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mamporrero
Reviews
The Unheard (2023)
Simple plot too complex for the average imdb user, what else is new?
I didn't particularly like this movie. It was too long, not very engaging, and it threw too many concepts together like the writers had vague ideas for several different stories but couldn't settle on one. That being said, it pains me to see reviews claiming it to be confusing or badly explained, so I figured I'd write a brief summary for posterity.
The protagonist, Chloe, moved out of her small town with her father after her mother disappeared and she lost her hearing at 8 years old, in two unrelated incidents that happened at roughly the same time.
She comes back in her early twenties to "help her dad sell their old house", whatever that's supposed to entail, which coincides with her receiving an experimental treatment that could restore her hearing.
While staying all alone at the house, she starts hearing sounds which could be attributed to auditory hallucinations, but are in fact the voice of her mother, who was killed in the living room and haunts the place as a ghost. The killer was, of course, the handyman / ex-cop who gazes longingly at her while telling her how much she resembles her mother. It is unclear if the reason her mom's ghostly activities concentrate around a certain point on the living room's floor is because she died there, or because that's where he buried her. The guy is just the town's resident serial killer, murdering young women because he enjoys it; nothing more to it.
There are just two more characters in the story. One is the designated "creepy" neighbor who exists to make the real killer less suspicious, as well as to provide exposition near the end about the ghost situation. The other is the female doctor treating Chloe, who is even less important to the story while managing to tick off several more checkboxes in the producers' list: a woman in a position of power or with highly specialized skills, who is also brown skinned (Indian in this case), is on the receiving end of Chloe's lesbian advances (which comes out of nowhere and has no relevance to anything), and fulfills the role of savior/helping figure who gets immediately murdered instead.
No matter how I look at it , there are just too many elements in this story, and the seemingly main one, the hearing loss and recovery, ends up being the least important one and also completely redundant, to the point where you could completely remove it and end up with a better, leaner film. A story about a girl who starts hearing the voice of her deceased mother while getting targeted by the same serial killer who got her should be more than enough for a full feature without having to add more irrelevant twists.
They're Watching (2016)
From the writers of Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Spongebob Squarepants
I had to write a review for this, if only to highlight that utterly ridiculous tagline from the movie poster.
As for the film itself, it's pretty standard fare for the most part, with a good portion of its runtime dedicated to making a mockery out of the backward locals in a way that would get everyone involved banned from the industry if it were set anywhere else.
Does it try to make the footage believable? Hardly. Does it give a good reason for the cameras to be running at all times? Not at all. On the other hand, it looks professionally made and acted, there's little running around in the dark, and it makes for an easy watch with its light tone and sizeable cast for the genre.
As many others pointed out, it does turn into a cartoon at the end, but whether that's a good or a bad thing is a matter of preference.
Rang song (2021)
Good buildup into a tedious conclusion
I quite enjoyed the first 70-80 minutes. It may be slow in terms of action scenes/demonic activity, but it's a decently made drama set in an uncommon setting, so it doesn't feel boring. Unfortunately, the last 40 minutes devolve into an extremely tedious series of over the top demonic antics that seem to go on forever, ruining the good will that the movie had built up until that point.
The documentary style doesn't bring much to the table other than the usual moments of disbelief when the crew behaves more like cameras with legs than actual human beings.
The beginning leads you to believe that the spiritual world and local folklore will play a strong part, but it ends up being another satanic possession story involving sex and bodily fluids for shock value. At its core, there's nothing that differentiates it from a Catholic style possession case.
One last thing: I watched this thinking it was a purely Thai movie. It wasn't. It has that distinct stink of South Korean cinema which becomes especially notable in the final stretch. Had I taken a closer look at the credits I probably would have avoided it and be better off as a result. Lessons learned.
Pahanhautoja (2022)
Ugly
I can think of other words to describe this movie, but none of them seem to fit it so well. You'd probably expect the ugliness to come from the body horror aspects - it is, after all, a movie where one of the characters eats vomit off the floor - but that pales in comparison to the disgusting individuals that make up the protagonist's family.
Unfortunately this isn't achieved by any clever or insightful writing, opting instead for a collection of clichés you've no doubt seen a million times before in made-for-TV dramas. Spoiled little brat you just want to punch in the teeth? Check. Sad, spineless husband in a unilateral open relationship? Check. Heartless, superficial mother living vicariously through her child no matter the consequences? Double check. As for the daughter, she lacks any personality outside of being a victim for the audiences to insert as.
On top of being simplistic archetypes, these characters don't evolve or show any depth throughout the story. There's nothing engaging about them, which strongly contributes to the feeling of tedium that permeates through it all. In fact, it is only the literal, physical growth of the creature, coupled with some beautiful puppetry, that provides an incentive to keep watching. Once the creature reaches its final form, what little momentum the film had completely evaporates.
3/10 (0 stars for the story and characters, 3 stars for the special effects)
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Decadent and melodramatic
This is not a nature documentary. It's the personal project of a man who, following a midlife crisis, decides he can't work anymore and chooses to spend his time free diving instead. After a while, he realizes that it might be possible to monetize his activities by filming the local fauna and does just that. Because he's not a biologist, he adds some sappy, manipulative storytelling rather than informative narration to better sell the footage.
To be honest, whether it is an act or not, I find the overly sensitive, self-centered and undependable nature of this man to be quite off putting, and his privileged life doesn't make for compelling storytelling. Octopuses, on the other hand, are naturally interesting creatures and there's plenty of close up footage of them going about their business, so in that sense it sort of balances out.