Jogo Justo

7.9 stars.

Long time since I've seen a movie quite like this. There are a lot of psychological thrillers out there, but very few pull off this genre as effectively as 'Fair Play'.

These are some actors I'm not very familiar with, although his role as Han Solo was noteworthy, even though I didn't totally love that movie. I see she's in Bridgerton and I watched several episodes.

What totally caught me off guard was how methodically this film escalates to the inevitable destruction of two previously beautiful and intelligent lovers. No momentum is lost as it builds and builds at a steady and thrilling pace until they implode. What is truly chilling - this is a plausible outcome given the right circumstances. Take an underachiever coupled with someone out of their league, mix in a little crazy and you've stumbled on the narrative of 'Fair Play'. I've seen situations like this with my own relatives when they had a few too many (if you know what I mean) and this couple has a few too many throughout this story. I don't believe the director or writers even realize fully what they are presenting to us. Take the wealth, prestige, good looks, charm, and too much fire water, and you have the perfect set of circumstances, leading to the demise of two talented and lovely young adults.

This thriller is all about emasculation and lack of confidence in an otherwise normal and down-to-earth guy. In all respects, she is well adjusted, he is not, and this disconnect is the root of their dismantling. As the couple spirals even further into chaos, you might be surprised at how the story ends. The final scene is absolutely brilliant.

This was so much better than I expected. It's the kind of movie that you watch and hope it's good then you can't stop as it gets more intense and more intense with each scene. Makes me feel relieved to be over 50 and passed the grinding stage of life.

You don't want to relate, but you somehow do. In particular, I like how it ended. To me, the ending is very important and never do I ever want to be left, hanging and with questions. Phoebe Dynevor carried the movie and although I've noticed her, now I will have to watch for her. Great actress. Alden Ehreneich, although I never warmed to him, has proven to be a good one. Guess it all depends on the roles you land. Watch it. You won't regret it.

I based my rating primarily on the good acting. I felt the actors were quite convincing, and most of the supporting roles were also decent. No doubt this is higher than average quality in filmmaking. And as much as I wanted to become emotionally invested, I just couldn't. Some of the behavior with the two main characters was off putting. The back and forth which I thought might create a nice push and pull dynamic, became frustrating for the viewer. And unfortunately the ending seemed more rushed than well-planned. Would I recommend? Yeah, for a run of the mill movie, but will I watch it again? Sorry no.

So many missed opportunities.

"Fair Play" had a chance to be a spicy erotic thriller about all sorts of gender power dynamics. But instead an incident late in the film puts one character in the unequivocal role of victim and the other in the unequivocal role of aggressor, and all nuance or ambiguity for the audience is stripped away. It doesn't help that the two leads have zero chemistry, and they're also both fairly reprehensible people as far as anything the film tells us about them (which isn't much). They're superficial and materialistic, and both are willing to sell their souls to a morally bankrupt profession. There's no rooting interest here, so I didn't much care who came out on top. The movie mostly just felt me leaving bad and like I needed to take a shower.

Grade: B-

I saw Fair Play at Sundance 2023 in a crowd of cinema enthusiasts, making the theater experience electric and engaging! While Fair Play isn't my typical movie taste, it was exceptionally well done, with tension and stress building consistently from start to finish and exploding into all-out insanity and paranoia in the film's final act. My heart was pounding as the selfishness and jealousy of these characters devolved into pure hatred and disdain. Once the credits rolled, I finally felt like I could breathe for the first time in an hour! Domont did so much with so little, mastering suspense and keeping the audience on edge. With such arrogant and self-centered characters, it is hard to "enjoy" the film and the sexual content was unnecessary, but the craft and skill are undeniable, and it's no surprise why it was so well received at Sundance and scooped up so quickly by Netflix.