Where to begin? That's the question I've been asking myself. It's hard to tell whether the one man show Al Carrettta has created is pure genius, full of cinematic brilliance or to be frank is a load of sh**. The film brings many questions to mind like "What is happening?", "Who is who?" and "Why is how?". I think the story was about some secret agents and then someone got brain damage. If that seems harsh, watch the film and you'll understand. My main critique is that you are drawn into this narrative that tries to join together at the end but utterly fails to do so and then suddenly you are left with the credits. Overall I'm left lost and confused, hopefully a sequel will tie everything together.
3 Reviews
I-N-C-O-M-P-R-E-H-E-N-S-I-B-L-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M85ALIVE11 September 2019
I'm only 2 mins into the film and I'm already confused. There is VO and I have no idea who the person is in relation to the people on screen, is it the guy leaving the voicemail or is someone leaving him the voicemail, this happens so much in the film, woooooooooooowwww I'm in for a mind bending experience, lol. Ok so @3:45 the vo syncs up with the guy's voice, but even still I spent the last couple minutes confused, into opening of the film, I'm literally shaking my head in disbelief, wtf! haha..plus the fact the vo uses the opportunity to use this vo to lazily give out exposition...off to a great start aaaaannnnd the actor is way too close to the mic with no pop filter so it sounds really annoying....but still hilarious!
The dialogue, it's cool...well it's trying to be at least, making it not cool, it really feels forced in the cool department, like the kid in the playground trying to impress the hot girl. Don't get me wrong, I had a fun time with this dialogue "you can lick failure from your lips" I laughed.
Then the film slips into the tired old adage of one character telling another character the plot so we the audience (who are lost because of poor storytelling) can be brought up to speed in the laziest way, great stuff..on and on...scene to scene! and that's the rest of the movie ...at one point one of the actresses says "whats your point?" ..yes well said! get on with an actual movie, but this isn't one unfortunately.
Characters just show up in the film randomly mid context and expect us to be up to speed, case in point : 32 and a half minutes in, who are these people? what are they arguing about? who is Sid? who is her father she mentions? why should I care? plus their acting is terrible, uuuuuuugggggghhhhhh!!! This is film is soooooo unbelievably incomprehensible i have to keep watching to see if it can get even more incomprehensible to the point of absurdity and hilariosness!!!
Why am I supposed to care about any of this....endless, ENDLESS exposition and dialogue that goes on and on that means nothing, invokes no sympathy, empathy. nothing happens...the BIGGEST problem this film has is you don't experience anything in real time, it's all give in lazy exposition over the phone, or between two characters.
The dialogue, it's cool...well it's trying to be at least, making it not cool, it really feels forced in the cool department, like the kid in the playground trying to impress the hot girl. Don't get me wrong, I had a fun time with this dialogue "you can lick failure from your lips" I laughed.
Then the film slips into the tired old adage of one character telling another character the plot so we the audience (who are lost because of poor storytelling) can be brought up to speed in the laziest way, great stuff..on and on...scene to scene! and that's the rest of the movie ...at one point one of the actresses says "whats your point?" ..yes well said! get on with an actual movie, but this isn't one unfortunately.
Characters just show up in the film randomly mid context and expect us to be up to speed, case in point : 32 and a half minutes in, who are these people? what are they arguing about? who is Sid? who is her father she mentions? why should I care? plus their acting is terrible, uuuuuuugggggghhhhhh!!! This is film is soooooo unbelievably incomprehensible i have to keep watching to see if it can get even more incomprehensible to the point of absurdity and hilariosness!!!
Why am I supposed to care about any of this....endless, ENDLESS exposition and dialogue that goes on and on that means nothing, invokes no sympathy, empathy. nothing happens...the BIGGEST problem this film has is you don't experience anything in real time, it's all give in lazy exposition over the phone, or between two characters.
Part II of Automatically Sunshine - Intelligent and Complex Indie Crime Drama
exittheatre28 November 2019
This film doesn't have a spoon fed Marvel superhero narrative. It's very subtle. Subtle, in the way that 'Precious Little Things' is the B-Side to The Supreme's 'Automatically Sunshine'. You have to read between the lines constantly and understand the film takes a bit more attention to work out if watched standalone. If you have no knowledge of the first part to this film 'Automatically Sunshine' (which establishes all the key characters, a key section of the plot and the 'patois' dictionary) you'll probably feel something is missing but if you're savvy you might also wonder why an entire other film is being sped through in 20 seconds with voiceover late on....If your film school is a diet of Hollywood Blockbuster's this won't be for you. This is a complex no-budget crime drama with strong performances and a heavily designed narrative that loops back and resolves both films which are entirely connected. It's a shame the other user reviews don't understand this. Well worth a watch.
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