Braid (2018) User Reviews

Bats%t crazy, but unfortunately ..

[Camoo · 6/10 · 9 March 2019]

There is a brash, surreal, out-the-box vibe to Braid that I have to appreciate, but it's hard to ignore the amateurish aspects which make it feel more like a B-movie, whether it's the uneven acting, bratty characters, unstable tone, and almost random attempts to be edgy and experimental.

I absolutely love overt weirdness in movies, but I also believe there must be a solid vision to be able to employ it successfully. What makes surrealism work or not, is perhaps down to personal taste, and since it becomes clear very early on that the director has every intent of sabotaging a 'normal' telling of this story, one then has to rely on intuition as a guide.

My problem is that despite watching with full attention, my intuition kept telling me that this whole ordeal is bupkis. As it devolved into predictably violent terrain, with a poorly drawn detective character, the film began to feel less intelligent, and deliberately inchoate, as though its director put this whole thing together during a manic coke binge.

Instead of the pleasure of watching little pieces of brilliance come together like pieces of a dream, I was simply lost very early on, and when I submitted to that loss, I was bored. There are moments of crazed greatness here, but they are unfortunately not well enough sustained, and arrive along with a mixed bag of scenes and characters that don't amount to a whole lot.

I didn't hate it but.....

[dontquoteme · 5/10 · 5 May 2019]

I really thought it was going to come together in the end..there is usually suspense built into a plot and you have to remember bits and pieces so when the story starts coming together your questions are answered. For the most part of the movie I enjoyed it. I thought it was quirky I thought it was a bit out there but it did not bore me. What I do not like is, spending my time watching a movie only to have nothing explained AND for it to get even more confusing when it comes to the end. There was literally no explanation for anything concerning the game concerning the girls concerning the cop their childhood The Treehouse it goes on and on and then at the very end who the hell is that at the sink? If anyone can tell me what happened in the end I would be extremely happy.... because /spoiler alert/ it appeared as every girl took her own life. So I could not give it anything higher than a five and I would not recommend watching it unless you literally have time to kill.

All play and no work makes three girls a bit loopy

[mungflesh · 5/10 · 29 August 2018]

I nearly gave this a 4 because I really didn't enjoy it but opted on 5 in the end as that doesn't reflect it is at least a solid piece of film making.

In brief: three girls in a house, two of which are there to get paid, for playing along with the hostesses odd fetishes and fantasies. Not all is as it seems ... but for whom?

It takes quite a while to get to the point and is hoping to wow the audience with some innovative plot turns late in the day, which might work for you but I didn't really get much out of it.

However, if you're happy with its style and enjoy the off-beat characters, you might find this film a pretty satisfying watch. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me and its lack of an evolving plot left it feeling like a stuck-record.

Grownups play their kids game.

[TxMike · 12 June 2019]

I watched this at home on DVD from my public library. I first read several user reviews and they are scattered all over the place so the only way to know for sure was to see it.

The summary on its IMdb page pretty well summarizes it, "Two wanted women decide to rob their wealthy psychotic friend who lives in the fantasy world they created as children; to take the money they have to take part in a deadly perverse game of make believe."

The two "wanted" friends were dealing drugs, lost about $80,000 worth in a police raid and now they are on the run. Both from the cops and from their drug supplier.

I see the writer/director is Italian, maybe that partly explains why it is so unusual, the relationships, the dreamlike aspect of some scenes. Frankly I didn't find it to be a very good movie, I was never invested in the characters and what they were doing didn't make a lot of sense. I'm glad I watched it, I enjoy seeing experimental movies here and there, but my opinion is most viewers will NOT find it a rewarding experience.

So many questions

[shamone_whereisyourlove · 1/10 · 8 December 2019]

Just finished watching this and really have no idea what happened. Did any of it even happen? Literally nothing was explained. I feel like if there was a bit more explanation this could have been a really good film but it just wasn't.

Unique Indie Horror Flick

[angelakenney-52982 · 7/10 · 10 March 2021]

Petula and Tilda, two small time drug dealers, go on the run and decide to stop off at the isolated estate of their childhood friend, Daphne. Daphne's seclusion has turned her into a dangerous psychotic who insists on playing childish games all day long and, if Petula and Tilda don't want to get caught, they'll have to play along.

