drama Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Uninvited’ (2024), starring Vilma Santos, Aga Muhlach and Nadine Lustre

January 19, 2025

by Carla Hay

Vilma Santos in “Uninvited” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. International)

“Uninvited” (2024)

Directed by Dan Villegas

Tagalog and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in the Philippines, the dramatic film “Uninvited” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A woman seeks murderous revenge on a corrupt billionaire and some of his cronies for the death of her daughter.

Culture Audience: “Uninvited” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching tacky melodramas.

Ron Angeles, Nadine Lustre and Aga Muhlach in “Uninvited” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. International)

“Uninvited” is exactly the tawdry melodrama it appears to be. It’s a predictable story about a vigilante mother on a murderous vendetta. The terrible acting performances drag the movie down to cringeworthy levels.

Directed by Dan Villegas and written by Dodo Dayao, “Uninvited” takes place in an unnamed city in the Philippines. It begins by showing a woman named Lilia Capistrano (played by Vilma Santos) looking frantically for her teenage daughter Lily in their house, but the Lilla can’t find Lily. It’s later revealed in flashbacks that Lily (played by Gabby Padilla) and her boyfriend Christopher Norman “Tofy” Almario (played by Elijah Canlas) are both dead.

The next scene takes place 10 years after Lily’s death. Lilia is at a lavish party at the mansion owned by billionaire criminal Guilly Vega (played by Aga Muhlach), who is celebrating his 55th birthday at this party. Lilia has arrived at this party uninvited and is pretending to be a socialite/philanthropist named Eva Candelaria. Guilly is secretly involved with drug smuggling, sex trafficking and many other crimes.

Also at the party are Guilly’s materialistic and shallow wife Katrina Vega (played by Mylene Dizon) and their “wild child” daughter Nicolette Chantal “Nicole” Remegio Vega (played by Nadine Lustre), who’s in her 20s. Nicole, also known as Nicky, is addicted to cocaine that is supplied to her by her enabling boyfriend Mark (played by Ron Angeles), who is also at the party. Nicole repeatedly talks about how much she hates her father Guilly.

Other party attendees are Jigger Zulueta (played by RK Bagatsing), who is Guilly’s right-hand man; Celso Batac (played by Cholo Barretto), who is Guilly’s bodyguard; Jomar Maitim (played by Ketchup Eusebio), who is Guilly’s pimp; Randall Ballesteros (played by Gio Alvarez), who is Guilly’s corporate “fixer”; and Colonel Red Zaldarriaga (played by Tirso Cruz III), Guilly’s friend who is now his enemy. One can assume that Red was invited to the party so that Guilly could flaunt his wealth to make Red jealous.

“Uninvited” alternates between scenes at the party and flashback scenes to show why Lilia has gone to this party under a false identity. You can easily figure out within the first 15 minutes of the movie that Lilia’s motive has something to do with Lily’s death. In case it isn’t made clear that Guilly is a complete scumbag, he acts like an incestuous father to Nicole. It should also come as no surprise when the family’s dirty secret is eventually revealed.

Lilia’s close friend Norma Almario (played by Lotlot de Leon) is Tofy’s grieving mother. Norma is briefly in the movie and doesn’t have much bearing on the plot. It’s pretty clear that Lilia is acting out her revenge plan completely on her own. Her plan (killing more than one person at this crowded party) is actually very foolish because there could be many witnesses and so many things could go wrong.

Santos brings some believable humanity to her role as Lilia. Her performance is the main reason why “Uninvited” isn’t a complete waste of time if you want to watch a formulaic vigilante movie. Unfortunately, all of the other “Uninvited” cast members are either too stiff or over-act in their performances.

“Uninvited” slowly lurches along to the inevitable reveal of who are Lilia’s targets besides Guilly and how she plans to get revenge. A mid-credits scene is underwhelming and adds nothing interesting to the movie, which ends very abruptly. It all adds up to a sordid soap opera that has no surprises and is actually quite boring in how everything plays out to the very unimaginative end.

Warner Bros. International released “Uninvited” in select U.S. cinemas on January 10, 2025. The movie was released in the Philippines on December 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Levels’ (2024), starring Cara Gee, Peter Mooney, Aaron Abrams and David Hewlett

January 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

Peter Mooney and Cara Gee in “Levels” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films)

“Levels” (2024)

Directed by Adam Stern

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed North American city, the sci-fi dramatic film “Levels” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Asian person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man tries to solve the mystery of why his “dead” girlfriend is contacting him from another dimension.

Culture Audience: “Levels” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching low-quality sci-fi movies.

Aaron Abrams in “Levels” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films)

Everything about the sci-fi clunker “Levels” is mishandled and poorly made. It’s a jumbled mess of bad ideas about a man, his girlfriend, multiverse dimensions, and artificial intelligence. This forgettable flop has no intelligence, artificial or otherwise.

Written and directed by Adam Stern, “Levels” is his feature-film directorial debut. Unfortunately, “Levels” is so amateurly made (despite having an ambitious concept), the movie is filled with a lot of mistakes that are often in movies from first-time feature directors. Among those mistakes is trying to cram in too many ideas in a flimsy plot. As a result, everything falls apart in the story, long before the movie is over.

In “Levels ” (which takes place in an unnamed North American city and was filmed in Canada), a man named Joe (played by Peter Mooney) witnesses his girlfriend Ash (played by Cara Gee) get gunned down right in front of him. The murderer, who runs away before being caught, is a man named Anthony Hunter (played by Aaron Abrams), whose backstory is revealed much later in the movie. At the time of the murder, Joe doesn’t know anything about this killer except what the killer looks like.

Joe falls into a deep depression and attempts suicide by shooting himself with a gun. The gun doesn’t work when it’s pointed at him, but the gun works when it’s pointed at objects. Joe discovers the reason why, later in the movie. After this suicide attempt, Joe finds a new purpose in his life when he is unexpectedly contacted by Ash on a video monitor in his home. Ash says she “died” in the world where Joe exists, but she is now living in another reality dimension.

