I've never been so mad at a film.
I can't believe someone genuinely believed in this script. There's no drama at all. It's ALL TALK. The film is marketed as a criminal vs prosecutor thing but the investigation process is ridiculously insignificant. New evidence and clues just appear. All for the sake of setting up a long and shallow conversation between the two main characters. Yes, the conversation is shallow. Watching this film is like spending 2 hours reading one of those content farm articles that's supposed to be "thought-provoking" but is only written to stir up people's emotions.
It's very draggy too. The editing is off on so many levels. The film's pace is just not right. Some scene are so unnecessarily long I wanted to yell "CUT!" And it lacks character building, making a lot of the characters' actions and reactions seem over the top and irrational. Especially that girl who screamed and went crazy when watching the news. (And the scene where she's with a bunch of bikini chicks, how's that scene necessary???!!)
About emotions, I don't get why a few other audience around me could cry over this film at all. My eyes were rolled to the back the whole time hearing all the blunt, overly straightforward and at times cringe worthy lines. Especially those said by the prosecutor. Her character is supposed to be relatable. She should've been the spokesman of the audience towards the criminal. But in this day and age, when most audience have already explored the topic of caretaking at some point in their lives, her ignorant, opinionated and moral high ground kind of rejections against the criminal's reasonings for what he did, were completely unrelatable and pathetic. They only serve the purpose of making the audience side with the criminal more, making the film very unfortunately one sided. It has wasted a perfectly good topic to debate on.
And the camera work. It's TOO MUCH. All the fancy mirrors, reflections that kind of things, they either have no meaning (only for visual/for fun??) or have a way too blunt/obvious meaning. Over intentional. And please don't get me started with the hand-held shots. They are terrible.
I'm giving the one and only star in my one star rating for this film to Ken' ichi Matsuyama, who, despite getting a rubbish script, portrayed his character well.
If you're interested in the topic of caretaking, just go watch a proper documentary.
I can't believe someone genuinely believed in this script. There's no drama at all. It's ALL TALK. The film is marketed as a criminal vs prosecutor thing but the investigation process is ridiculously insignificant. New evidence and clues just appear. All for the sake of setting up a long and shallow conversation between the two main characters. Yes, the conversation is shallow. Watching this film is like spending 2 hours reading one of those content farm articles that's supposed to be "thought-provoking" but is only written to stir up people's emotions.
It's very draggy too. The editing is off on so many levels. The film's pace is just not right. Some scene are so unnecessarily long I wanted to yell "CUT!" And it lacks character building, making a lot of the characters' actions and reactions seem over the top and irrational. Especially that girl who screamed and went crazy when watching the news. (And the scene where she's with a bunch of bikini chicks, how's that scene necessary???!!)
About emotions, I don't get why a few other audience around me could cry over this film at all. My eyes were rolled to the back the whole time hearing all the blunt, overly straightforward and at times cringe worthy lines. Especially those said by the prosecutor. Her character is supposed to be relatable. She should've been the spokesman of the audience towards the criminal. But in this day and age, when most audience have already explored the topic of caretaking at some point in their lives, her ignorant, opinionated and moral high ground kind of rejections against the criminal's reasonings for what he did, were completely unrelatable and pathetic. They only serve the purpose of making the audience side with the criminal more, making the film very unfortunately one sided. It has wasted a perfectly good topic to debate on.
And the camera work. It's TOO MUCH. All the fancy mirrors, reflections that kind of things, they either have no meaning (only for visual/for fun??) or have a way too blunt/obvious meaning. Over intentional. And please don't get me started with the hand-held shots. They are terrible.
I'm giving the one and only star in my one star rating for this film to Ken' ichi Matsuyama, who, despite getting a rubbish script, portrayed his character well.
If you're interested in the topic of caretaking, just go watch a proper documentary.