More of an exercise in style and shock over substance, Braid is a daring and often confounding indie horror/thriller. Madeline Brewer steals the entire film as Daphne, finding just the right balance between terror, camp, and pathos. It's an excellent performance and Braid is worth seeing for that alone.

The cinematography is gorgeous and the filmmakers use the crumbling mansion location to great effect. Pacing never drags much either which is surprising given that the majority of the film is a chamber piece between three characters and it's mostly confined to one location. In that sense, it feels much more like some long lost regional horror relic from the 70's, using whatever it has available to tell its story.

The script could stand to be tighter and it leaves us with maybe a few too many unanswered questions, but the experience of Braid as a whole is well worth your time.

Every now and then you have a bad movie, this is one of them.

[deloudelouvain · 3/10 · 17 February 2019]

Two of the thirteen reviews so far have a ten star rating. I'll let you guess how many other reviews those two people wrote. None! There is no chance in hell that somebody not involved in this movie would score it a perfect score, or maybe if you're very easily pleased and have no clue about other real gems. Braid starts promising, with good filming shots so I can't blame the director for that, but the more the movie advances the lesser the quality. It's just badly written, not interesting at all, and the final twenty minutes I just lost all interest as it became just a mess. Don't waste your time on this boring story.

Fable

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 22 December 2018]

Or is it just a weird good night story? Whatever you make of this, you can't really pin point what it is. At least not as fast as with other movies. To call this weird would be an understatement. If you don't embrace that, you won't have a good time at all watching the movie.

Characters are strange, actions are most often than not unrelatable. Or at least hard to comprehend. Why would that person do this and the other person do that? Shouldn't they be reasonable? If that is what you are thinking (which is perfectly ok or even normal), the movie will annoy you. At least if you keep up the questions and don't just let go. It took me a minute or two myself, but after that I just went with the flow and enjoyed this a lot

Mitzi Perione??? WTH??? Director gives this a 10/10?!?!

[RanDizzle1198 · 2/10 · 3 February 2020]

Mitzi Perione gave her own film a 10* rating and she did it under her own handle/name. While this has a terrific presence and the actors are very good, this film dragged and dragged. One girl is insane and the other two start out as normal druggies but then they all go nuts. Strange movie that makes you feel as if you are on drugs too but it lacked energy and substance. Could have been MUCH better. Was looking forward to this but feel let down.

Trippy & Weird with a logic only the characters understand

[dan-bgb · 6/10 · 8 April 2019]

Let me say first, that I like things like this...I won't regurgitate the plot...there's enough of that here in the other reviews. What makes this a satisfying watch is that you're really not sure what's going on half the time, why characters do the things they do...at times it appears as one happy family, at other times a bit combative...who's playing who and who has the upper hand ? What is real and what is playing the game ? Simple things can appear as plot holes...or not, given the perspective that can change at a moment's notice. It all comes together at the end, but it's a trippy ride there.

I couldn't sit through it

[papadeltazulu · 1/10 · 5 April 2019]

I tried, I really did but this film was just far too weird to sit through, I made it maybe 50 minutes in and just gave up on it. It's just completely weird and to be honest, really boring and dull. Whoever wrote and directed this piece of utter tripe really does have serious psychological issues. It's cheap looking, slow and so trippy that it makes you feel like you've just taken some kind of hallucinogen. A pointless attempt at an art house movie that's neither a horror or a thriller. Avoid.

Much More Here Than Meets the Eye

[captainpass · 8/10 · 23 February 2021]

This is my second viewing of the film. I will simply say that there are a mountain of highly negative reviews here, which inspired me to comment. If "Braid" (now titled as "Dying to Play") ain't your cup of brew, so be it. Feel free to dislike it. But to simply say "it made no sense" or to point out multiple plot holes is to lazily ignore what is going on.

A single example: what might appear to be bad film-making (a bloody, scarred knee appearing in the next frame as totally healed), is in service of the larger purpose at work here: the blurring of reality, role-playing and the consequences of resigning oneself to a world of fantasy.

As for the "point" of this film: This really is a movie where the camera controls the plot. The jumpy, cinematic shots control the text, and do so in a manner that is much more careful than its seemingly haphazard style would suggest. After all, this is on its face a movie about a game that three girls created as children- here, repeated as adults. The point, then, concerns the creation of a fantasy world (whether through drugs, the Game, acting, wealth etc.) and the repetition and phantasmagoric dysfunction that this bubble world of safety ends up creating. Put another way, the Fellini, Lynch, Argento touches serve a narrative that is purposefully disjointed and fragmented: each of the primary characters plays "the Game;" but only one of them really attempts to make it out . . . Again and again in almost circular fashion.