Ash asks Joe for his help so that they could possibly reunite. She wants him to pick up a package at a local bookstore. Joe readily agrees. The rest of “Levels” is just time-wasting junk about Joe trying to reunite with Ash and trying to find her murderer. A local newsstand owner named Oliver Hunter (played by David Hewlett) plays a pivotal role in the story. “Levels” is just an onslaught of terrible acting and cringeworthy filmmaking. The only level this movie is on is “bottom of the barrel.”

RLJE Films released “Levels” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on November 1, 2024.

Review: ‘Harbin,’ starring Hyun Bin, Park Jeong-min, Jo Woo-jin, Jeon Yeo-been, Park Hoon, Yoo Jae-myung, Lily Franky and Lee Dong-wook

January 13, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Harbin”

Directed by Woo Min-ho

Korean, Japanese and Russian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Korea, Japan, China, and Russia, from 1908 to 1910, the dramatic film “Harbin” (based on true events) features a predominantly Asian group of people (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Ahn Jung-geun, a leader in a Korean army resisting Japan’s takeover of Korea, vows to assassinate Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi at the Russian-controlled Harbin train station, with help from others in Korea’s resistance movement.

Culture Audience: “Harbin” will appeal primarily to people who like to watching well-made historical dramas about war and politics.

Jeon Yeo-been in “Harbin” (Photo courtesy of Well Go USA)

“Harbin” gives a suspenseful depiction of the 1909 plot by Korean fighters to assassinate Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi during Japan’s takeover of Korea. The movie drags in the middle, but is overall a well-made historical drama. The cast members give skillful performances, while the brutal action scenes are realistic.

Directed by Woo Min-ho (who co-wrote the “Harbin” screenplay with Kim Min-seong), “Harbin” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Although the movie has scenes taking place in Korea, Japan, China and Russia, “Harbin” was actually filmed in Latvia. “Harbin” takes place from 1908 to 1910.

“Harbin” begins with this caption explaining the political turmoil that led to the chain of events portrayed in the movie: “In 1905, Japan forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Treaty, which abolished its diplomatic rghts and established a Residency-General. This treaty nominally turned Korea into a protectorate, but in fact, it lost its sovereignty and became a Japanese colony. Some Koreans, unable to contain their fury, resisted, killing themselves in protest or taking up armed struggle.”

As shown in the movie, one of the people in the Korean resistance movement is Ahn Jung-geun (played by Hyun Bin), lietenant governor of the Korean Independence Army. In the beginning of the movie, Jung-geun is experiencing an army that is divided: some in th army are loyal to him, while others are suspicious. Jung-geun also has conflicts with army member Lee Chang-Sup (played by Lee Dong-wook), an ambitious and quick-tempered rival who disagrees with Jung-geun on just about everything.

“Harbin” jumps around in the story’s timeline and has several flashbacks. In December 1908, the Korean Independence Army had a vicious battle against the Japanese Imperial Army in Kyonghung, in Korea’s province of North Hamgyong. Korean Independence Army won the battle and took several members of the Japanese Imperial Army as prisoners of war, including Mori Tatsuo (played by Park Hoon), a Japanese army major.

Jung-geun—against the objections of some of his soldiers, including Chang-Sup—decided to follow universal law in not killing these prisoners of war. Jung-geun is partially motivated by this decision after Tatsuo tells him that Tatsuo is married with children. Jung-geun decides to release the prisoners of war but take away their weapons because he assumes that these prisoners of war will act on an honor system and not get revenge.

It turns out to be a wrong assumption. A group of Korean Independence Army soldiers, who broke off from Jung-geun’s command after his controversial decision, are slaughtered by Tatsuo and other Japanese army fighters. Feeling tremendous guilt and despair, Jung-geun wanders around a frozen Tumen River by himself as he contemplates what do next.

An early scene in the movie shows members of the Korean Independence Army in a January 1909 meeting and debating of what could have happened to Jung-geun during this disappearance. Some believe that Jung-geun could have died or could have been captured by the Japanese army. Others believe that even if Jung-geun comes back, he could be spy for the Japanese.

Some of the people in this tension-filled meeting include Chang-Sup, Kim Sang-hyun (played by Jo Woo-jin), Woo Duk-soon (played by Park Jeong-min) and Choi Jae-sung (played by Yoo Jae-myung), who is the army’s chief of staff. Chang-Sup is quick to think the worst of Jung-geun. Duk-soon, who is very loyal to Jung-geun, cautions: “Don’t go framing someone without proof.” Others in the meeting seem to have a “wait and see” attitude.

The people in the meeting don’t have to wait long for Jung-geun. He shows up and is remorseful about the massacre but he tells the people in the meeting: “I didn’t come for forgiveness. I came because there’s still work to do.” To atone for his strategic mistake, Jung-geun vows to assassinate Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi.

The rest of “Harbin” shows the elaborate planning of this assassination. On October 17, 1909, Prime Minister Itō is scheduled to go to Russia to meet with government officials about the Korea-Japan “merger.” He is traveling by train and is scheduled to stop at the Russian-controlled Harbin station at the China border.

The Korean Independence Army enlists the help of a an arms smuggler Ms. Gong (played by Jeon Yeo-been), who has a pivotal role in this plot. It should come as no surprise that things don’t go as smoothly in this assassination plan. There’s a power struggle between Jung-geu or Chang-sup over who should lead this operation. And there some unexpected setbacks.

“Harbin” has artful cinematography, especially in the outdoor scenes that show the majestic landscapes where many of these battles and struggles take place. All of the cast members capably handle their roles, although some of the supporting characters are underdeveloped. The pacing gets a little sluggish in the talkative middle of the movie, but the last third of the film gets “Harbin” back on track to being the impactful political thriller that it intended to be.

Well Go USA released “Harbin” in Los Angeles on December 25, 2024, with a wider release to select U.S. cinemas on January 3, 2025. The movie was released in South Korea on December 24, 2024.

