animation studio. There are better animated films that can be found for free on YouTube or other video platforms.

The “Dog Man” movie panders to the lowest common denominator and can’t even stay focused on its simple-minded plot. “Dog Man” takes place in the fictional Ohkay City, where humans and talking animals co-exist. The movie establishes early on that the main plot is about the city’s law enforcement wanting to apprehend an elusive cat criminal named Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson), who is mostly a thief.

During a high-speed chase to find Petey, a human police office and his loyal dog get into a serious accident. At a hospital, the medical professionals decide to do a radical surgery, by putting the head of the dog on the man’s body. Dog Man is now born.

Dog Man is still under pressure to find Petey. His unnamed police chief boss (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) is a grouch who is constantly yelling, mostly at Dog Man. However, the chief seems to have a soft spot for an inquisitive local TV reporter named Sarah Hatoff (voiced by Isla Fisher), who is frequently on the scene during the various mishaps that ensue.

Petey isn’t happy that Dog Man exists. He snarls about the police officer and dog that have now become the spliced mutant Dog Man: “I tried to get rid of these two ding dongs. And instead, I made a supercop.”

Petey comes up with idea to clone himself so he can increase the number of crimes he commits. What results isn’t exactly an adult clone but a kitten named Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who has the voice and intelligence of a human child in the age range of 6 to 8 years old. Li’l Petey (who calls Petey “Papa”) is sweet and naïve—which is why Petey wants nothing to do with Li’l Petey at first.

“Dog Man” becomes an irritating repetition of Petey getting captured and then escaping. In the last third of the film, the movie seems to forget all about Dog Man and goes off on a “daddy issues” tangent involving Petey, Li’l Petey and Petey’s father Grampa (voiced by Stephen Root), who is just as curmudgeonly as Petey. A sarcastic fish named Flippy (voiced by Ricky Gervais) becomes a shared enemy of Dog Man and Petey.

The movie has several supporting characters who don’t have much personality and are mostly forgettable. These characters are Butler (voiced by Poppy Liu), who is Petey’s assistant; Seamus (voiced by Billy Boyd), who is Sarah’s camera operator; Milly (voiced by Lunell), a cop co-worker of Dog Man; and 8DHD, a non-talking, sphere-shaped robot with human-like arms and legs. The voice performances are mediocre.

Children under the age of 10 might enjoy “Dog Man” because it’s a very energetic film, but the weak plot grows tiresome very quickly. Viewers looking for a good story will more likely be disappointed or bored by “Dog Man,” which wastes a lot of its frenetic energy on unimaginative visuals and tedious characters. This subpar animated film is like watching a dog chase its tail: Some might find amusement in watching it, but it’s ultimately a shallow spectacle of empty, repetitive and meaningless activity.

Universal Pictures will release “Dog Man” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025.

Review: ‘Autumn and the Black Jaguar,’ starring Emily Bett Rickards, Lumi Pollack, Paul Greene, Wayne Charles Baker, Kelly Hope Taylor and Lucrezia Pini

January 28, 2025

by Carla Hay

Lumi Pollack in “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)

“Autumn of the Black Jaguar”

Directed by Gilles de Maistre

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City and in the Amazon Rainforest, the dramatic film “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin and indigenous people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 15-year-old girl travels from New York City with her biology teacher to the Amazon Rainforest, in order to stop animal traffickers and save the jaguar that the girl befriended when she was 7 years old.

Culture Audience: “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching corny, poorly made movies that misrepresent the dangers of untrained humans interacting with large wild animals.

Pictured from left to right: Emily Bett Rickards, Lumi Pollack (center) and Wayne Charles Baker in in “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)

“Autumn and the Black Jaguar” presents itself as a family-friendly movie, but this hokey and terrible drama irresponsibly downplays how dangerous it is for untrained humans to interact with large, predatory wild animals as cuddly pets. What’s even worse is that the movie constantly tries to make it look it’s acceptable for an underage child to put herself in harm’s way to do things that would get the child seriously injured or killed in real life. “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” is not a sci-fi/fantasy film or an animated film, which is why it’s so heinous that this incompetently made film is being marketed to impressionable children.

Directed by Gilles de Maistre and written by Prune de Maistre, “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” (formerly titled “Jaguar My Love”) takes place in New York City and in an unnamed South American country where the Amazon Rainforest exists. (The movie was actually filmed in Mexico.) Gilles de Maistre and Prune de Maistre are a husband-and-wife filmmaking duo with a pattern of doing bad movies where young females befriend wild animals. (For example: 2018’s “Mia and the White Lion” and “The Wolf and the Lion,” which was released in various countries from 2021 and 2023.)

