rick-casady

Through service assignments with my faith, I have had sporadic contact with people who were later found to have done bad things in their households. I have had relatives whose own veneer of domestic tranquility masked domestic violence. These experiences have left me pondering about what darkness in so many homes manages to evade scrutiny. What I liked about this film was that the suspected killer wasn't the only one who was creepy. The lapsed profiler is also creepy in his behavior towards his spouse and a young witness. The anguished outbursts of the spouse at the end, to me, indicated that her trauma wasn't so easily soothed. The ending reminded me of an old Vincent Price film, The Conqueror Worm (aka Witchfinder General), where an innocent victim of torture breaks down completely in her lover's arms. For some, the horror has just begun. The evil that has been perpetrated, the many lives stuffed out, casts a pall over the lives of the survivors. It can't be just brushed aside. Nor can the marital difficulties of the investigator and his wife.

Dr. Leekie refers to DYAD originating in 1918 "when the keystone was set". I believe he meant "cornerstone". He later gives a tour to Cosima and mentions how his company created a "vaccine for Spanish influenza." No vaccine was ever developed for Spanish flu. In another scene, Rachel asks Paul about his experience with Taiwan and Mandarin Chinese. So far as I know, the Taiwanese don't speak Mandarin, generally. Otherwise, an enjoyable and illuminating episode, and the musical rehearsals were hilarious.

I usually don't like romantic comedies, but I thought this one genuinely witty, like the ones Ron Howard used to do in the 1980s. Why not quite as cerebral as Whit Stillman's best work, like his films, It is driven by the dialogue, and forgoes the usually expected slide into raunchiness typical of most comedies these days. I think this one should be given a shot, if you want something funny, sweet-natured and inoffensive. It is the only feature film done by the late Christina Grimmie, and is worth discovering.