The Girl Is in Trouble

An obscure indie film noir ? A film like this needs IMDb commentator support if only because the only films being reviewed will be ones appearing in the local multiplex or ones getting their debut release on The Horror Channel . It so far has four comments and mixed opinions from my peers so went in to this film with a very open mind

The story itself has a premise of man meets mysterious woman with a problem and finds himself caught up in events outside his control . More than a shade of Chandler or Spillane in there somewhere and watching the film unfold I see Nigerian born director Julius Onah is very much in the style of Martin Scorsese with his use of voice over , flash back and other directorial quirks such as freeze frame . However Onah emulates this style very badly . Perhaps the most annoying aspect is the voice over . The story is told through the eyes of August who is an unemployed bartender and DJ . August never misses the opportunity to tell us what's on his mind and while he's telling us all this the imagery does the worst thing possible - it shows us what the narrator is talking about . From what I've learned from film school good use of voice over is ironic narration where as bad voice over is obvious or expositional narration . The whole technique of it here is totally over done while being badly used . There's also an other aspect about the voice over and that it totally distracts from much of the core story involving a woman who has recorded a murder on her phone and often found myself wondering where the story was going or if the director had totally forgotten about it . To give Onah his due he might be making an existentialist type of film noir and Scorsese is indeed a grand master auteur of existentialist philosophy but unfortunately there's only one Martin Scorsese . Better luck next time Julius and next time make your own movie

Ordinarily I don't enjoy a film narrated from the protagonist's point of view, but in this case I found the actor's voice soothing & dialog to be fundamental to the plot. His perspective was important because it added an element of surprise to the plot as it unfolded. Reminiscent of everyday, real life situations when issues of believability & trust can cloud one's judgment when dealing with the unknown, this storyline engaged me throughout the film. The actor's were believable & production values were strong! I was easily able to suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy myself. Truly a surprise pick that I might have otherwise skipped if I hadn't taken a chance! Worth my time!

This is a good example of a decent premise and cast bogged down by poor "style" choices and unnecessary narration. The filmmakers clearly decided to make up for the low budget by mixing up the story in disjointed flashbacks instead of letting the story flow naturally. Everytime you start to get into a scene BAM they cut into a flashback, and sometimes intercut a flashback with a flashback. They probably thought this was a way to be flashy but, for me, it was just distracting. Then to add to the annoyance, they added a voice over to explain EVERYTHING and introduce characters that don't matter. Things get very cluttered. In the end it just gets in the way of itself. I truly believe if they told a straight forward story they'd have a decent indie/thriller on their hands. Instead it comes off as a bad experiment.

No one else is going to review this so I guess I will.

I know that shaky-cam is the new hip technique but please, knock it the f*** off. It gives me a head ache. It doesn't make the movie look interesting or hip. It makes it look cheap, as in too cheap to hire a camera guy who isn't drunk. If that's the case then borrow a tripod. It looks like the whole thing was shot on cellphones. Maybe it was.

There's an old adage in screen writing that says, "show it, don't tell it." Movies are a visual experience as well as audio. If you want to tell a story with words then write a book. A little narration at times is OK, but a little bit goes a long way. In this film the narration goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Is that annoying to read that? Then you're beginning the get the drift.

Pros -

The acting is good from everyone. The story, if not altogether original, is decent. But the overall experience is just too annoying to put up with.

This indie movie is laced with intrigue and suspense.

On its face it is your standard PG-13 noir, but the storytelling is sophisticated and beneath the surface another story emerges, one that shares more about our complexity as people...

Wilmer shows you his depth throughout the picture. In fact the entire cast was good.

Short, was believable as August. I liked the voice over.. it created more movement to the story

Alicja played a great Signe, she did not overplay her hand.

Jesse made a good Nicholas as well.

By far Wilmer was my favorite.. he was a far way from fez...

Is there room to grow, I am sure there is but I am excited to see the careers of all involved grow.