“Autumn and the Black Jaguar” at least doesn’t advocate for large wild animals to be kept confined like domestic pets in a small house, like the atrocious “The Wolf and the Lion” did. However, “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” is still an onslaught of misinformation about animal rights activists and environmentalism. This misinformation is shoveled into this saccharine drama where viewers are supposed to think it’s cute that an underage child can play with a jaguar as if it’s a domesticated pet.

The movie’s opening scene takes place in the Amazon rainforest, where a tribal chief named Oré (played by Wayne Charles Baker) is speaking to members of his community in the fictional region of Mayarihawa. Oré says that animals in their area are being poached and trafficked. Oré also comments that there’s only one jaguar left in the area. (You don’t have to be a genius to know which jaguar that is.)

Meanwhile, in New York City, 15-year-old Autumn Edison (played by Lumi Pollack) wakes up suddenly from having a nightmare and exclaims one word: “Hope!” Autumn lives with her widower father Saul Edison (played by Paul Greene), who is a medical doctor. The next morning, Saul asks Autumn if she had “that nightmare” again. She says yes, but she doesn’t want to talk about it.

What is haunting Autumn? It’s later revealed in flashbacks that Autumn, Saul and Autumn’s mother Ellie Edison (played by Eva Avila) used to live in Mayarihawa. Ellie was an animal rights activist and a member of the same tribe that Oré now leads. Autumn spent the first seven years of her life in Mayarihawa and didn’t really want to move away.

As seen in flashback scenes, when Autumn was about 7 years old (played by Airam Camacho), one of her friends in Mayarihawa was Oré’s daughter Celya (played by Lucrezia Pinishe), who’s about the same age as Autumn. But Autumn soon finds a “special friend.” One day, Autumn is playing by herself in the forest when she sees a stray female jaguar cub. Autumn and the jaguar immediately bond as “friends.” Autumn names the jaguar Hope.

However, this friendship didn’t last when the Edison family experienced a tragedy: Ellie was murdered not long after Autumn and Hope entered each other’s lives. Saul and Autumn then moved to New York City. Saul still finds it difficult to talk abut Ellie’s death (an unsolved murder) and doesn’t want to go back to Mayarihawa. There are indications throughout the movie that Autumn also wants to become an animal rights activist.

Autumn takes her animal rights beliefs into her biology classroom, where the students are required to dissect frog cadavers. Autumn refuses to complete this assignment and calls the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) while she’s in the classroom, as a way to protest this assignment. Autumn’s prissy biology teacher Anja Shymore (played by Emily Bett Rickards) is offended by Autumn’s act of rebellion. Anja takes away Autumn’s phone during this call.

Autumn thinks Anja is a hypocrite because Anja picks and chooses which animals deserve better treatment than other animals. Anja (a bachelorette with no children) has a pet hedgehog named Kitten and is so attached to Kitten, Anja brings Kitten to work with her. Autumn doesn’t think it’s right that someone who cares so much about a hedgehog would have no problem with people dissecting dead frogs.

That’s why Autumn makes giant signs to hang on the school’s campus walls outside. The signs say “Stop Animal Abuse” and “I Am Not an Experiment.” School officials are not amused by this stunt. Autumn gets expelled for defacing school property.

At home, Saul is annoyed but doesn’t seem that surprised by Autumn’s antics because this isn’t the first time that Autumn has been expelled from a school. Autumn is grounded at home until Saul can find enrollment for her in another school. One day, when Saul is at work, Autumn discovers letters from Oré that Saul had hidden from her. Oré mentions how much he misses Autumn in the letters and says that Hope is the last jaguar in Mayarihawa, which has been plagued by poachers.

This time, it’s Autumn’s turn to be irritated with Saul. She bursts into Saul’s medical office and demands to know why Saul hid these letters from her. More importantly, Autumn wants to go to Mayarihawa to find Hope and rescue her. Saul predictably says no. But that doesn’t stop Autumn. She sneaks out of her home with her passport and a plane ticket to Mayarihawa.

