Having eventually got round to it, my expectations were pretty solid as the hype for this film is solely due to the Oscar buzz surrounding Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in this. I feel her to be a very talented actor that does not get mentioned enough. But that might be down to the fact that we haven't seen her do a feature film in four years. The last time I saw her was in 2014's Frank.
Gyllenhaal has certainly returned with a bang with a terrific performance. The story starts off well and the route its going down showed great potential with all the right ingredients for an interesting tale. As the performances from everyone enhance, the story manages to get more psychological and almost Hitchcock-like which surprised and disturbed me at the same time. Then we get a pretty strong finale that sees Gyllenhaal shine brightest.
I have to say the hype is real and Gyllenhaal gives a pretty impressive performance. Whilst feeling highly believable, the mentally disturbed side of her character felt beautifully subtle and very realistic. So much so, that you could still feel sympathy for her character even you witness things in this film that you would totally disagree with. To walk that fine line takes great talent.
I also have to mention the great work by child actor Parker Sevak. His chemistry with Gyllenhaal was highly engaging and by himself was a constant scene-stealer. The innocence was oozing out of him and he became and easy character to root for.
I have to mention the casting Gael Garcia Bernal. I have a fair amount of his previous work where he is usually the lead and speaking his native language of Spanish. He is probably Mexico's biggest actor and I was delighted to see him involved in a project like this.
Outside of the writing and the performances, there's very little else to speak of. It's shot really well and the general look of it is perfectly fine but nothing exceptional.
This is certainly a film that is all about the story and its characters.
There's also no real negatives to speak of. If I was being picky, I guess the execution of some parts I felt could have been bettered. But in the end, there was little to downgrade my viewing experience. So it's just a matter of how much I liked it.
I felt this to be a pretty good drama with top performances, especially by Gyllenhaal and Sevak. Their chemistry is what makes or beaks this film when they're on-screen together, I thought it was constantly engaging and therefore a large amount of the film had my heavily invested.
I liked how it wasn't afraid to flirt with its psychological aspect and tease us about potentially taking the story down a dark path. But it never fully went there, and I felt that made the film the strongest it could be. I can't quite see Gyllenhaal get enough awards buzz. But it is certainly one that is worth watching.
Rating: 7/10
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