Radio Silence is about a woman called Dr Jill, who has the same job as Frasier in Frasier. I don't know if that's something that really exists in American cities in 2020, but in this film she is a big deal.
To talk about this film we first need to talk about what people want from a mystery in a movie. It can't be too obvious. People want to be surprised. But on the other hand, want a mystery to make sense. They want to look back after finding out what's really going on and think "I should have seen that coming". But they don't want so little foreshadowing that it comes as a complete surprise.
The problem with this movie is that the twist is obvious right from the start. Dr Jill, played by Georgina Haig, drove a woman to suicide with her phone in show. Now someone is coming to take revenge, and people close to her start dying. In the film, there's the main character, her boss, her love interest, her best friend, and then there's the older woman who works in the coffee shop and has no obvious reason to be there. So someone is obviously taking revenge for the dead girl, and I just immediately assumed it was her mother, who is the old woman in the coffee shop. Half way through the movie the old woman mentions that her daughter died last year, just in case you didn't get it.
They do try to throw in some red herrings. The boyfriend had access to the first murder scene, but then he gets killed. The boss is conspiring against her, but that's just to fake harrassment for publicity, not to commit murder. But I never thought it was anyone other than the old woman. And it was the older woman.
Now there is, in this film, an example of good foreshadowing. The boyfriend says she should have a gun and that he will give her one, and it isn't mentioned again, and it isn't shown. Until the end. Then the old woman walks in to murder Dr Jill on the air, and it cuts to black and there's a gun shot. Then it cuts to Dr Jill telling the police that she had a gun, so the old woman is dead. Good foreshadowing for Dr Jill having a gun. The cut to black is a bit of a cop out, but it's an okay ending. But that core mystery is so obvious it just ruins the movie.
To talk about this film we first need to talk about what people want from a mystery in a movie. It can't be too obvious. People want to be surprised. But on the other hand, want a mystery to make sense. They want to look back after finding out what's really going on and think "I should have seen that coming". But they don't want so little foreshadowing that it comes as a complete surprise.
The problem with this movie is that the twist is obvious right from the start. Dr Jill, played by Georgina Haig, drove a woman to suicide with her phone in show. Now someone is coming to take revenge, and people close to her start dying. In the film, there's the main character, her boss, her love interest, her best friend, and then there's the older woman who works in the coffee shop and has no obvious reason to be there. So someone is obviously taking revenge for the dead girl, and I just immediately assumed it was her mother, who is the old woman in the coffee shop. Half way through the movie the old woman mentions that her daughter died last year, just in case you didn't get it.
They do try to throw in some red herrings. The boyfriend had access to the first murder scene, but then he gets killed. The boss is conspiring against her, but that's just to fake harrassment for publicity, not to commit murder. But I never thought it was anyone other than the old woman. And it was the older woman.
Now there is, in this film, an example of good foreshadowing. The boyfriend says she should have a gun and that he will give her one, and it isn't mentioned again, and it isn't shown. Until the end. Then the old woman walks in to murder Dr Jill on the air, and it cuts to black and there's a gun shot. Then it cuts to Dr Jill telling the police that she had a gun, so the old woman is dead. Good foreshadowing for Dr Jill having a gun. The cut to black is a bit of a cop out, but it's an okay ending. But that core mystery is so obvious it just ruins the movie.