Autumn, Anja and Kitten end up on the same plane together, through a series of ridiculous circumstances. The chief villain of the story is Doria Dargan (played by Kelly Hope Taylor), a greedy business owner who wants to build a dam in the area and who participates in the illegal animal trafficking in Mayarihawa. Saul eventually finds out that Autumn has secretly gone to Mayarihawa. He has a secret of his own: Saul is attracted to Anja. And you can easily guess what happens in the rest of this dreadful film.

In the production notes for “Autumn and the Black Jaguar,” director Gilles de Maistre says that Pollack spent one year getting to know the jaguar that’s in the movie. Although real trained jaguars were used in almost all of the movie’s jaguar scenes, so much of “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” is anything but realistic. The treacly dialogue is made worse by the movie’s amateurish acting by many of the cast members, particularly Bett Rickards and Greene.

Anja’s uptight priggishness is dialed up to tiresome levels because she’s supposed to be a “fish out of water” city woman who’s stuck with a rebellious teen in the Amazon Rainforest. After a while, the conflicts between Anja and Autumn overshadow everything else, while the “jaguar rescue” storyline is rushed back in the story, to eye-rolling results. The jaguar is easily the most likable character in the movie.

“Autumn and the Black Jaguar” might be acceptable to people who want mindless entertainment. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with advocating for compassionate treatment of animals—but that’s the extent of any merits this misguided movie hopes to have. “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” makes it look like all you need to be is a cute kid who likes animals, in order to charm a large wild animal into being a passive and obedient pet. And that’s a careless message to send, no matter what the intentions are.

Blue Fox Entertainment released “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” in U.S. cinemas on January 17, 2025.

Review: ‘You Gotta Believe,’ starring Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Gadon, Lew Temple, Michael Cash and Etienne Kellici

January 27, 2025

by Carla Hay

Luke Wilson, Michael Cash and Sarah Gadon in “You Gotta Believe” (Photo courtesy of Well Go USA)

“You Gotta Believe”

Directed by Ty Roberts

Culture Representation: Taking place in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2002, the dramatic film “You Gotta Believe” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latinos and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A Little League baseball team that’s on a losing streak has to overcome major obstacles in a quest to become a champion team.

Culture Audience: “You Gotta Believe” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching formulaic and hokey movies about sports underdogs.

Greg Kinnear in “You Gotta Believe” (Photo courtesy of Well Go USA)

Overly sappy and poorly edited, You Gotta Believe takes real events about an underdog Little League baseball team and turns everything to a mush-filled drama with unimpressive acting. You know how this movie ends before it even starts. “You Gotta Believe” also uses a cancer storyline to over-manipulate people’s emotions.

Directed by Ty Roberts and written by Lane Garrison, “You Gotta Believe” takes place in 2002, in Fort Worth, Texas, where the movie was filmed on location. “You Gotta Believe” is based on a true story, told from the perspective of Robert Ratfliff Jr., whose father Robert “Bobby” Ratliff Sr. was one of the coaches of Robert Jr.’s Little League Team in 2002. Bobby had cancer when he coached the team.

“You Gotta Believe” begins by showing the Westside All-Stars boys baseball team on a losing streak. Klifford “Kliff” Young (played by Patrick Renna)—who owns multiple sports teams (including the Westside All-Stars)—asks attorney Jon Kelly (played by Greg Kinnear) to coach the team for the last game of the season. Kliff says he’s desperate to send a team to a championship tournament. The All-Stars lose their last game, of course.

Meanwhile, insecure Robert Jr. (played by Michael Cash) and his bratty older brother John, nicknamed Peanut (played by Joaquin Roberts), find out that their 49-year-old father Bobby (played by Luke Wilson) has cancer—specifically, an advanced form of melanoma. In this type of “boys club” movie, Bobby’s wife Patti Jean (played by Sarah Gadon) stereotypically has a token role of a woman whose main purpose is to be supportive of the males in her family.

The cancer diagnosis isn’t handled well by the adults who have to break the news to the kids. When Peanut asks Bobby if he’s going to die, Bobby says no, but his body will get weaker. Kids shouldn’t be lied to about death. The correct response would be to tell the truth but in a way that doesn’t cause trauma.

Jon knows about the cancer because he’s Bobby’s attorney, and Bobby has asked Jon to handle the legalities of Bobby’s last will and testament. Jon then asks Bobby to coach the Little League team for the team’s next season. Bobby reluctantly agrees.

Because Bobby misled Robert about how serious the cancer is, Robert tells the team of kids: “He’s not dying. He just has cancer.” Bobby then corrects Robert by commenting to the team about his life expectancy: “The truth is I don’t know.”

