God's Crooked Lines

Psychological thriller/drama-mystery film directed by Oriol Paulo (the man behind the original versions of Balda/Dobaara/Blurr)

I went into the film not knowing anything about the film, (you should as well; I'll spare the plot here) and halfway in, it had me like "what is the world is going on here?" as it is the case with most of this director's films.

The plot slowly unravels and makes you go "Ooooooohhhh...! Innterestinggg" and the end makes you question everything you've watched. Hella twists and turns throughout!

If you enjoy the joy of looking for answers, this one is surely for you. For the rest of you thriller junkies, this will be worth your time as well.

As other reviewers have indicated this one has a lot of similarities with "Shutter Island", but in contrary to that great movie this one from my point of view crosses the line between creating a meaningful storyline and just creating "smoke and mirrors". For me it's clear that the director has spent more efforts on holding the audience in a constant uncertainty about "what is real and what is imagination" rather than delivering an exciting plot. 3/4 into the movies I realized that I had really no clue what was going on and, even worse, that I didn't really care either! As many other reviewers are mentioning the book it's build on I might consider reading that one.....I might also consider (if I have a day with nothing better to do!) to watch the movie again....just to check that I didn't miss out on anything?

Answer: You want to watch how it ends, and it catches you just after the first seconds, right until the last.

This movie is a performance in overall consistency, pace and quality. Certainly some of the best in 2022. Using a difficult subject (mental health), in a difficult place (a sanitarium with crazy people), with a difficult duration (2 and 1/2 hours), it manages to create an atmosphere, tensions, twists, attachment and beauty at all times, with charismatic actors handling all characters that you do not want to leave. These a signs of a very well crafted movie, giving a lot of care to details and to the audience, but without any easy writing or gratuitous eye candy.

Watch it, you won't be disappointed (except if you are looking for stereotypical and empty movies).

I watched this with little expectations other than a mix of negative reviews and one about 'a movie for intellectuals.' If you enjoyed Shutter Island, I highly recommend as this is of the same genre, well made, characters develop at a comfortable pace and the crooked lines in the plot are well played, done with thought and til the end.

I look forward to watching this again as I know I will pick up something new with each watch. I didn't recognize any of these actors, but was very impressed by all. Any movie set made to be in an insane asylum can go one of many ways. The characters here were intriguing, make you laugh, cry, and want to be their friends.

The movie starts with a bird's-view of a mountainous landscape. A car drives down a road. We know our heroine is going to be alone in this journey.

Alice is a private detective set to investigate the events that lead to the death of the son of her client. Her client does not agree with the final report: suicide. She decides to enter sanatorium where her client's son was institutionalized to conduct her investigations on the source. Once there, who can judge sanity over insanity?

The plot follow two storylines: we see Alice's perspective and investigation, and then we shift into a breakout event that led to the death of one of the sanatorium's patients. The story keeps us hooked until the very end, a great who-and-whydunit story that leaves us guessing until the very end.

The ending is good too, although people who read the book where screenwriters based this movie's story on can argue which ending is the best. I personally think both takes are good.

For a mystery story, it's possible to defend that the movie is too long, dragging a bit. I feel that this is not true; the movie is long, but the story is good. I don't mind being hooked for over 2 hours if the story is good.

At the end, I felt rewarded: the movie delivered. One could debate that there are some really messed up stuff that happens, and that the police seems a bit lost in this whole mess, but you need to remember this story happens in 1979.

If you are a fan of mystery dramas and don't mind the time spent on this movie, God's Crooked Lines is recommendable.