Octavio Is Dead! (2018) User Reviews

Octavio Is A Bit Of A Mess

[MogwaiMovieReviews · 4/10 · 26 September 2018]

This starts out intriguingly, with Rosanna Arquette's portrayal of the lead character's grasping and manipulating mother, but that only lasts 5 minutes or so and then once Sarah Gadon leaves to move into her dead father's house, and begins going out to strip bars in his clothes, the film pretty much falls off a cliff.

Gadon seems a fairly good actress but she makes THE most unconvincing cross-dressing 'man' imaginable. The idea that the gay guy she becomes involved with (and everyone else she meets) wouldn't be able to tell she's a girl is simply too ridiculous for the story to remain standing. The 'ghost story' stuff seems kinda patchy and random as well, and by the end the whole film is just a ragbag of implausible, disconnected and emotionally unconvincing scraps that add up to very little.

I think it was perhaps trying to show her discovering her father's hidden sexuality by walking in his actual footsteps or something, which could have been interesting if there had been a tighter hold on the material and a better use of the cinematic medium to depict that in a clear and compelling manner. But there wasn't, so it's a bit of a mess, really.

Interesting but flawed

[Westcoastal · 5/10 · 3 November 2018]

This movie isn't as bad as the ratings/reviews imply. It definitely has flaws but it if you are into unusual indie films it's worth a watch.

As much as I like Sarah Gadon I felt she was a poor casting choice given the role she needed to take on. She wasn't convincing and that wasn't her fault. Dimitris Kitsos was magnetic and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for his future projects. There were a couple of other performances I liked but they don't appear to be credited.

The story is a bit incoherent at times and there were a couple of scenes where I felt Sook-Yin Lee was trying too hard to be dramatic and edgy. This is something her films regularly struggle with. She tends to include scenes that don't advance the story or develop the characters. It wouldn't be such a problem if it wasn't for the fact that those are often the scenes that confuse or alienate audiences. I wish she would just tell a story in the best, clearest, most emotional way possible and cut out all the detritus.

I liked the overall idea behind the film and felt it had a lot of potential, but it didn't really satisfy. A shame because it really was an interesting concept. Still, I didn't regret watching the film which is a lot more than I can say for some big-budget movies I've seen.

More like Octavio is boring zzzzz

[Boristhemoggy · 4/10 · 13 October 2018]

I watched this movie for one reason alone...Sarah Gadon. Sadly even her skills could not lift this mediocre, confusing, pointless movie to more than a 4. There really is no story except perhaps a fumbled attempt to say something about her growing up and moving away from her Mum. It would be easy to come up with some pretentious mumbo jumbo and find a good excuse for the movie, sadly the truth is it's just boring as hell with no plot or point. One really perplexing point is why would a brilliant actress like Sarah Gadon go full frontal for such a low budget, boring film? It makes no sense whatsoever but the full frontal is about the only thing worth watching.

Really bad dialogue

[kamranzaidi · 3/10 · 24 November 2020]

Boring movie which really makes no real sense. How can no one notice she's a girl with short hair trying to be a boy. I think the director really tried hard to be very deep and original but missed the mark hugely.

A Good Effort But Not Good Enough

[AziziOthmanMY · 3/10 · 23 September 2018]

Sarah Gadon is one of the actress that i think that they can act but unfortunately her acting was wasted in this movie because of the weak plot. I thought this could be a firm horror movie but it mellowed to a an ABC family drama of somesort in the end.

Notes: I thought her dad left her a mansion. That would be better for the fear factor.

Missing its mark...

[moorek · 6/10 · 12 January 2019]

The film has some interesting moments but the term "thriller" should not be used. It is more a story of a young woman's escape from her past (and domineering mother) while learning about the father she never knew. The thriller element is not needed nor used well.

The acting overall is good but not impressive. Gadon walks through the movie just being dull with an open eye glaze that represents whatever feelings she is having at any given moment. Rosanna Arquette plays an irritating role that you are meant to hate and she does it well. I loved the way she delivered her last line to her daughter. A few of the minor characters were good. I liked the female neighbour although I don't her name.

It is hard to tell if it is the script, the editing or the directing that makes the story to abbreviated in place - inappropriate pacing. Some are serious such as the dialogue between Gadon and Arquette about Octavio's sexuality which is delivered bluntly, too quickly, the revelations too fast and without any real repercussions by the daughter. The scene were Gadon is forced to leave the men's club the first time is too abrupt especially as it leads to her dressing as a male and a major part of the storyline. Some times it is the small things that aren't paced when the mother shows up and then almost immediately the apartment is being sold. Throw away lines like having the place cleaned out by the end of day (really?) or the movers taking things out and throwing them into the back of a pick up truck (we last see them removing a sofa which certainly was not going into that truck) and then we see them boxing up books into rubbermaid tubs in the back of another pickup although there are only enough tubs for a fraction of what was in that apartment. And there was no time frame to examine which books might have value, economically (certainly an issue with the mother) or emotionally. And the last scene about calling the movers to come that day but the house is still full of belongings.

I found the locations very average and in that I really liked them. The house that mother and daughter are living in is as average as they come. As always I like movies that show winter especially city winters with piled, dirty snow, half melted on the streets. Too often when a director wants to show winter - it is always pure white and never dirty. Not this time. Although it is always hard to maintain that image as in one scene you'll notice far less snow than there should be considering the snow in the previous scene. Could be the time frame of the filming or it could be a weather change that actually did change the snow level. Octavio's apartment was a disaster but the set was great. You really did think a person lived here who only focused on his books (and his smoking) and keeping things clean were not an issue. It was also a surprise for if the movie was going to follow a stereotypical route - it would have been a much nicer apartment.

I will admit that if there is a metaphor or allusion in the last scene when the daughter finds the door hidden behind a tapestry then I didn't get it. I guess where I already felt the apartment had been created so well as to be a character in the story and yet the pacing of the story wasn't fitting that characterization - the finding of a room that no one knew about was bizarre. You just sold an apartment to people who don't know there is an extra bedroom they never saw. Some would love that. Others wouldn't. You lived in this apartment, even for a week, and didn't notice another room.

In the end the movie didn't hold up well. Removing the misplaced thriller elements and replacing them with some more emotional moments, like the daughter exploring her father's belongings esp his books, would have told a richer story.

An original drama

[ramaja-1 · 7/10 · 19 June 2019]

This film was an interesting experience, how can it have rating 4?! The plot is interesting, it's about a girl whose I-never-met-him father left her an apartment. But...now comes the spiritual part, she will still have the opportunity to meet them. There is also one funny subplot with her dressing as a man and meeting a gay guy. Definitely worth watching!

Probably you have to be LGBT to get it

[mamday · 10/10 · 9 February 2019]

Her father literally kept his sexuality in a closet Haha This movie is about the way that people experience each other and experience gender and sexuality in different contexts. Not all of the acting is amazing but it makes it feel real

I liked it!

[the_nephilim71 · 8/10 · 20 April 2019]

I liked it a lot but I also identify with the plight of the lead to try and figure out who she is on the inside and explore her sexuality. I think some of the low reviews are because the reviewers just 'don't get' the point of this movie.