Bobby then says they all need to get better. Since when is winning a Little League game as important as surviving cancer? Never. It’s heinous the way that this movie tries to make these two struggles equal.

“You Gotta Believe” then clumsily lumbers along with the expected montages of baseball practices and in-fighting between some of the teammates. Another coach named Mitch Belew (played by Lew Temple) joins team. And he’s a tyrant. And then, yet another coach named Sam Knight (played by Martin Roach) gets added to team.

How many coaches does this Little League team need? It’s not like they’re competing in the Olympics. And what does it say about the decision makers that they didn’t have enough confidence in Bobby that they kept adding other coaches to the team? Don’t expect the movie to explain.

An obvious sign of a bad movie or TV show about a sports team is if only one or two players on the team are given any distinctive personalities. In “You Gotta Believe,” only brothers Peanut and Robert Jr. have personalities that can be distinguished from each other. The other team players are utterly generic.

“You Gotta Believe” is a deluge of corny line after corny line of dialogue. In one scene, Bobby tells the team: “When I was your age, I didn’t have much. But as I grew older, I realized that the most important thing I’ve got is what I give—so give it your all.”

In another scene, Jon’s son Walker Kelly (played by Etienne Kellici), the team’s pitcher, is in the backyard of his home. Walker is being very pessimistic about the team’s chances of making it to the championships. In response, his mother Kathy Kelly (played by Molly Parker) throws Walker in the swimming pool. Kathy then says to Walker in a lecturing tone: “The unexpected can happen—and even you can’t predict that.”

“You Gotta Believe” is the type of movie that spouts a lot of mindless gibberish with the importance of people who think they’re preaching all the answers to life. These are the type of characters who might announce things like, “In other news, water is wet.” They actually don’t say that line in the movie, but “You Gotta Believe” has many moments where viewers might think, “What a stupid and cornball thing to say.”

“You Gotta Believe” isn’t a completely terrible film. Some viewers might enjoy the movie’s cloying and contrived sentimentality or the predictable baseball games. But there are much better movies about “against all odds” Little League teams. (The 1976 comedy “The Bad News Bears” is an obvious example.) “You Gotta Believe” is a movie that wants to hit a home run, but the movie’s substandard filmmaking deserves to stay on the bench.

Well Go USA released “You Gotta Believe” in U.S. cinemas on August 30, 2024. The movie was released on digital an VOD on September 17, 2024. Netflix premiered the movie on January 21, 2025.

Review: ‘Red Rooms’ (2023), starring Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Natalie Tannous, Pierre Shagnon and Guy Thauvette

January 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

Laurie Babin and Juliette Gariépy in “Red Rooms” (Photo courtesy of Utopia)

“Red Rooms” (2023)

Directed by Pascal Plante

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2022, in Montreal, the psychological drama film “Red Rooms” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A fashion model becomes addicted to attending the murder trial of an accused serial killer, and she goes to extremes to find evidence that would prove whether or not he’s guilty.

Culture Audience: “Red Rooms” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching movies about dark obsessions.

Maxwell McCabe-Lokos in “Red Rooms” (Photo courtesy of Utopia)

“Red Rooms” shows a haunting portrayal of what happens when a stranger’s curiosity about a serial killer turns into an obsession. Juliette Gariépy gives a riveting performance as a fashion model who inserts herself into a murder trial in more ways than one. Although “Red Rooms” has been described as a horror film, it’s more of a psychological drama. The movie has very little gore and no jump scares. Much of the horror comes from imagining what happened, based on disturbing sounds and descriptions.

Written and directed by Pascal Plante, “Red Rooms” had its world premiere at the 2023 Karlory Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic and its North American premiere at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival. The movie takes place in 2022 in Montreal, where “Red Rooms” was filmed on location.

“Red Rooms” begins by showing a fashion model named Kelly-Anne (played by Gariépy) going through metal-detector security at a courthouse. Kelly-Anne is there for the opening day of a murder trial that is big news in Canada. A 40-year-old man named Ludovic Chevalier (played by Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) is accused of being a serial killer of three girls: 16-year-old Kim LeBlanc, 14-year-old Justine Roy and 13-year-old Camille Beaulieu. Ludovic has been given the nickname the Demon of Rosemont.

What’s particularly heinous about the way these three girls were killed is that the torturous murders (which occurred on separate days) were livestreamed on the dark web to people who paid to see these killings. The murderer covered his face with a ski mask, so only his eyes were showing. All of the murders took place in a red room. All of the murder victims were dismembered.

The jury trial is expected to last two months. Judge Marcel Godbout (played by Guy Thauvette) reminds the jury that the defendant is on trial for first-degree murder, sexual assault, abduction, confinement, bodily harm, committing indignity to a corpse, and production and distribution of obscene material. Ludovic is sitting handcuffed in the courtroom, in a glass-enclosed area separate from where the prosecution and defense teams are sitting.

The prosecutor Yasmine Chedid (played by Natalie Tannous) and the defense attorney Richard Fortin (played by Pierre Chagnon) make their opening statements. Richard says that Ludovic is not guilty because Ludovic has no motive and no history of violence. Ludovic, who is thin and balding, stares vacantly ahead and is slightly hunched over during the most of the trial.

During her opening statement, Yasmine makes sure that the jury hears what these murder victims were like before their tragic deaths cut their young lives short. Kim was a star player on her hockey team. Justine was an enthusiastic dancer. Camille was a class president at her school.

Kelly-Anne intensely watches all the activity in the courtroom, but she is particularly focused on Ludovic, who seems oblivious to Kelly-Anne and other people who might be staring at him. It’s unclear how Ludovic was arrested for the murders, but the prosecution s sure that the same person committed all three murders. Ludovic’s blue eyes look like the murderer’s eyes.

Kelly-Anne, who is a bachelorette with no children, lives alone in a sleek penthouse-styled Montreal apartment with long glass windows. She is not a very famous model, but she’s successful enough that she’s hired for national ad campaigns. “Red Rooms” shows Kelly-Anne at a few of her photo shoots and what her modeling looks like in ads.

The interior decoration of Kelly Anne’s apartment is modern and upscale but doesn’t look “lived in” and has no real personality—like a place decorated just to be a showcase. She also keeps the apartment dark at all hours of the day and night. It’s a reflection of how Kelly-Anne seems to be as a person: beautiful on the outside, but somewhat cold and mysterious on the inside.

The only conversations that Kelly-Anne has in her home is with an artificial intelligence assisant named Guenièvre, which is similar to Amazon’s Alexa. Kelly-Anne spends a lot of time going on the dark web on her computer at home. Her motives eventually become clear in the last third of the movie.

Kelly-Anne keeps to herself when she’s at the courthouse. But her visits are noticed by someone else who is a devoted spectator of this trial: Clémentine (played by Laurie Babin), who is in her early-to-mid 20s. Clémentine firmly believes that Ludovic is not guilty. It isn’t made clear until much later in the movie if Kelly-Anne thinks Ludovic is guilty or not guilty.

One morning, Kelly-Anne is surprised to see that Clémentine is waiting for her outside of the building where Kelly-Anne lives. Clémentine explains that she followed Kelly-Anne home from the courthouse because she was curious about Kelly-Anne. Clémentine is very talkative and seems to want to latch on to Kelly-Anne as a new friend.

Kelly-Anne is more aloof and treats Clémentine like a stray puppy. Clémentine says that she traveled several miles from her home to be at this trial, and she’s running out of money to stay at a hotel. Kelly-Anne invites Clémentine to stay with her during the remainder of the trial. During this visit, Kelly-Anne sees how fanatical Clémentine is about Ludovic and how much Clémentine wants to help prove that Ludovic is not guilty of the crimes.

Kelly-Anne seems both intrigued and slightly repulsed by Clémentine. Kelly-Anne also becomes fascinated by Francine Beaulieu (played by Elisabeth Locas), the mother of murder victim Camille Beaulieu. Out of all of the parents of the murder victims, Francine is the one who gives the most interviews to the media. During a TV interview at the courthouse, Francine blasts the mostly female group of Ludovic supporters by calling them “groupies.” Francine also describes Ludovic as a “parasite.”

“Red Rooms” shows Kelly-Anne’s increasing obsession about Ludovic and the murder trial and how her fixation eventually interferes with her work and takes a toll on her mental health. The movie doesn’t tell enough of a backstory about Kelly-Anne for viewers to find out if she’s generally hooked on true crime or if it’s this one particular accused killer who has become her obsession.

“Red Rooms” is a movie intended to disturb viewers in ways that are not obvious or expected. There’s a scene where a snuff video is shown to certain characters, but there are no graphic visuals showing actual murder in “Red Rooms.” Instead, only sounds of torture and murder can be heard. In many ways, hearing these sounds could be more upsetting to some people than an actual scene of showing bloody murder.