Review: ‘The Last Dance’ (2024), starring Dayo Wong, Michael Hui, Michelle Wai and Chu Pak Hong

January 9, 2024

by Carla Hay

Michael Hui and Dayo Wong in “The Last Dance” (Photo courtesy of Emperor Motion Pictures)

“The Last Dance” (2024)

Directed by Anselm Chan

Cantonese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Hong Kong in 2020, the dramatic film “The Last Dance” features an all-Asian group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A wedding planner becomes a funeral director and has to convince the Taoist mortuary owner that he is worthy of managing the business, as the owner’s children bicker over various issues.

Culture Audience: “The Last Dance” will appeal primarily to people who like to watch dramas that tackle serious and sometimes-controversial subjects with heartfelt relatability.

Chu Pak Hong and Michelle Wai in “The Last Dance” (Photo courtesy of Emperor Motion Pictures)

“The Last Dance” is a well-acted drama that adeptly balances complex issues about religion and gender equality. This story (about a wedding planner who becomes a funeral director) also has emotionally authentic perspectives of self-identity and reinvention. Although it’s a drama that addresses serious issues, there are many moments that have touches of comedy yet remain respectful of these issues.

Directed by Anselm Chan (who co-wrote “The Last Dance” screenplay with Cheng Wai-kei), “The Last Dance” takes place in Hong Kong in 2020, during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dominic Ngai (played by Dayo Wong) is a wedding planner whose business has significantly decreased because of the lockdowns. Dominic (who is in his early 50s) is in debt and needs money, so he decides to switch jobs and become a funeral director.

The opportunity for Dominic to become a funeral director happens when Dominic’s longtime girlfriend Jane (played by Catherine Chau), who’s about 10 younger than Dominic, tells Dominic that her uncle Ming (played by Paul Chun), who owns a funeral parlor/mortuary, is retiring and wants someone to take over the business. Dominic has no experience in this type of work, so he gets the job because of nepotism.

Dominic has to work with an elderly Taoist priest named Master “Hello” Man (played by Michael Hui), who is strict traditionalist. Master Man technically owns the funeral parlor, but Dominic is expected to be Master Man’s business partner after completing a period of training. Dominic is eager to try new things to bring in more business, such as sell merchandise or accommodate a unusual requests for mummification

You know where all of this is going, of course. Dominic and Master Man have conflicts because of their contrasting styles. Master Man is especially offended by mummification because he believes that the dead person’s soul cannot transition properly if the body is mummified. Sensitive viewers, be warned: There are a few graphic scenes in this movie that show the process of a body being prepared for a funeral.

Master Man has two adult children. Older child Ben (played by Chu Pak Hong) is a married father who is also a Taoist priest. Master Man expects Ben to be Master Man’s successor in this mortuary business. Ben is married to a woman named Mandy (played by Kiki Cheung Hoi Kei), and they have one son, who’s about 6 or 7 years old. Master Man’s younger child is Yuet (played by Michelle Wai), who works as a paramedic.

Master Man is very conservative when it comes to gender roles. He thinks that women can’t be Taoist priests because he believes that women’s menstrual periods make them “impure” and unfit to be Taoist priests. He also disapproves of Yuet being a paramedic because thinks that women shouldn’t be paramedics. Needless to say, Master Man adamantly refuses to let Yuet participate in the traditional funeral ritual Break Hell’s Gate because he believes only men can perform this ritual.

It’s later revealed that Mandy practices Catholicism because she thinks it will increase her son’s chance of getting into a Catholic school because she believes this school can provide te best education for him. In a conversation during a family dinner, Ben admits that he will only practice Catholicism if it’s useful to him. This is the type religious duplicity is something that Master Man would think is blasphemous because Ben is a Taoist priest.

“The Last Dance” shows the ups and downs that these characters experience as they, in their individual ways, assert themselves in what they believe to be the right things that need to be done. Ngai and Hui are the obvious standouts in their scenes of co-workers with opposite personalities, but the other cast members perform quite well too. The movie has themes about making decisions and facing moral dilemmas about honest when it’s for a self-serving purpose versus being deceptive if it’s for the benefit of other people. And when any tearjerker moments happen in “The Last Dance,” they are earned and might have a lingering impact long after the movie ends.

Emperor Motion Pictures released “The Last Dance” in select U.S. cinemas on December 6, 2024. The movie was released in Hong Kong on November 9, 2024.

Review: ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,’ starring Putthipong Assaratanakul and Usha Seamkhum

January 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”

Directed by Pat Boonnitipat

Thai with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Thailand, the dramatic film “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” features an all-Asian group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A college dropout from a Chinese-heritage family becomes the caregiver for his father’s mother, after she has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and experiences family conflicts over inheritance matters.

Culture Audience: “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” will appeal primarily to people who like to watch realistic dramas about caring for aging and ailing family members.

Sanya “Duu” Kunakorn, Pongsatorn “Phuak” Jongwilas, Usha “Taew” Seamkhum, Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul and Sarinrat “Jear” Thomas in “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” (Photo courtesy of Well Go USA)

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is a charming and poignant story about family loyalty and love when dealing with complicated issues of caregiving for elderly people. The movie doesn’t shy away from problems that arise from greed and betrayals. “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” shows in unflinching ways how someone’s greatest allies and worst enemies can come from within the same family.

Directed by Pat Boonnitipat, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was co-written by Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn and Boonnitipat. The movie takes place in an unnamed city in Thailand. (“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was actually filmed in Bangkok, primarily in the district of Talat Phlu, which has a large population of people with Chinese heritage.) “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is Thailand’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2025 Academy Awards.

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” begins by showing a family of Chinese heritage celebrating the Qingming Festival. Mengju (played by Usha “Taew” Seamkhum) is the 79-year-old widowed matriarch of the family. She has three children: Eldest child Kiang (played by Sanya “Duu” Kunakorn) is a wealthy stockbroker. Middle child Sew (played by Sarinrat “Jear” Thomas) is a homemaker. Soei (played by Pongsatorn “Phuak” Jongwilas), Mengju’s youngest child, is gambling addict who is heavily in debt.

