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Reviews
The Target List (2021)
Action-Packed Thriller
The Target List is a short film written by MJ Palo and John Reizer. MJ Palo also co-directed the film with Andrew Arguello. It stars Jessica Culaciati, Holly Lorge, and Charlie Manoukian as the main characters. The film is an action thriller that reveals that every big pharma company has a dark side.
The movie plot is centered on the corruption and pursuit of big money by the big pharma companies. The pharmaceutical industry becomes angered when a group of scientists invent a revolutionary instrument that cures cancer without any medicines or surgery. The team who created the device is under constant attack by a relentless assassin hired by the big pharma.
The cast of actors pull off fine performances throughout the eleven - minutes of film keeping the audience completely engrossed in this action-packed short.
The Target List has a unique but timely theme and explores a subject that undoubtedly is on the minds of many people in real life. I would love to see the full feature version of this movie when it is completed.
The Broken Rose (2018)
Exceptional Movie
The Broken Rose is a movie by Matt McClelland released in the year 2018. It is the first film by Oakland Film Company and I must say it is simply amazing. The movie is real and uncut. It is so realistic that it gives a look into the real world of foster care and how children survive the harsh realities of this world.
The film is about a girl named Rose. She is a cute and intelligent girl. One day at school, her teacher comes to know that she is not living an ideal life a girl of her age should be living. She barely gets anything to eat and has not taken shower in two weeks. Her teacher informs child protection services. Upon their visit, the team confirms that she is living in a miserable condition and should be evacuated. Amazingly, her father also abandons her and she is forced to live in foster care.
Time passes by and Rose grows up to be a young and beautiful girl. Despite all the difficulties in her life, she manages to be a bright student with good grades. The foster home she lives in is not ideal as well. Her foster father used to abuse her sexually, mentally, and physically. But Rose tolerated all of it as she does not have any other option.
One day, Rose went to a party with her friends. One of her friends give her a ride back home and she was introduced to a man named Shaka. He also belongs to the black community just like her. Shaka praises her beauty and says that she does not look like a seventeen years old girl. He drops his number on her cell phone and asks her to contact him any time she needs which she does asking him to pick her up from somewhere.
Things take an unexpected turn and Rose's foster mother comes to know about the sexual abuse her husband is inflicting upon Rose. She calls the child protection office and asks them to taker Rose away as she no longer wants to keep her in her home. She is being taken away and put up with two other girls. Rose's world shattered once again and she cried her heart out.
This is where Shaka comes back in her life and rescues her. He spares the horrors she is going through. He takes her in and showers all kinds of luxuries on her. She wears expensive clothes, jewelry, and go shopping any time she wants. But nothing comes free in this world. Everything has to pay a price so does Rose.
Few months after she moved in with Shaka, he asks her to help him financially and for this, he starts sending her to different men for sexual encounters. She finds it difficult at first but soon she gets used to it.
One day, one of her school friends Brian comes to see her and tells her that he knows about her and Shaka. Rose brushes him away and goes back to her life. But Brian does not stop contacting her and offered his help to get her out of this miserable life. Rose asks Brian to stay out of her life for his good. She warns him that Shaka is not a good man and he can harm him if he wants.
During this chaos, Rose continues working for Shaka as a prostitute. One day, a cop turns up at her place. He finds her an intelligent and smart girl. They exchanged views on life and got close to each other as friends.
Then in one scene, we see Nicole, the school mate of Rose, and the one who introduced her to Shaka. Nicole is HIV positive now because of working as a prostitute. She attends group therapy sessions and shares her story. She is also a victim of Shaka who trapped her with his charms and later forced her to work as a prostitute if she wants to have a life of her dreams. Nicole agreed and now ended up with AIDS. She is also recovering from substance abuse.
One the other side, the city of Oakland started receiving dead bodies of underage prostitutes. During one meeting, the cop tells Rose to stay away from Shaka as he could be dangerous for her. He suggests her to run away before she gets hurt. Rose calls Brian and makes a plan to run away with him. But before she can execute her plan, things get ugly.
Shaka comes to know about her contacting Brian and threatens Rose to stay away from him. Rose is frightened. On the other side, Brian gets infuriated the way Shaka treats rose and threatens him with his gun. Finally, both Brian and Rose manage to escape and hides in Brian's grandmother's house.
This film is an amazing piece of art. It focuses on the issue of sex trafficking and the deplorable condition of sex workers in the country. The film demonstrates how underage girls are trapped and forced into prostitution. The pimps manipulate the fragile and inexperienced minds of young girls and make them do things no one can imagine.
The film has emotions all over. It tells the truth about the foster care system. I am glad that finally, someone has spoken about the injustices and brutalities of this system. If we do not speak, how will we bring the change our world needs?
As far as the acting is concerned, all the actors performed phenomenally. The acting seems so real and raw that it makes you forget for a moment that you are watching a film. The storyline and plot are also well built up and gives a feeling of realness. Every single character gave a genuine representation of their character and story flows smoothly. However, I found the pace a bit slow but I think that was necessary to develop the atmosphere of what was going on. I wish and hope that this film goes far as deserved.