“Red Rooms” will keep people guessing until the last 20 minutes about what Kelly-Anne really wants and why she is so caught up in this trial. The story is unnerving because although it can be guessed what an accused murderer might be capable of doing, it’s less clear what type of person Kelly-Anne is. That uncertainty about Kelly-Anne will make viewers wonder if she’s a harmless spectator or someone with dangerous motivations of her own.

Utopia released “Red Rooms” in select U.S. cinemas on September 6, 2024. The movie was released on digital and VOD on October 4, 2024. Shudder and AMC+ premiered “Red Rooms” on January 14, 2025. The movie was released in Canada on August 11, 2023.

Review: ‘I’m Still Here’ (2024), starring Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello and Fernanda Montenegro

January 25, 2025

by Carla Hay

Fernanda Torres in “I’m Still Here” (Photo by Alile Onawale/Sony Pictures Classics)

“I’m Still Here” (2024)

Directed by Walter Salles

Portuguese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Brazil, from 1970 to 2014, the dramatic film “I’m Still Here” (based on real events) features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A family is permanently altered when a former politician and his wife get taken into police custody for questioning; the husband goes missing in custody; and the wife comes up against obstacles to find out what happened to her husband.

Culture Audience: “I’m Still Here” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies based on true stories about families affected by government oppression.

Fernanda Torres, Cora Mora and Guilherme Silveira in “I’m Still Here” (Photo by Alile Onawale/Sony Pictures Classics)

Anchored by a memorable performance by Fernanda Torres, the sprawling drama “I’m Still Here” tells the true story of a family affected by the patriarch’s disappearance while he was in police custody. The movie’s great spirit makes up for an uneven timeline. “I’m Still Here” takes an unshakeable look at how government oppression can rip families apart or bring them closer together.

Directed by Walter Salles, “I’m Still Here” was written by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega. The adapted screenplay is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s 2015 memoir “Ainda Estou Aqui.” “I’m Still Here” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. “I’m Still Here” received three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (for Torres) and Best International Feature Film.

“I’m Still Here” takes place in Brazil, from 1970 to 2014, but the vast majority of the story’s chronological timeline is from 1970 to 1971. In the beginning of the movie, the Paiva family seems to be living an ideal middle-class life in Rio de Janeiro. They live in a rented house near the beach. And they all get along well with each other. Their blissful family life will soon be shattered.

Rubens Paiva (played by Selton Mello) and his wife Eunice Paiva (played by Torres) are happily married and are very affectionate with each other in public. Eunice’s full name is Maria Lucrécia Eunice Facciolla Paiva. In 1970, Rubens and Eunice (who are both in their early 40s) have been married for 18 years and have five children together.

The Paiva parents have a progressive household where they let their children listen to and buy a variety of music, at a time in Brazil when rock music was considered sinful and too radical in conservative households. The Paiva children are allowed to express themselves and be who they are, without fear of being punished. Before moving to Rio de Janeiro, the family lived in São Paulo, the city where Eunice grew up.

The five children of Eunice and Rubens are:

  • Fun-loving daughter Vera Sílvia Facciolla Paiva, nicknamed Veroca (played by Valentina Herszage), born in 1953.
  • Moody daughter Maria Eliana Facciolla Paiva, nicknamed Eliana (played by Luiza Kosovski), born in 1955.
  • Inquisitive daughter Ana Lúcia Facciolla Paiva, nicknamed Nalu (played by Barbara Luz), born in 1957.
  • Sensitive son Marcelo Rubens Paiva (played by Guilherme Silveira), born in 1959.
  • Obedient daughter Maria Beatriz Facciolla Paiva, nicknamed Babiu (played by Cora Mora), born in 1960.

At this point in time, Rubens is a former Labor Party congressman for the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. He is currently working as a civil engineer. Eunice is a homemaker who has help from a live-in nanny/housekeeper named Maria José (played by Pri Helena), who is loyal and attentive.

The first half-hour of this 135-minute movie shows the family going about their lives normally. “I’m Still Here” begins by showing Veroca playing volleyball with friends on the beach. A stray dog (a male terrier mix) interrupts the game. Veroca asks Marcelo (who’s also at the beach with friends) to take the dog away. Marcelo ends up taking the dog to the Paiva family home to keep as a pet. Marcelo names the dog Pimpão, the same name as one of Veroca’s friends.