Sew has a son named M (played by Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul), who is a colllege droput who hopes to become a professional online video gamer. M has a younger cousin named Mui (played by Tontawan “Tu” Tantivejakul), who is related to M through the relatives who are on the M’s father’s side of the family. Mui is an online sex worker who has inherited money from M’s paternal grandfather because Mui was the grandfather’s caregiver before he died. M’s other cousin seen in the movie is Rainbow (played by Himawari Tajiri), who is the daughter of Kiang and Kiang’s wife Pinn (played by Duangporn Oapirat).

At the Quingming Festival, Mengju announces that she wants to spend millions of bahts on a burial plot for herself. Mengju’s mortality will soon be very much on the family’s minds. After she accidentally falls down, Mengju is take to a hospital, where she is diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer and has been given about one year to live. Viewers will have to suspend some disbelief that the family finds out about this diagnosis at the hospital, but Mengju does not.

The family decides not to tell feisty and outspoken Mengju, in order to spare her additional stress. If this sounds like it will turn into a copycat plot of the 2019 movie “The Farewell,” think again. The rest of “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” involves some twists and turns regarding the famly members and their varying agendas to get Mengju’s inheritance. It’s enough to say that M becomes Mengju’s caretaker and starts out with one intention and ends up with another.

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has capable performances from all of the cast members, but the heart and soul of the movie are Mengju and M, whose relationship changes in ways that are unexpected for both of them. Seamkhum and Assaratanakul are stellar in their performances as these characters. The movie tackles issues that many families have about whether an ailing and elderly relative should get care in a family home or in an assisted living facility. “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has tearjerking moments, as well as light touches of comedy, that don’t feel forced and are all the more meaningful because of how authentically the movie portrays family dynamics.

Well Go USA released “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” in select U.S. cinemas on September 13, 2024. The movie was released in Thailand on April 4, 2024.

Review: ‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine,’ starring Luke David Blumm, Paul Sparks and Caitlin FitzGerald

January 4, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Lost on a Mountain in Maine”

Directed by Andrew Kightlinger

Culture Representation: Taking place in July 1939 in Maine, the dramatic film “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” (based on real events) features an all-white group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A 12-year-old boy, who has a troubled relationship with his father, gets lost by himself on Maine’s Mount Katahdin.

Culture Audience: “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” will appeal primarily to people who like watching corny dramas about real-life children who went missing.

Paul Sparks and Caitlin FitzGerald in “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)

“Lost on a Mountain in Maine” tells the inspiring true story of how Donn Fendler survived being lost on Maine’s Mount Katahdin in 1939. Unfortunately, the hokey and trite way this story is told looks very fake and does a disservice to the real people. Although the outcome can easily be predicted, the movie fails to build enough suspense for it to rise above mediocrity. The real-life people involved in this story deserve a much better movie than what is presented here.

Directed by Andrew Kightlinger and written by Luke Paradise, “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” is adapted from the 1978 book co-written by Fendler and Joseph B. Egan. In July 1939, Fendler was 12 years old when he was lost on Mount Katahdin for nine days. Mount Katahdin is 5, 269 feet high and is the tallest mountain in Maine.

The beginning of the movie shows footage from a news interview of Junior York, an elderly man who was a real-life searcher in this rescue effort for Fendler. “By nine days,” York says, “we were looking for a body.” Throughout the movie there’s other real-life news footage of people who comment on what they remember about this crisis. These commenters include Donn Fendler’s fraternal twin brother Ryan Fendler, Donn’s childhood friend Fred Eaton and park ranger Dick Holmes. These news-footage interludes are somewhat distracting and take viewers out of the main scripted story.

“Lost on a Mountain in Maine” briefly shows the Fendler family in July 1939, before that fateful hike that led to Donn Fendler (played by Luke David Blumm) being trapped on Mount Katahdin. Donn lives in Newport, Maine, with his fraternal twin brother Ryan Fendler (played by Griffin Wallace Henkel) and their younger brother Tommy Fendler (played by Mason Cufari) and younger sister Patsy (played by Mackenzie S. Stevens), with the two younger siblings barely in the movie.

The kids’ mother and father have opposite parenting styles. Donald Fendler (played by Paul Sparks) is frequently away from home because he has to travel a lot for his job. When he’s at home, he’s often gruff, impatient and emotionally cold with the children. By contrast, Donald’s wife Ruth (played by Caitlin FitzGerald) is kind, nurturing and patient with the kids.

An early scene in the movie shows Donn and Ryan having an argument in the front yard of their family’s house, when Donald arrives and sees the twins having this conflict. Donald orders the boys to “duke it out” in a physical fight. Donn and Ryan are reluctant to hit each other. They are stopped just in time when Ruth goes outside to announce that dinner is ready.

Donald had promised to take Donn and Ryan on a fishing trip, but Donald announces during the family dinner that the fishing trip has been cancelled because Donald has to go back to work earlier than expected. The twins are disappointed, but Donald says he’ll make it up to them by taking them on a hiking trip to Mount Katahdin the next day. A local young man named Henry (played by Ethan Slater) will be their guide.

Donn isn’t keen about this sudden change of plans and walks away in a huff from the dinner table. Donald takes Donn aside and tells him, “My father was on the road a lot too. And I hated him for it.” It’s of little comfort to Donn, who mopes and sulks for most of the hiking trip.

Donald, Donn, Ryan and Henry start the mountain hike, which takes place on a dark and gloomy day, where there is heavy mist in certain areas. That’s the first sign that this hike is poorly planned. Donald also wears a fedora, a casual jacket, slacks and regular shoes that are all more suited for a walk in a park than a hike up Maine’s tallest mountain. Who does that? Someone with no common sense.

Donald says the obvious: “We’re not dressed for this type of weather.” Donald sees how misty everything is and suggests that they go back home. But stubborn Donn wants to prove to his father how “macho” he is, so Donn insists: “No! We’re going to the top! You want us to be men? Then let us be men!”

Someone needs to tell Donn that he’s a 12-year-old boy, not a man. Donald, as strict and stern he seems to be as a father, lets Donn rudely talk to him and inexplicably agrees to Donn’s orders for Donald to go back home with Ryan. Who’s the adult in charge here? Certainly not Donald in this moment. It should be noted that these ill-equipped hikers didn’t bring any emergency food, water or safety equipment.