While this movie certainly has its flaws, it is quite ambitious. I do think it is the sort of film that fares better on a second viewing.

Trippy twisted psychological female friends mental hallucinatory

[bonniezard · 7/10 · 14 May 2019]

Trippy_psychological-power_ hallucinatory_ twisted_horror cultish vibe_fashionable female friendships. I liked this movie a lot, I loved all the females in it, great casting. You can tell this was written by a woman who likes to have fun but also Embraces the darkness and understands Complicated female relationships & power struggles in your mind and with each other.

This has some bad reviews & low ratings but this movie is not for them. This is a twisted "fun" horror movie, you can't go in trying to take the plot so seriously, especially when the girls are in and out of hallucinations. It's not going to win any Oscars but it was fun & cool to see a movie with three female leads. The interior design & the fashion was hip and cool. Good music & great acting. Good movie for late nights

Tries too hard to be clever

[karentindale · 4/10 · 15 December 2019]

It started looking promising - arty, sinister, some good interesting visual stuff, but then it just got too messy trying to be too clever, and I lost interest. By the end it had bounced about that much with reality versus mental health that I didn't really care what was real and what was not and what any of it was about or what happened to anyone. It was just too silly. Acting was pretty mediocre, working with a really thin plot and direction.

Utter tosh, don't waste your time

[Boristhemoggy · 1/10 · 8 February 2019]

I got to 30 minutes in and thought I'd lost the plot. So I actually started watching it again right from the start. I got to the 30 minutes point again and realised I had not lost the plot, the film was simply an utter load of rubbish. There's a basic simple story but it gets lost in the film trying to be clever when it isn't. A lot of the scenes are just silly or unnecessary and don't add, embellish or continue the story. The acting isn't bad some of the time, but the cinematography can only be described as chaotic. I refuse to watch the rest as if I did it would feel like I was validating the film, but really it should never have been released it's utterly rubbish.

Worth Watching. A Vivid Dreamscape.

[jgfxm · 7/10 · 14 September 2019]

Watch on Amazon Prime. This movie is a treat to watch. I'm not really sure what I was looking at sometimes, or exactly what was happening. But I think that is the intent of the creator and I was with her all the way. Know this: the cinematography is really good. Wonderful. There are plenty of creative uses of the camera and setting. The use of color filters added to the movie and I think sets this apart from conventional psycho-thrillers. The story is frank and disturbing and hard to follow. The acting is solid and for the most part honest. The set pieces are beautifully designed. The three women sleeping in the bathtub among mirror balls is a good example. The little girl slumber party. The foot-worshipping conductor. The dark hall of doors. You'll like it. Yes you will. And I think it's gutsy not to offer an explanation of what is "really" happening. We have a solid idea going in: two women need money and decide to exploit a crazy friends insanity to get it. From there you fall into the whole thing. I like movies just like this one. I like creativity and artistic flair. I like brazen, non-linear filmmaking. I like movies with dangerous, sexy, damaged people. I like a heady mix of erotic attraction and repulsion. The plot is not messy or nonsensical. Instead, I see it as a story told from deep in the minds of the participants. But which one and when is not clear all the time. I liked it and I think you will, too.

piece of pretty garbage

[margostrauss · 2/10 · 17 February 2019]

I wanted to like this movies, but it was so dull, so trying to be cool, and failing miserably the whole time. Do not watch this movie.

Kerrrazy, Cool Fun

[flamini-14847 · 7/10 · 1 February 2019]

First of all, not sure who the heck 'molotox' is, but that person should NOT be allowed to review movies any more. One or two lines, not even in complete sentences, is not a review. It's a lazy, pointless waste of time. To say this movie has 'no plot' when there obviously is one (and it's even right there on the movies main page) shows molotox doesn't know what a plot is (unless it comes out of her/his backside). And to say the actors have 'no acting skills' also shows cluelessness. Just the wonderful Madeline Brewer blows up that silly claim. Anyone good enough to be a substantial character on a series of the quality of The Handmaid's Tale certainly has good acting skills. This film is quite fun. Yes, the basic premise is heinous, but that's only one aspect of the film. There's also the empowered friend who the others expected to take advantage of rather easily. Add to that the random, unexpected surprises/scares/weirdness and you have a worthy film to watch. Good performances, a few good scares, a cool twist or two, and a beautiful film visually. The use of a kinetic cinematography style and top notch production design make this one stand out. Now that's a review. Btw, molotox obviously doesn't know the meaning of 'profane' either.

