For the empathetic, some jobs may prove tougher to perform than others. In the terrifically conceived "Big Mistake," director Michael Perez instills a conflicting sense of empathy in bounty hunter Nick Alice (Samson Snell), lighting the fuse on a thoroughly engaging crime-noir film with its own set of inspired twists.
Nick is a military veteran integrating back into proper civilian life. He takes on that bounty hunter gig working for a bail bonds company owned by unflinching bottom-liner Cora (Alicia Lueras Maldonado). His background and skillset would seem to indicate an ideal job fit, but early on, his big heart gives rise to an ongoing pattern of conflicting emotional interests as he allows the personal tribulations of his bounty targets to seep into his head and affect his work -- conversely, Cora isn't vaguely interested in anything but the bounty's eventual payout. When Nick gets assigned the case of Madison Campbell (Sylvia Adelina Padilla), his empathy bleeds into attraction; soon Nick is shacking up with Madison as she discloses to him a gangster deal that's sure to pay out big if they can properly ambush it.
Padilla is great as Madison: She's a complexity of emotions that surface and submerge with terrific nuance, and she's a great catalyst to this film-noir vehicle that makes inspired and non-traditional choices within that typically very rigid genre. In the sum of its parts, "Big Mistake" delivers evolved storytelling that noir lovers will recognize as both familiar and uniquely aspirational in selectively leveraging and breaking from the conventions of its indigenous style. - Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!
Nick is a military veteran integrating back into proper civilian life. He takes on that bounty hunter gig working for a bail bonds company owned by unflinching bottom-liner Cora (Alicia Lueras Maldonado). His background and skillset would seem to indicate an ideal job fit, but early on, his big heart gives rise to an ongoing pattern of conflicting emotional interests as he allows the personal tribulations of his bounty targets to seep into his head and affect his work -- conversely, Cora isn't vaguely interested in anything but the bounty's eventual payout. When Nick gets assigned the case of Madison Campbell (Sylvia Adelina Padilla), his empathy bleeds into attraction; soon Nick is shacking up with Madison as she discloses to him a gangster deal that's sure to pay out big if they can properly ambush it.
Padilla is great as Madison: She's a complexity of emotions that surface and submerge with terrific nuance, and she's a great catalyst to this film-noir vehicle that makes inspired and non-traditional choices within that typically very rigid genre. In the sum of its parts, "Big Mistake" delivers evolved storytelling that noir lovers will recognize as both familiar and uniquely aspirational in selectively leveraging and breaking from the conventions of its indigenous style. - Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!