Donald goes home with Ryan and lets Donn stay with Henry, who doesn’t really seem to know what he’s doing. The mist has turned into heavy fog. And then the most inevitable and predictable thing happens: Henry loses Donn and can’t find him.

Henry finds his way back to the bottom of the mountain to report that Donn is missing. Everyone is frantic and worried, of course. The rest of “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” shows what happens to Donn on the mountain and what happens when people join in the search for Donn.

“Lost on the Mountain in Maine” over-relies on slow-motion shots, in sappy attempts to drag out Donn’s ordeal. Meanwhile, a lot of the acting is stiff (especially from Sparks) and looks very awkward. FitzGerald gives the most natural-looking performance, but she’s not given much to do in a generic “worried wife/mother” role. “Lost in a Mountain in Maine” ends exactly like you think it will, because this story wouldn’t have been made into a movie unless it had a certain outcome. By the end of this hackneyed film, the only thing you’ll learn is this that ridiculous hike should never have happened in the first place.

Blue Fox Entertainment released “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” in U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024.

Review: ‘Bachchala Malli,’ starring Allari Naresh and Amritha Aiyer

January 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Bachchala Malli”

Directed by Subbu Mangadevvi

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Indian village of Suravaram, the dramatic film “Bachchala Malli” features an all-Indian group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A brutish man, who has longtime anger issues because his father abandonded him, abuses alcohol and gets into fights to cope with his emotional pain while he tries to have a romance with a kind and patient woman.

Culture Audience: “Bachchala Malli” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching forgettable dramas that have mindless violence.

Allari Naresh and Amritha Aiyer in “Bachchala Malli” (Photo courtesy of Parthyangira Cinemas)

“Bachchala Malli” is a lackluster drama where the movie’s title character gets into fights and has self-pity about his turbulent personal life and father’s neglect. This bloated 140-minute movie is a chore to watch because it’s so uninteresting and hollow. After a while, “Bachchala Malli” goes on a repeat loop of misery where the movie’s characters don’t seem to learn much when it comes to personal growth. It’s all just so tedious to watch.

Written and directed by Subbu Mangadevvi, “Bachchala Malli” takes place from 1985 to 2005, in the Indian village of Suravaram. it’s where Bachchala Malli (played by Allari Naresh) has lived his entire life. For most of the movie, Bachchala is a brute who frequently gets drunk, smokes too much, and is ready to get into bloody brawls with anyone, at any time.

Why is Bachchala so angry? A flashback to 1985 shows that when he was in 10th grade (about 15 or 16 years old), Bachchala was actually a good kid who was an academic achiever. Bachchala’s father (played by Kota Jayaram) and Bachala’s mother Rajayam (played Rohini) were proud of Bachchala—especially Bachchala’s father.

However, Bachchala’s life is shattered when he finds out that his father has a mistress named Padma (played by Hari Teja), and she has a son named Bachchala Ramana, who was a toddler in 1985. Padma shows up at Bachchala’s family home one day to demand child support. Bachchala’s paternal grandfather tells Bachchala’s father that he has to choose to live with Rajayam or Padma. Bachchala’s father chooses his mistress Padma and becomes an absentee father to Bachchala.

Most of “Bachchala Malli” takes place in the 1990s, when Bachchala is in his 20s. He meets and falls in love with a woman named Kaveri (played by Amritha Aiyer), who tries to get Bachchala to give up his decadent ways. Kaveri is also the daughter of a police officer (played by Rao Ramesh), who predictably doesn’t trust Bachchala because of Bachchala’s reputation for being a drunken rogue.

“Bachchala Malli” is a tiresome and dull melodrama, with Bachchala and Kaveri having an on-again/off-again romance that is threatened when she gets engaged to another man. There’s also a subplot about Bachchala and his younger half-brother Bachchala Ramana (played by Ankith Koyya) having a vicious feud. Expect to see the usual unrealistic fight scenes, with tacky shots in slow motion. The romance in the movie is utterly boring.

The acting performances in “Bachchala Malli” are mostly mediocre, although Naresh seems to make an effort to portray Bachchala as more complicated than Bachchala really is. The musical numbers, which are awkwardly placed in the movie, have silly lyrics and generic dancing. “Bachhala” wants desperately for audiences to feel empathy for Bachchala, but this entire movie is so soullness, the only feeling that “Bachchala Malli” viewers might have is impatience for this entire messy movie to be over as soon as possible.

Parthyangira Cinemas released “Bachhala Malli” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on December 20, 2024.

Review: ‘Lake George’ (2024), starring Shea Whigham, Carrie Coon, Max Casella and Glenn Fleshler

December 28, 2024

by Carla Hay

Shea Whigham and Carrie Coon in “Lake George” (Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)

“Lake George” (2024)

Directed by Jeffrey Reiner

Culture Representation: Taking place in California, the dramatic film “Lake George” features an all-white group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A recently paroled fraudster gets pressured to kill a woman in a murder-for-hire plot, but she convinces him let her live so that they can steal from the person who ordered the murder.

Culture Audience: “Lake George” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in watching a crime thriller that is darkly comedic.

Carrie Coon and Shea Whigham in “Lake George” (Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)

“Lake George” is a topsy-turvy crime thriller that has touches of dark comedy and is mostly watchable because of compelling lead performances from Shea Whigham and Carrie Coon. Some of the movie’s dialogue is a little forced but the story is engaging. “Lake George” has a familiar concept of two people with opposite personalities who go on a road trip and have conflicts with each other but find a way to work together toward a shared goal.

Written and directed by Jeffrey Reiner, “Lake George” had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. “Lake George” has a total running time of nearly two hours, which seems a little long for a compact story where the ending can easily be predicted. The same story could’ve essentially been told in 90 minutes or less because a few of the scenes in “Lake George” tend to wander a little bit. The movie takes place in California (mostly in the Los Angeles area), where “Lake George” was filmed on location.

