vmagrigjr
Joined Oct 2021
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vmagrigjr's rating
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vmagrigjr's rating
Hurry Up Tomorrow could've been so much more... but sadly, it ended up more like a wasted potential despite some very good elements throughout the film.
The premise is very interesting as well as the main theme - can music really heal and help you overcome difficult moments? Can you really relate to an artist's work and feel like it was really made from your perspective so much that they understand you? Also, can this be taken too far, to become an obsession rather than a good thing?
Therefore, we meet the three characters involved in the story: Anima (Jenna Ortega), a troubled and lonely young woman with some past life choices that haunt her to this day which seeks for help and understanding, clarity through music, more specifically through Abel's (The Weeknd/Abel Tesfaye) music. However, what can possibly go wrong when your idol and the one that creates something so relatable to you is also... troubled and haunted? Even Lee (Barry Keoghan), Abel's manager but most importantly his dearest friend who is more like a brother to Abel struggles to help him be set on the right path.
Sadly, the biggest issue with Hurry Up Tommorow is the serious lacking of character development - Anima's background and story arc should have been explored more in depth as well as Lee's because it's important, especially in a psychological film that is meant to be some kind of lesson to understand or at least to imply how and why the characters end up in their respective situations - isn't this the whole point, to send a message, to raise awareness through characters' experiences?
Next, the acting was... questionable on Abel's side - he definetely improved since his previous projects but he's not ready to go that big, meaning to lead. Happily though, both Jenna Ortega also in a lead role and Barry Keoghan in a supportive role delivered very good performances that lifted the overall production but there's so much they can do with a lacking writing and screenplay.
On the brighter side, Trey Edward Shults's cinematography and directing are beautiful - the visual language overall, the setting, the lighting are well done as are the effects and the coloring. In addition, the film's music and sound design were almost exquisite. All these elements really add a unique touch to the production's value.
The ending, really, was right, quite on point - the open ending formula works really well for this kind of drama driven psychological thriller with a splash of mystery.
To conclude, was it bad? Definitely not, but it was not good either, maybe good enough though - as mentioned earlier, Hurry Up Tomorrow could've been so much more with a story arc that focused a lot more on the characters and their stories, their development and with a more experienced lead actor since the role wasn't easy to portray at all.
The premise is very interesting as well as the main theme - can music really heal and help you overcome difficult moments? Can you really relate to an artist's work and feel like it was really made from your perspective so much that they understand you? Also, can this be taken too far, to become an obsession rather than a good thing?
Therefore, we meet the three characters involved in the story: Anima (Jenna Ortega), a troubled and lonely young woman with some past life choices that haunt her to this day which seeks for help and understanding, clarity through music, more specifically through Abel's (The Weeknd/Abel Tesfaye) music. However, what can possibly go wrong when your idol and the one that creates something so relatable to you is also... troubled and haunted? Even Lee (Barry Keoghan), Abel's manager but most importantly his dearest friend who is more like a brother to Abel struggles to help him be set on the right path.
Sadly, the biggest issue with Hurry Up Tommorow is the serious lacking of character development - Anima's background and story arc should have been explored more in depth as well as Lee's because it's important, especially in a psychological film that is meant to be some kind of lesson to understand or at least to imply how and why the characters end up in their respective situations - isn't this the whole point, to send a message, to raise awareness through characters' experiences?
Next, the acting was... questionable on Abel's side - he definetely improved since his previous projects but he's not ready to go that big, meaning to lead. Happily though, both Jenna Ortega also in a lead role and Barry Keoghan in a supportive role delivered very good performances that lifted the overall production but there's so much they can do with a lacking writing and screenplay.
On the brighter side, Trey Edward Shults's cinematography and directing are beautiful - the visual language overall, the setting, the lighting are well done as are the effects and the coloring. In addition, the film's music and sound design were almost exquisite. All these elements really add a unique touch to the production's value.
The ending, really, was right, quite on point - the open ending formula works really well for this kind of drama driven psychological thriller with a splash of mystery.
To conclude, was it bad? Definitely not, but it was not good either, maybe good enough though - as mentioned earlier, Hurry Up Tomorrow could've been so much more with a story arc that focused a lot more on the characters and their stories, their development and with a more experienced lead actor since the role wasn't easy to portray at all.
Miller's Girl presents a perspective of a romantic affair between a student (Jenna Ortega as Cairo Sweet) and its teacher (Martin Freeman as Jonathan Miller). It is a very ambitious and intriguing idea to explore, I really liked the plot and how it slowly unfolded, how the characters evolved and how eventually Cairo and Martin turned out to be complex characters that carried a lot of personal and professional baggage yet they connected and felt heard and understood thanks to their mutual interest in literature and writing. Now, obviously there's a lot more that's going on, more nuances, subtlety and delicacy and not to even mention the other "situationship" presented but it makes you wonder on another level... does love have limits? Is there such a thing as a forbidden love? Does even right or wrong exist when love is involved? Or, at the same time... is it really about love or is it something else?
Both Freeman and Ortega deliver good performances and it serve their characters well, but it sometimes felt during the first acts like they lacked that chemistry, that connection that was supposed to urge their attraction, desire, tension; that "I want it so bad that nothing else matters"; their interaction with other characters involved seemed more natural than when they were together.
Jade Halley Bartlett creates this motion picture with a sort of aristocratic dark fantasy visual language and score in mind which plays an important part in the production itself especially in certain scenes implying the ideas of mystery, of desire, even of the forbidden and the unacceptable - yet, it felt a bit all over the place and unnecessary at times because it created a few clichés such as the mysterious girl that comes out of a misty forest thingy and it just pulls you out of the story.
Throughout the film it seems to be an incomplete puzzle yet in such a good way because you get most of the pieces, but you also have to create the missing ones by yourself. The ending is arguably the most impactful and well made on this matter because even though an open ending is not reinventing the wheel, this time the final scene can actually be interpreted in such many ways, all of them viable and credible since, as earlier mentioned, the film was packed with many nuances and tones, hints and implies of what actually might have happened.
The film is pretty good when reflected a bit upon it.
Both Freeman and Ortega deliver good performances and it serve their characters well, but it sometimes felt during the first acts like they lacked that chemistry, that connection that was supposed to urge their attraction, desire, tension; that "I want it so bad that nothing else matters"; their interaction with other characters involved seemed more natural than when they were together.
Jade Halley Bartlett creates this motion picture with a sort of aristocratic dark fantasy visual language and score in mind which plays an important part in the production itself especially in certain scenes implying the ideas of mystery, of desire, even of the forbidden and the unacceptable - yet, it felt a bit all over the place and unnecessary at times because it created a few clichés such as the mysterious girl that comes out of a misty forest thingy and it just pulls you out of the story.
Throughout the film it seems to be an incomplete puzzle yet in such a good way because you get most of the pieces, but you also have to create the missing ones by yourself. The ending is arguably the most impactful and well made on this matter because even though an open ending is not reinventing the wheel, this time the final scene can actually be interpreted in such many ways, all of them viable and credible since, as earlier mentioned, the film was packed with many nuances and tones, hints and implies of what actually might have happened.
The film is pretty good when reflected a bit upon it.