Jane

An interesting take on a classical ghost story about a girl who is haunted by visions of her dead friend. The story and the plot are quite intriguing, as it combines horror-like scenes with the ghost of Jane (a girl who commited suicide) and themes of ambition and determination, but also anxiety and sorrow personified in the character of Olivia. Yet the script could have been written a bit more complexly, because in some moments the dialogues feel too simple and unoriginal. But overall it was gripping and the ending is actually quite schocking. Also this film could appeal to teenage audience, for it takes place at a high school, all of the main characters are teenagers + the main character of Olivia is played by Madelaine Petsch, who is well known from the TV series Riverdale.

... because -- and this is the point of JANE -- the rest of the world is not. Creator Sabrina Jaglom has done a very professional job of demonstrating how stress flows top-down in our culture. Thirty years ago it was normal and acceptable in our society for these sorts of problems to be felt only by middle-aged male executives (Michael Douglas, FALLING DOWN 1993). Today it is normal and acceptable for these same stresses to impact a teenager in an elite girl's school simply looking for the textbook-perfect career path. In many ways Jaglom's film is the anti-Netflix, never afraid to go farther and further than the populist pap from that brand-name streaming leader. It is significant that the film itself is named after a character who is already dead (suicide) just as the story starts, a trope popular with the FILM NOIRS from the 1940's, but not used much today. Reinforced by a very strong performance from Madelaine Petsch, JANE checks all the boxes -- fascinating, attention-grabbing, and disturbing as hell. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

No pun intended - not being able to deal with the issues of life is something we may not be able to see in others. Not everyone is putting their misery out there - not everyone is seeking help. If you need or feel trapped, please do talk with friends, family or a professional. Just make sure you do not end up like the best friend of the main character of this movie.

But as a quote says, it is not tough on the person not here anymore ... it is tough for those left behind. One in particular - our main character once again. And her way dealing with it ... well it starts off with small things, but as we know, they never stop there. So once the ball is rolling ... other things get said and done ... and consequences will follow.

The ending is quite something ... you may guess that it will take that ... path, but I think it still will have the impact it intends to have ... so brace yourself ... and "enjoy"

Jane is actually a slap in the face of those of believe in karma. Director Sabrina Jaglom and her co-writer Rishi Rajani uses the trauma trope not just as a means to drive the plot, but to keep proceedings engaging and deceitful. It takes more than a couple of retaliatory instances to understand whether Olivia (Madelaine Petsch, who does a great job making us hate her) is doing the things she does as a trauma response or because she's pure evil. I liked how social media has a pretty major role to play in the film, and how high-schoolers especially perceive their acceptance of others based on their popularity on such platforms. There's a scene where Olivia and her friend Izzy (Chloe Bailey) make fun of a teacher in their school for having only six followers on social media - that sums it up!

When Olivia suggests the idea of using their dead mutual friend's social media profile to "expose" people in their school, Izzy instantly agrees. The effects are far-reaching, and it soon spirals out of control. Olivia also has hallucinations of Jane (Chloe Yu), the dead mutual friend, who's either giving her the stare - a sort of "do you really want to do this?" look - or being her virtual partner in crime (literally!). The writing gets this aspect right, as the transition from Jane's silent staring to eventually becoming Olivia's virtual accomplice is gradual. Olivia's true colours - her manipulative nature and selfishness - are convincingly portrayed. Izzy plays along until she becomes a victim herself, and Chloe Bailey does a solid job with the character who, unlike Olivia, has a conscience.

I think the makers could have used some quirky edits to showcase the social media aspects, and the visual side could have been a little less bland. Also, Madelaine Petsch looks a bit too old to be in high school. Between this and Thoroughbreds, the latter scores higher in my books. Jane makes you also think of the state of mental health of Gen Z-ers, though purely at a surface level. It just wants you to believe that certain kind of trauma responses can turn out to be dangerous and life-altering. The rest is teen-thriller pulp!

In the end of the story, but otherwise a very well produced, rather complex digital, psychological and human indirective interaction drama, full of infamous clues and indespicable knick knack to deferre friends and classmates in the run towards academic success. Some may feel its written in the lines what will happen which in some extent it does, but the evil undertones woven in between the lines are just amazingly well done

much thanks to great work from the main cast, the filmographer and the scripthandlers. There are many wow moments of good directionwork, that will lead to many followers in the future, the grumpy old man do also... a confusingly well made film with a recommend.