The Deal

I kinda expected, going in, that this would be an interesting movie, if not particularly 'good', and probably kinda predictable...and to a point it is kinda predictable, I guess, but it's still well worth watching.

The cast are all pretty solid, especially Emma Fischer as Analyn, and the story is actually really good, even in the over-crowded area of post-apocalypse society/over-bearing government/etc movies/ Like, it's not particularly different from most of them insofar as the overarching story - "society collapsed due to **INSERT EVENT**, the new government rule with an iron fist, the haves vs have-nots divide is worse, our hero/ine must escape to a better life" - but it excels in that they really are just trying to get to a better life rather than take down the corrupt rulers.

And that ending? Pretty damn good indeed.

This was better than some science-fi blockbusters with famous actors... The dystopian world is not new, but the protagonists are a mother and her daughter. Never seen. Their relationship, their decisions are different.

The story is interesting... and not ordinary: the escape doesn't go has we all expected and this opened the door to an end that we couldn't guess. This was the weakest part and that's why I didn't give the maximum of stars. But it is difficult nowadays to find surprising endings, all has already been used.

The actors are all convincing, and not overplaying.

No useless scenes.

I really enjoyed it. At the time of writing this the majority of votes are 1 star. Just like this film shows how society is flawed in many ways so is the logic in people giving this 1 star. Sure it's a story of a depressing fictional reality but the emotional journey it takes you on really made me enjoy this film. So I do not understand why people voted this down. I give it a solid 9 stars and I rarely give out 9 stars. This is amongst my favorite films I have seen in a long time. The ending is a good ending which deserves more than 1 star alone. Often times I won't even bother with films below 5 stars - mostly having a flawed story or low budget. This film is far better than the Dual which I also quite enjoyed, the acting is good, the film doesn't feel like a low budget b-grade. I can't really say much more without giving away spoilers but I would recommend this film as a great dystopian sci-fi. Maybe not Mad Max action but certainly not a film worth missing. Who would have the brains the daughter has in one of the scenes with "the doctor". That's as much as I will say but I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Reminded me a bit of the film "In Time"

This was a great movie. I enjoyed how it focused on a relatable mother and daughter relationship. Beautifully captured, well written and great performance by all. Well done! I was impressed by the production value. I'm normally not a fan of sci fi movies or dystopian type of movies but this one I was intrigued and kept interested in the story. Rooting for the mother and daughter. Super creative way of handling a post pandemic world, handling government overreach with the decisions we make as a society, the love we have for our loved ones and what we would do for them. Overall, I enjoyed it and would watch again.

This film felt more like a Lifetime TV movie trying to enter the sci-fi genre. Conceptually and visually, it had tons of promise. Although not revolutionary to the genre, the idea was a good one, and the sets and location shots fit the theme perfectly.

But where it really missed the mark was in the sloppy screenplay and mostly cheesy dialogue. Some of the cast's dialogue were smh moments that seemed to come from the Lifetime dialogue handbook. The narrative was all over the place and was riddled with many plot and technical issues.

The casting and performances were decent for the most part, but you can tell they lacked much needed cast direction from Orsi Nagypal. Many lines and facial expressions didn't match the scenes, and the actors seemed lost in how to say and how to do their scenes properly.

Even the score went from a working "tense sci-fi" theme to some loud overbearing Lifetime themed score. It just felt off, and that's really too bad because I wanted to like this more, and not have to cringe and shake my head at some scenes.

This film would've been more enjoyable had all the cheesy scenes and dialogue cut out, and edited properly into an enjoyable short-film sci-fi. It's a generous 5/10 from me, mostly for the decent cinematography and sets/location themes, and to the cast who I'm sure tried their best with what they had to work with.