Despite certain predictable plot developments, “Lake George” can still maintain viewer interest because of the movie’s characters, who aren’t exactly upstanding people, but nevertheless might get viewers intrigued about what will happen to these characters. “Lake George” begins by showing protagonist Don (played by Whigham) waking up in his motel room and having a mild panic attack. Don is a recovering gambling addict who has recently been paroled for insurance fraud and is trying to find a legitimate job.

A montage shows that Don hasn’t been having much luck with his job search. In phone call after phone call, Don gets bad news. People who promised him a job after he got out of prison no longer have the job available. In one case, the person who promised the job is now deceased.

It’s later revealed that Don is divorced and on his own. Don’s wife divorced him because of his criminal activities, and he is estranged from his children. The reason why Don spent time in prison is also revealed much later in the movie. Don is the most realistic character in this movie, which has a tendency to make other characters a little bit on the cartoonish side.

One day, when Don is in his motel room and trying to figure out what to do next, he gets an unannounced visitor: a thug named Harout (played by Max Casella), who forces himself into the room, points a gun at Don, and says, “Armen wants to see you.” Harout works for a wealthy criminal named Armen (played by Glen Fleshler), who has a nefarious job offer that Don is forced to take.

When Don arrives at Armen’s mansion, Armen says that he and Don owe each other a favor. “You pay me for your fuckup, and I’ll pay you what I owe you.” It’s later revealed that Don used to be an insurance agent, and he got pulled into Armen’s criminal activities when Armen paid Don to create false insurance claims. Don took the money to support Don’s gambling habit.

Eventually, Don and Armen got arrested for their insurance fraud. Armen was acquitted because he could afford better legal representation, while Don was the one who was sent to prison for their insurance fraud crimes. Armen is still bitter about the arrest and blames Don for both of them getting caught.

And now that Don is out of prison, Armen tells Don that he wants Don to kill Armen’s ex-girlfriend Phyllis (played by Coon) because, as Armen says: “She’s a dirty cunt. She knows too much.” Armen explains that he met Phyllis when they were in rehab together for cocaine addiction.

After they both got of of rehab, Armen made Phyllis his assistant, and she found out about all of his dirty dealings but stayed with him. Phyllis is no angel: It’s revealed later in the movie that she’s spent time in prison for cocaine trafficking. Now that Armen and Phyllis have had a bad breakup, Armen wants her dead because Phyllis knows a lot of his secrets.

Don immediately refuses to become an assassin because he says he’s not a murderer. Armen insists that’s exactly why Armen wants Don for this murder-for-hire job—because Don would be an unlkely suspect. After some arguing back and forth, Armen gets impatient and tells Don that Don will be murdered if Don doesn’t kill Phyllis.

Armen supplies Don with the .45 caliber gun and a 1983 Mercedes-Benz diesel station wagon that Don is supposed to use to commit this murder. Don is also given a photo of Phyllis and is tasked with stalking her and killing her wherever Don thinks is best, within a 72-hour period. It’s a crucial mistake for Armen to let a nervous and reluctant amateur do this type of planning on his own because too many things could go wrong. No one ever said that all criminals are smart.

Don carries out the stalking part of this plan and eventually kidnaps Phyllis in a parking garage where there are no other witnesses. Phyllis is talkative and sarcastic. As already revealed in the “Lake George” trailer, Phyllis convinces Don not to kill her when she tells Don that she knows where Armen keeps a fortune worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, locked in safes in his various homes (which she calls “stash houses”) in California. Phyllis says she knows how to open each safe, so she persuades Don that they should steal this fortune, split the money, and then go their separate ways.

Don agrees to this idea because he never wanted to kill Phyllis. The rest of “Lake George” is a “race against time” for Phyllis and Don to steal this fortune without getting caught. Don has been dreaming of retiring and living in a remote house near Lake George in Mammoth Lakes, California, which is about 311 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Getting an instant fortune would allow Don to live out that dream.

“Lake George” is more than a crime caper. Much of the movie is about the tension-filled relationship between “sad sack” Don and “firecracker” Phyllis. In order to pull off this audacious robbery spree, they both need to have some trust in each other, but it’s easier said than done. Even though Phyllis and Don take fake death photos of Phyllis to send to Armen, other things don’t go quite like how Don and Phyllis thought they would.

The prickly banter between Phyllis and Don keeps “Lake George” rolling along at a fairly even pace, although some parts of the dialogue tend to drag. The best parts of the movie are seeing how Don and Phyllis handle unexpected occurrences. It should come as no surprise that Phyllis is much more trigger-happy than Don. “Lake George” won’t be considered a classic movie, but it’s better than the average film of this type because the talented principal cast members keep this somewhat formulaic story afloat.

Magnet Releasing released “Lake George” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on December 6, 2024.

Review: ‘Wayward’ (2024), starring Jess Weixler, Jessica Sula, Chloe Guidry, Will Brittain, Jamie Anne Allman and Rob Morrow

December 27, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jess Weixler, Chloe Guidry and Jessica Sula in “Wayward” (Photo courtesy of Abramorama)

“Wayward” (2024)

Directed by Jacquelyn Frohlich

Culture Representation: Taking place in California, the dramatic film “Wayward” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An 11-year-old girl gets kidnapped during a road trip with her single mother, and the girl ends up emotionally bonding with her young female kidnapper.

Culture Audience: “Wayward” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in seeing a well-acted kidnapping drama that has some predictability but is overall appealing.

Chloe Guidry and Will Brittain in “Wayward” (Photo courtesy of Abramorama)

“Wayward” has moments that will frustrate some viewers because of how certain adults make stupid or unrealistic decisions in the story. However, this drama about a kidnapped 11-year-old girl is at its best when it’s about healing from family turmoil. The movie’s quality and tone fall somewhere in between the types of movies on Independent Film Channel and Lifetime.

“Wayward” is the feature-film directorial debut of writer/director Jacquelyn Frohlich. The movie had its world premiere at the 2023 Deauville Film Festival in France. Much of the movie is about a road trip where an 11-year-old girl is kidnapped but would rather spend time with her kidnapper than with her single mother. In fact, the movie’s very first scene shows the 11-year-old girl, whose name is Cleo (played by Chloe Guidry), trying to run away from her mother Arlene (played by Jess Weixler) on this road trip.

Arlene catches up to Cleo and makes her get her back n the car. Why is Cleo so unhappy? Arlene and Cleo are moving from Boise, Idaho, to Sherman Oaks, California, because Arlene is getting married to a rich guy named Larry Gilbert (played by Rob Morrow), whom Arlene has known for only one month. (Larry and Arlene met online.) Later in the movie, Cleo mentions that she and Arlene have moved eight times so far in Cleo’s life.

At a convenience store parking lot, Arlene and Cleo encounter aspiring singer Orbison Miley Marks (played by Jessica Sula), who is in her 20s and down on her luck. Orbison says she needs a ride to San Francisco. Orbison seems very friendly and immediately establishes a rapport with Cleo, who is intrigued by this charming stranger with an acoustic guitar.

Arlene seems grateful to have someone on this road trip who can cheer up mopey Cleo, so Arlene accepts Orbison’s request for a ride to San Francisco. But during another stop on the trip, Arlene catches Orbison teaching Cleo how to smoke a cigarette. Arlene is enraged and tells Orbison that Orbison can no longer travel with them.

However, when Arlene sees how sadly Cleo hugs Orbison goodbye, Arlene changes her mind and reluctantly lets Orbison continue on the trip with them. Arlene allows Orbison to share the motel room that Arlene is staying at with Cleo. Arlene (who is obviously impulsive, flaky and less-than-smart) also shows Orbison the wad of $10,000 cash that Arlene has for this road trip.

It doesn’t take long for Arlene to tell Orbison about why Arlene and Cleo are on this road trip. Cleo chimes in by saying this about Arlene and Larry: “She only likes him because he’s rich.” And faster than you can saying “scheming opportunist in a kidnapping movie,” Orbison convinces Arlene to let Orbison take care of Cleo for a few hours while Arlene can have some time to herself.

The trailer for “Wayward” already reveals that while Orbison and Cleo are outside of the hotel room, Orbison takes Cleo for a kidnapping scheme. Orbison’s accomplice is her sleazy boyfriend Frank (played by Will Brittain), who has obviously committed crimes before with Orbison. However, Orbison and Frank are inexperienced kidnappers. This kidnapping was not something they planned in advance.

The kidnappers order Arlene not to notify law enforcement, or else Cleo will be killed. Arlene tells her fiancé Larry, who advises her not to report this kidnapping. At first, the kidnappers ask for $10,000, because they know Arlene has this cash on hand. But then, when the kidnappers figure out that Larry knows about the kidnapping, they increase the ransom demand to $150,000. (This information is also revealed n the movie’s trailer.)

“Wayward” is not a suspense thriller because the movie’s unusual concept is that Cleo is a kidnapping victim who is not only unafraid of her kidnapper, Cleo would also rather spend time with Orbison than with Arlene. Orbison (who treats Cleo like a younger sister) isn’t exactly doing much to hide Cleo while Orbison and Frank are “on the run” with Cleo in Frank’s car. The most that Orbison does to disguise Cleo is have her wear a very cheap-looking long blonde wig.

Cleo doesn’t seem to think about what this kidnapping is doing to Arlene. As Cleo admits to Orbison: “I just want her to miss me.” Cleo estimates it would be about three or four days before Arlene will miss Cleo. Viewers see that Cleo is wrong about that because Arlene is immediately frantic about finding Cleo, even if Arlene makes some incredibly moronic decisions.

And what is Orbison’s story? This review won’t give away too many details. But it’s enough to say that Cleo finds out that Orbison has had her own troubled relationship with her own single mother, including running away from home. Does this make Orbison more sympathetic? Not really, but it’s a psychological insight into why Orbison and Cleo bonded so quickly after they first met because they are both restless kindred spirits with complicated feelings about their respective mothers.

The movie has a subplot about Orbison and Frank visiting Frank’s religious older sister Bertie (played by Jamie Anne Allman) to ask her for a favor. Cleo is with the couple during this visit, which is the first time that Bertie meets Orbison. Orbison pretends that Cleo is her daughter and then tells another lie to Bertie by saying that she took Cleo in a custody battle with Cleo’s father.

“Wayward” doesn’t try to make this kidnapping look cute, but the movie does have a tendency to gloss over the seriousness of this crime with “cutesy” moments between Cleo and Orbison. From Cleo’s perspective, she doesn’t feel like Orbison is a dangerous threat. However, Frank is much more volatile and unpredictable. He is the “wild card” in a story that is otherwise a little formulaic.

All of the cast members capably handle their roles. However, the appeal of the movie rests almost entirely on how believable Cleo’s feelings are about Arlene and Orbison. Guidry has compelling talent in her performance as troubled Cleo, while Sula is able to convincingly portray someone who is both deceptive and candid. Weixler and Brittain portray their characters in expected ways.

“Wayward” has some predictability in what you might expect Orbison to do while on ths road trip with Cleo. (For example, there are scenes of Cleo and Orbison shopping for clothes together and Orbison putting makeup on Cleo.) Although some of the storytelling in “Wayward” falters with pointless scenes, viewers with enough life experience will appreciate how “Wayward” shows that Cleo’s kidnapping isn’t just about how much Cleo’s mother misses her but also about how Cleo is surprised by how much she misses her mother.

Abramorama released “Wayward” in Los Angeles on November 15, 2024, and in New York City on November 22, 2024.

Review: ‘2073,’ starring Samantha Morton

December 27, 2024

by Carla Hay

“2073”

Directed by Asif Kapadia

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2073 in the fictional U.S. city called New San Francisco, the docudrama film “2073” features a racially diverse group of people (white, black, Latin, Asian and Indigenous) who portray apocalypse survivors (in the drama scenes) or who are real-life political activists.

Culture Clash: The politically liberal activists who make comments for the documentary predict that an apocalypse will happen in the 21st century due to environmental, socioeconomic and political issues.

