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masterwesty
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Missing (2023)
Interesting - like a long TikTok
I've never been so disengaged from a story that is actually pretty good. I admire what they're trying to do here with the film, but the whole thing feels like a very long TikTok rather than a film. It tries to pull you in with short bursts of engaging content while not really hitting any emotional beats.
There's loads of twists and turns, but everything feels flat and never hits an emotional note because get time to see how the characters are feeling. It's assumed we understand the complexity of their emotions from what we see on the computer screen. And for me, this did not land. I've grown up with this technology, but this isn't how I wanted to watch a film.
It feels like an excellent mystery told the wrong way.
I will say the editing is exceptional, and there was a scene towards the end that was fairly tense, but I felt that because it zoomed in on the cameras rather than seeing a bunch of desktop with other apps open. It's clear the filmmaker did this on purpose to emphasise and create tension but the rest of the time it feels sorely lacking.
I feel like a bystander watching the story pass me by, rather than feeling engaged with it. I admire what has been attempted but this is not cinema, it's social media.
Making a Murderer (2015)
Part 1 is Great, Part 2 not so much
Firstly, whether you fall on the side of being for or against Steven Avery, I've put that aside for this review and am looking at it as a documentary and what it's trying to do.
Part One is a conspiracy documentary, and it's meant to invoke intrigue and doubt. You can't take everything in a series like this as truth only with a pinch of salt. It is for entertainment at the end of the day. I really enjoyed the direction and flow of the narrative in the first series solid 8 or 8.5 out of 10. I thought what we saw was well balanced and sparked interested. It's clear why it won awards.
Part Two was awful. Slow, dull, lack of narrative. I felt right from the start that this part was created due to the controversial reaction of audiences, not because they wanted to tell something compelling. In Part One the times spent with the family members were tasteful and worked with the tone. Here they were placed in as filler and served no purpose except to cheaply try and win your emotion. This part takes a complete 180 from part one and focuses on facts and fact finding. It's an interesting premise following the lawyers, but it's executed poorly and I found myself bored and wanted to turn it off. (Depaite usually enjoying legal dramas and documentaries.) Part Two I'm giving 4/10, so that's how I land on my 6/10.