Little Joe: La Flor De La Felicidad

Anne Robinson meets the Little Shop of Horrors in a painfully slow, poorly disguised version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Predictable, dull, illogical, unimaginative, and with a plot containing more holes than a monks collander

Thanks but no thanks.

Visually appealing but irritating. I don't know if that's what the producers of this were hoping for, and if so they managed to get on my nerves a lot. Everything from the music, to the main characters inability to register what's happening in front of her face. It's basically a film about a plant gaslighting a woman for two hours. I don't know what the film makers were going for and that makes this a bland and slow film

Scientists have created a flower that can make people happy. It is clear though that inhaling the pollen has a stronger effect than just that.

Whilst this is an attractive looking film with an interesting idea and a terrifically weird and wonderful score, the storytelling is linear and pretty staid without the twists and turns that could have made everything more interesting. In addition, the acting, whilst in part intended, is also a little too robotic by all involved to make you really care about the direction of travel.

Im sure that you have read that this is a more modern retelling of invasion of the body snatchers. Don't think of it that way though. If you compare the 2 then my rating for this would go down. This feels more like a pretentious indie movie rather than a horror. The whole thing being about a flower was interesting, but the characters are boring and uninteresting. Which is disappointing considering that is what is supposed to hold this movie together. There isn't really a satisfying climactic scene that the movie builds up to and there is a ton of build up. The music in the movie was really odd to say the least and sometimes annoying. What can I say, I feel as if I wasted a lot of time on this movie.

I'll break this review down into three sections; Performance, Production, Plot.

Performance. Everyone is pretty much spot on. All the performances are reserved, which aids the intrigue of whether or not they've been infected and even when you're certain their performances always seem to leave you with a sense of doubt.

Production. This is the highlight of the movie. The sound design (both soundtrack and environmental) do a great job creating a sense of discomfort and foreboding. The costume and set design is beautiful and clinical, but also with great touches of vibrance.

Plot. By far the weakest area in the film and unfortunately what lets the film down. The idea is interesting and the way it's developed is interesting too, but plot points are often contrived or out of place and ultimately too little happens over too long a space of time to keep you fully engaged.