I really found the character's of Jacob and Mataya pretty darn interesting, they both seem to have a deep and moving past, both emotionally and psychologically. The writer seems to really have a sense of what a character for the screen needs to be.
Wow, for 20k this film looks great, the production value is very well done. Pretty much all the acting was pretty impressive.
For me though there were issues with the writing that let me down with the film
1. Jacobs goal:
It's not clear what specifically he wants, is it to get more in touch with his feelings, form a bond with Zoe, form a relationship with her, experience what it's like to love someone? it's too vague and unfocused.
Additionally these are all internal things, and this is the major issue with the film for me. Whilst I can witness Jacob going through the journey of whatever goal he is pursuing I cannot experience it with him, that is soooooo essential in any film and is missing here. His goal is experienced from within so I the viewer can't experience it with him, that's what films are, an experience through the lens of the protagonist, but unfortunately not here.
That's also the reason there is pretty much no conflict in the film, an internal goal renders it that way, any and all opposition will only come from himself and within, we can't witness that in a visceral way.
2. The story structure:
Whilst there is a wealth of interesting context about the characters and events that happened to them, its all delivered in a frankly lazy, unengaging, unexciting way...way too much talking heads on chairs spouting context to one another over and over, scene to scene....it gets really boring, that's because there's no structure in the script to deliver it in an engaging way, conflict as I mentioned being one of a few that could of been used.
Also there are bits of context that feel out of place, like at the 55 min mark where Jacob tells Zoe he never spent time with or knew his parents and he doesn't know why. That really feels like a piece of context that belongs in the setup, because it sets up the type of goal that Jacob needs to achieve, it's not a payoff piece of context but it exists in or around the payoff of the film.
To me Mataya was a slightly more interesting character than Jacob and i think should of been the protagonist, he has immediate stakes, they feel right and in the moment for the film thats playing. Yes Jacob will lose Zoe, but really he's just met her. But with Mataya this woman is long standing and means everything to him...more weight to the stakes.
Not sure if this is a plot hole but near the end Jacob runs after the taxi Zoe is in....why didn't he drive his jeep after her? We see the jeep in the preceding scene (1:00:16) it's right there, why didn't he drive it to get her?
Again I loved the characters but was so let down by the execution of the script and found it unengaging because of that. Great context if it had of been delivered in an engaging way.
0 out of 0 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink