Hello everyone and sorry for being absent for quite a while. At first i was a bit sick having a flue that's apparently thriving these days and when i got well i had to catch up with my studies. It's that period of time that i need to watch all the courses and study for the exams and it this will continue till the end of this month. The sad part is that i would have graduated but my university got an "upgrade" so in order to get the "upgraded" degree 2 semesters added, so you kinda get what i am through. 

For that reason i tried not to open my PC at all cause i know i will spent many hours both in here or literally watching and doing anything else than focusing at studying. Yesterday, I had a bit of time to spare so ofc i had to watch something. Around a month ago the trailer below caught my eye and as you can guess yesterday was the day that i watched it!

General Info & Plot 

This is a Netflix film that came out 2/1/2019 was directed by Dan Gilroy that he is most probably known for Nightcrawler. Apparently the director is a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal that's why he was both in Nightcrawler and in that movie. For some reason this film is categorized as a satirical horror film which i strongly disagree but who am i to judge?

Don't worry about Spoilers!

The movie starts with an art exhibition, you know the ones that all the high society is gathered? The one that the paintings are like a baby ate the dye and throw up? Yeah i am talking about an art exhibition like that! In there we soon get to meet Morf Vandewalt ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) who is as "natural" a gay and very well known critic. He is so good at his job that a single review by him can increase or decrease the price of painting or sculpture instantly!

Rhodora (Rene Russo) is the owner of a gallery and her job is to find new and promising artists, show their art and ofc make tons of money out of it. That's why she is very close to Morf as she has a lot to win by his reviews. Josephina (Zawe Ashton) is working under Rhodora, seems a little bit of lazy as she is always late but wants to be rich and successful as Rhodora. 

Soon enough a neighbor dies in Josephina's flat and she discovers over 1000 paintings that as it seems he wanted destroyed. Ofc because of her ambitions and dreams she takes everything, show it to Morf who is astonished and wanna write a book about the creator but Rhodora finds out. They cut a deal in order for everyone to get some money out of it and organize a new exhibition.

The thing is that there is a "supernatural" power buried with these painting, a power that make other paintings or in general art exhibits come into life. Turns out the creator of these paintings made them using his own blood and they carry all the problems and issues he faced in his life. People are getting killed and nobody knows why, who will live, who will die and what will happen in the end?

What I Liked 

A thing i particularly liked is how the whole art community is portrayed. What i mean by this is that you won't see many people care about the art itself, whether they are gallery owners or regular people visiting the exhibition. Instead they all care about money and ofc themselves, even those that buy the paintings are doing it for profit or tax purposes!

The second thing i liked is Jake's acting. Not only he got into the character of a homosexual character, he also played very well his part of an art's critic that don't cares about money but only for the art itself! Finally, the most magnificent thing for me was CGI and effects regarding the paintings. Everything that was revolved around the alive paintings was magnificent, especially the ones with the apes and the robot!

What I Didn't Like

I have quite some things so brace yourselves. To begin with during the first 10 minutes i understood nothing. I got who everyone was but the dialog had a very fast pace and the terminology had to do with art/money tied together so i had to clue what deals were going on. Secondly, i don't know what exactly was "satirical" i didn't laugh at all, maybe i didn't get the humor or the word "satirical" have another meaning of the one i am aware of. 

Josephina was honestly a really boring character. I don't know if they wanted to do it that way, but in my eyes it was just a lazy ass character, without showing any emotions that even if we completely erased her from the movie and give the only job she had...to find the paintings.... to Coco or any other it would be no difference at all.

Finally, even though i liked when the paintings came to life, the scenes of that happening were quite a few or very short. I think it would be a way better idea to make this into a sort series with 6 episode or one with 12, in which we get to see many more scenes that represent the "thriller" aspect. If that was the case i believe we could have a thriller that could be on par with Hunting Hill! 

PLOT TWIST 

MORF WAS BISEXUAL 

I Give This Movie A 6/10  

gifs and images 1 2 3 4 5 6