Strange But True

This film tells the story of a woman who believes she carries the child of her dead boyfriend.

The plot is mysterious to start with, and then becomes very engaging and captivating. I really feel for all the characters, including the mother, father, brother, the girlfriend and the girlfriend's neighbors. Who would have thought the plot takes such a dramatic turn and becomes so touching. I really enjoyed this film.

Movie thrillers and mysteries usually revolve around a "McGuffin," an art of fiction set up to establish the plot and motivate the characters but which matters very little by the end of the movie. It's the trap the filmmaker sets to capture the audience to invest them in the story he/she wants to tell.

In this movie, the McGuffin is the mystery itself. The filmmaker doesn't ask us to believe that a ghost can impregnate a sad and grieving girl. Instead, it asks us to look at how loss can become grievance and become toxic, and what it takes to remember who and why we love.

Give it a chance.

This is one of those mystery tales that keeps you guessing as to why our young female is now pregnant from, she believes, her deceased boyfriend from five years ago. We are teased with several possibilities from the mysterious to the bizarre. Of course the answer as to what happened occurs in the final minutes so be patient as you guess who, or what happened.

This isn't a typical thriller. The cast is quite good even supporting cast so that should indicate that it's not a second rate show. It's different. Starts off like a psychological thriller. Then things become more crime drama with an unexpected villain. The conclusion is unexpected but at least doesn't leave you hanging totally.

Margaret Qualley is getting lots of good roles and she is quite watchable. Amy Ryan plays the bitter Mother and divorcee quite well.

Worth a watch.

This is newbie director Rowan Athale's second full length feature film (plus one short), and aside from a few technical errors and editing issues, he pretty much nailed it behind the camera and in directing his cast.

The film is an adaptation of the novel (I haven't read it) of the same name by John Searles, turned into a screenplay by novice writer Eric Garcia. The pacing started out decent, then slowed down midway, and felt dragged out towards the end, that the 96 min run-time felt longer. I wasn't a fan of the non-climatic stretch of cross-cutting time lines, and I felt the story would've been better told in the proper order.

Casting was excellent and all actors were convincing in their roles, especially Margaret Qualley, who was outstanding in her starring role.

The cinematography was on point, and the score perfect for this type of film.

For a low-budget B-grade film by unseasoned filmmakers, this was a surprisingly enjoyable noir-thriller about grief, belief and the things we keep hidden.

It's a recommended watch and a well deserved 8/10 from me.