Things seem to be going well for the Paiva family. However, there are undercurrents of danger always present because of Brazil’s political regime at the time. Brazil was under a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. Even when the Paiva family seemed to be happy, there are constant reminders of this oppressive government.

In an early scene in the movie, some of the family members watch a TV news report about the National Liberation Alliance terrorist kidnapping of Swiss ambassador Giovanni Bucher, who is eventually freed in exchange for 70 political prisoners. In another scene, Veroca and three of her teenage friends are in a car when they are stopped and accosted by military police at a checkpoint in an expressway tunnel.

Veroca has recently graduated from high school. She plans to temporarily move to London with some friends of the Paiva family: married couple Fernando Gasparian (played by Charles Fricks) and Dalva Gasparian (played by Maeve Jinkins), whose teenage daughters Helena Gasparian (played by Luana Nastas) and Laura Gasparian (played by Isadora Ruppert) are close in age to Veroca. Eliana and Nalu are fascinated by British culture and joke that Veroca could get a boyfriend like John Lennon.

Unfortunately, not long after Veroca moves to London, the military oppression hits close to home for the Paiva family. On January 20, 1971, four armed men (claiming to be members of the Brazilian Air Force) show up at the Paiva house and demand that Rubens go with them to answer some questions. The leader of these men identifies himself only as Schneider (played by Luiz Bertazzo), and he says he’s a parapsychologist.

After Rubens is driven away by car by one of the men, Eunice and Eliana are also taken into custody and are forced to wear hoods when they are taken to a police station and interrogated in separate rooms. What is the reason for the home invasion and interrogations? It has to do with Rubens’ left-wing, anti-dictator political activities before, during and after he left office.

The rest of “I’m Still Here” shows what happens from Eunice’s perspective. She is kept imprisoned for several days and finds out that Rubens has gone “missing.” Making matters worse, the Brazilian government also denies that Rubens was ever taken into police custody. Eunice and Eliana eventually get to go home, but the mystery of what happened to Rubens plagues the Paiva family.

A typical movie with this subject matter would show the distraught spouse who’s left behind doing a lot of crying or shouting in her quest to find her missing spouse. But Torres’ performance in “I’m Still Here” is one of stoic restraint. She portrays a mother who wants to keep her emotions in check, so as not to alarm her children, even though Eunice knows that she and her family are under surveillance and could be in danger.

Eunice isn’t a robot though. There’s a scene when something tragic happens, and Eunice can’t hold back her emotions any more. She lashes out at two government agents who have been spying on her from a car parked on a street.

Torres’ performance is believable not just in how she says Eunice’s words but also by what Eunice doesn’t say. The way that Torres communicates with her eyes and body language is superb and a master class in unspoken acting. The other cast members of “I’m Still Here” are perfectly fine in their roles. However, this movie revolves around the Eunice character, which is why Torres’ performance is so vital.

“I’m Still Here” might be considered too understated for viewers expecting a formulaic Hollywood-styled film where there’s a check list of things that usually happen when someone is looking for a missing family member. “I’m Still Here” shows the harsh reality of Eunice having limitations on what type of help she can get, considering that the military police department that would be in charge of the investigation is the same department that she suspects is responsible for Rubens’ disappearance.

If there’s any noticeable flaw in “I’m Still Here,” it’s how the timeline is set up. The movie takes a little too long before showing Rubens’ disappearance. And there are huge gaps in the timeline that are hurriedly filled in by the movie’s epilogue.

For example: About two-thirds of the movie takes place in 1970 and 1971. Then, there’s an abrupt jump to 1996. And then, another abrupt jump to 2014. Torres’ real-life mother Fernanda Montenegro portrays an elderly Eunice in the 2014 scenes. There’s a major, life-changing part of Eunice’s life that deserved to be depicted in the movie, but it’s only mentioned quickly in the captioned epilogue.

“I’m Still Here” director Salles has a personal connection to the story because he first met the Paiva family in the late 1960s and became friends with the children of Eunice and Rubens. “I’m Still Here” puts a very intimate perspective on the untold numbers of families affected by disappearances of loved ones who were in government custody. “I’m Still Here” is not a political statement. It’s a powerful statement about human resilience in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil.

Sony Pictures Classics released “I’m Still Here” in select U.S. cinemas on January 17, 2025. The movie was released in Brazil on November 7, 2024.

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