What a mess

[Gunnar_R_Ingibjargarson · 3/10 · 9 February 2019]

When two addicts get loose on money, they decide to rob they're mental disturb childhood friend. Braid is like a mix of David Linch & Salvadore Dali, but in a bad way, awful script with so many weird moment, it's hard to keep ahead.

i believe most people did not get the point about this movie

[pippolomeo · 7/10 · 13 November 2022]

The last seconds of the movie do reveal what's actually going on in reality, under some layers of imagination by the persone stuck at the sink..

ok, you could still not like it anyway, but this movie has an actual sense and explanation.

Other than this, I've found this movie intriguing and very well thought and made. Yes, there are some parts here and there that are a bit too much, and I also don't like when a violent movie likes to show blood but doesn't dare to show any nude. Nude is no necessary, of course, but moving the camera away from a nude body in a movie where slashing occurs (off camera as well, to be honest), seems a bit nonsensical to me.

All in all, Braid looks like a movie by someone who managed to make a Tarantino movie but also interesting.

What plot

[Headturner1 · 4/10 · 7 February 2019]

There was no plot! I turned it on and the first 30 min or so it seemed lie it was going to be decent. But the whole move changed to where i was like ( did I fall asleep and a new movie's on). If they'd have kept it with the original way the script developed and not have turned it into some weird supernatural or hey I'm high or hey ok I just cannot write a script. I wanted so hard to be clever but in the end insulted the intelligence of my viewers and maybe myself but hey maybe it was the intelligence of the writers etc that was lacking. I'm editing to add um reviewers please don't comment on things you know nothing about Suspiria was released in 1977! It was a remake. So old school horror? Lol. And the the other reviewer who said there was a plot because it was listed on the page. Hahaha. That doesn't make it so!

Misunderstood Maybe

[megantinker · 8/10 · 14 November 2020]

I just finished this movie and I loved it, but was honestly still confused at the end and felt like there was something I didn't quiet grasp. So I read an explanation from one viewer online and I think it helped bring the whole movie together and make everything make alot more sense. If you view the movie from the angle of it is only one girl with DID and the other 2 girls are only personalities living in her mind, it makes alot of sense. The torture for violating the rules of the game could stem from abuse suffered by the girl at the hands of her grandparents. That would also explain the DID. All the childish meals, songs, actions, the childish view of how a detective would act (detective would also be a fantasy) all point to all of this taking place in a child's mind. And the suicides could maybe mean integration of all personalities, until the very end where an old woman is washing dishes humming the same song as the younger woman throughout the movie, i assume she is Daphne, and then we hear Mom I'm home. That could be her DID coming back? Thats just my interpretation and how the pieces all fit together in my mind.

A director with promise

[charlesguyettejr · 7/10 · 26 October 2019]

Most of the reviews on IMBD are negative. But BRAID is actually a visually impressive first film. Mitzi Peirone has talent as a director, which is to say a strong visual sense. The weakness of the film, obviously, is structure and plotting. Just watch the last 10 minutes ... or the opening and you can see Peirone's potential. There are some haunting compositions. I would love to see more films from her, perhaps working from someone else's script. In the end, most audiences just care about story, I know, but to discourage this young director is wrong.

Everything is good except for the storyline

[jamesiha-87993 · 5/10 · 30 June 2020]

I like all the elements that this movie tried to use in other movies. Great cinematography, excellent soundtrack, awesome location shoots. But the story goes nowhere, it also started nowhere so I guess it's to be expected. Put this on when you just want to finish the night with a movie, fall asleep an hour in and never go back to finish it. You won't miss a thing.

WTF

[bhsfacebook · 3/10 · 27 April 2020]

I made it all the way through. The story ran out after 50 minutes but this film lumbered on bravely despite having been decapitated. The last third of this was a disjointed, self-consciously weird wreck of a shamble. Was it all a dream? A drug trip? A psychotic delusion? Who knows? WTF.