Culture Audience: “2073” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of director Asif Kapadia and “end of the world” movies that place almost all the blame on politically conservative people.

A scene from “2073” of the Golden Gate Bridge in California affected by wildfires (Photo courtesy of Neon)

Pretentious and derivative, “2073” is a doomsday docudrama that combines dreary apocalypse scenes with left-wing political lecturing. There’s too much whining and not enough talk about practical solutions. The “end of the world” warnings in this movie just add up to a lot of annoying hot air. The so-called experts interviewed for this movie just want to blame the world’s problems on people who don’t share their liberal political beliefs.

Directed by Asif Kapadia, “2073” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. The movie made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including the BFI London Film Festival and DOC NYC. Kapadia won an Oscar for the 2015 Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy.” Unfortunately, “2073” is a low point in his filmmography.

Although “2073” is undoubtedly a film that has noble intentions, it has a heavy-handed approach. The movie has an obvious political agenda, but that agenda’s credibility is lowered with the movie using fictional, scripted scenes as examples of the gloom and doom predicted in the movie. Kapadia and Tony Grisoni co-wrote the “2073” screenplay.

The concept of “2073” isn’t very original. According to the movie’s synopsis, “2073” is inspired by Chris Marker’s “iconic 1962 featurette ‘La Jetée,’ about a time traveler who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity.” As explained in the beginning of “2073,” the scripted portions of the movie take place in 2073—37 years after “the event,” which obviously means an apocalypse. In other words, this apocalypse happened in 2036, which is just 12 years after the release of this movie.

The scripted drama scenes in “2073” are in a fictional city called New San Francisco, which is described as the capital of the Americas. In this bombed-out city, there’s an electronic billboard showing news reports about Chairwoman Ivanka Trump. What entity has Ivanka Trump as a chairwoman? Don’t expect this ridiculous movie to answer that question. The “2073” filmmakers’ obvious intention is to provoke viewers who would get upset at the thought of Ivanka Trump being chairwoman of anything.

The movie’s drama scenes follows the depressing and solitary life of an apocalypse survivor (played by Samantha Morton), whose name is listed in the end credits as Ghost. Ghost, who is a voiceover narrator for these drama scenes, is seen living in a dark and destroyed building while avoiding being seen by other people as much as possible. According to Ghost, her memory was “slipping through [her] fingers, like sand.”

Ghost also says she’s in hiding because one day “they” came for her. “I ran. I’m still running. My life is turning into one of those sci-fi comics I used to read. There are others here—survivors, renegades.” Other scenes in the movie show that the Americas—or at least New San Francisco—is being run by an oppressive government that rounds up “renegades” and tortures them.

Ghost is trying to avoid detection from an artificial intelligence being called Jack. “He listens and watches everything,” Ghost says about Jack. “You can’t trust anyone anymore. People thought the world would end, but the world goes on. It’s us who’ll end.”

It’s all so tedious to watch this watered-down ripoff of Big Brother from George Orwell’s doomsday “1984” novel, which was published in 1949 and predicted a dystopian future. In “2073,” Naomi Ackie has a small and ultimately inconsequential role as a professor character. Morton’s acting as Ghost is adequate by can’t overcome the weak screenplay.

As for the “talking heads” interviews in the documentary sections of “2073,” these comments are presented as voiceovers, presumably not to distract from the movie’s dramatic images of Ghost suffering in a decrepit place where food and water are scarce. In the documentary parts of the movie, the people commenting are politically liberal activists from Europe, North America, and Asia. The documentary doesn’t explain why, in a movie about the “end of the world,” there is no commentator representation from other largely populated continents, such as Africa, and Australia.

Almost all of the activist commentators are also journalists and/or writers, such as Maria Ressa, Carole Cadwalladr, Rana Ayyub Ben Rhodes, Rahima Mahmut, Silkie Carlo, Cori Crider, George Monbiot, Nina Schick, Douglas Rushkof, Carmody Grey, James O’Brien, Anne Applebaum and Antony Lowenstein. The other commentators are Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls, computer scientist Tristan Harris and environmental activist Alessandra Korap.

The problem with “2073” is that the documentary parts of the movie are just soundbite compilations that recycle whatever rants these people have already said or written in other movies or media reports. Want to know about Ressa’s crusade for freedom of the press in her native Philippines? There was already an excellent documentary about it: 2020’s “A Thousand Cuts,” directed by Ramona S. Díaz. Labor union leader Smalls is the star of the 2024 documentary “Union,” (directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story), which chronicles Amazon Labor Union becoming the first union at corporate giant Amazon.

The “2073” doomsday warnings about the environment are very “been there, done that” and were already well-presented by Al Gore in the Oscar-winning 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (directed by Davis Guggenheim), as well as in many other documentaries and news reports about climate change. And that why it’s so boring and basic to hear political strategist/security expert Sherri Goodman say in “2073” commentary: “We are truly in a climate emergency.”

Other concerns brought forth in the documentary parts of “2073” have to do with government surveillance, civil rights and the erosion of democracy. The essential messaging of “2073” is that (1) anyone who’s involved in conservative politics is contributing to the end of the world; (2) only progressive political liberals are smart enough to tell you that; and (3) if you don’t believe the commentators in the movie, then you must be an idiot. It’s a very condescending tone that can be an absolute turn-off to people (even liberals) who are open-minded and intelligent enough to make up their own minds about how they feel about world issues.

It’s appalling that so many journalists are interviewed for “2073” but their comments in the movie are not really about investigative journalism but are just soundbite rants that say nothing new. By not presenting anything substantial to prove that opposing viewpoints are wrong, “2073” fails at being balanced and is actually quite didactic in its “political liberals are always right” messaging. For a more informative look at the world’s problems and effective ways to deal with these problems, progressive liberals can watch MSNBC or read Mother Jones and don’t need to watch “2073,” a misguided movie that is unrelenting in its paranoia and political divisiveness that don’t give any logical and hopeful solutions.

Neon released “2073” in select U.S. cinemas on December 27, 2024.