In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.
I'll be honest, I mainly watched this due to it's convenient showing time at the cinema. I wasn't expecting much, but the film was definitely surprising in the way that it had a really strange and powerful effect on the audience. The children act features a few well known actors and combines this with a strange and unique plot that grips right from the beginning. But as you know, a combination of a unique plot and well known actors doesn't always end well. Is that the case here or is the Jury out on this one? Here are my thoughts.
When I said that the film grips the audience right from the beginning I really wasn't joking, the film started in a really strange and confusing, yet interesting and unique manner to introduce us to some fairly normal characters. By using a constant piano track throughout the beginning scene, and assisted by a variety of cool camera shots, we were able to get an idea of the types of characters that were in the film, as well as their lifestyles they lived very well from the beginning. The use of short and conversational dialogue also really helped to introduce the audience to the main character in the film too, and it just really helped to introduce us not only to her but also to the plot of the film. The use of the background piano had an amazing impact, it just seemed to really add to the scenes that it was in, and even though some of the scenes had barely any dialogue, the use of a background audio really helped to keep each and every scene interesting and most importantly, engaging. This is really because it established the mood and really helped to re-enforce the character types, it matched the locations and scenes really well and just added a sense of realism and elegance to the film. It didn't take long for the film to expose the audience to its first major change either, the camera angles allowed us to 'follow' Fiona into the courtroom, which is where she spent most of her time. Now, this may not sound that interesting, but the main scenes were at her house and the courtroom. The combination of these two locations was amazingly well done and really made the film interesting and enjoyable. This was because the film showed Fiona at work, throughout some really intriguing cases. Then at the other location. Her home. Here we were shown another side of her, this 'work/life' balance was executed really nicely and again, was really crucial to the success of the film. These constant switches weren't overdone either, we were shown a really nice proportion of work to life scenes and they were both equally as interesting and exciting as the other. I really seemed to find that the court cases were so interesting and were just done really well, and these were definitely my favourite scenes within the film. I'm not sure if it was the passionate and authentic dialogue that made these scenes so interesting or just the ideas and themes that it showed, but these scenes were so good and evoked a variety of different emotions. What's even better is that the film didn't just focus on one main event in the story line either. We were introduced to the plot through a variety of different cases, each one feeling more realistic and authentic than the last, and they all really managed to evoke a variety of emotions from both the audience and characters.
The characters emotions were realistic and mainly matched that of the audience, from sad scenes during the case of the child with leukemia to happiness when he was initially saved, the film pressed these emotions really hard and made a real connection with the audience in this sense. the authenticity of these scenes just really made the emotional aspect of the film seem real and involving of the audience. But the courtroom scenes weren't the only ones that were especially effective at evoking an emotion from the audience, it was a great combination to see the work and home scenes just to help the audience get a better idea of who the characters were both in a professional and normal environment. It really helped us to get to know the characters and how they reacted in different places. Affairs, arguments and passionate musical scenes were all really effective elements at creating an emotional response from the audience, even a simple act such as slamming the door had a strong effect of showing the strain on the characters marriage and these scenes just seemed to flow really smoothly and nicely. Not only were they engaging though, but they were exciting and passion oozed out of the characters, they all seemed enjoyable and really seemed to have a strong effect on the audience and the plot of the film, for different reasons. All of the characters were portrayed well and even though they weren't relatable to many, it really helped to add to the realism of the film, especially when the film gave us 'exclusive access' by showing us the background of cases and what went on behind the scenes. The main element of a film is its plot, without a successful and strong plot, no film will be a success. Thankfully, that wasn't the case here, the plot in this film was really unique and was executed really well. It was really engaging throughout and it evoked a variety of emotions really well at perfect times. It was really emotionally engaging which helped to get the audience involved as an 'extra character' throughout - by allowing us to see many different sides of every character and scene. The emotional connection that this film had with the audience was simply amazing. But the plot was really well explained too, it was simple and basic and this really helped to keep it easy to understand when the film went in depth and really allowed us to delve into the plot much further. Which was hugely supported by the dialogue in the film, there were parts of the film where the dialogue was not only engaging an realistic but it was exciting and really helped to add a sense of life and interest into fairly general scenes. The dialogue, when it was good, was amazing, and helped to add another dimension to the film, it wasn't cheesy, boring or even predictable, for most places anyways. The ending of the film was the most powerful and thought evoking section of the film for sure though, it was powerful, emotional and as all great films do, it really made you think about and question the film afterwards. It definitely had a long lasting effect, and this I love from a film!
Ok, so I like the film. A lot! But even the most thought provoking and engaging films have their issues, however hard you have to look. The main issue that I had with this film was the addition of a few confusing, and questionable scenes and additions to the plot that seemed a little ridiculous at times. I wasn't sure as to the relevance of the affair that happened throughout the film, it was really hyped up and referenced throughout but I couldn't find the importance of it and for me, it just seemed to distract me a little from the main storyline. Some of the switches between characters were also slightly confusing towards the beginning, especially at that time in the film where we weren't too comfortable with the characters or the plot, and we were thrown around a little which again, seemed a little unnecessary and confusing.
The characters were really good yes, but they weren't relatable at all in the sense of their emotional relationships with each other. Many scenes were crying out for a much more dramatic and gripping set of emotions, but many of these scenes were let down by the weak emotional reactions that were produced. In this sense, the characters weren't relatable because they had strange personalities that made them different from the audience but approachable at the same time, this I also found a little confusing. The film didn't seem to have been put together very well at the beginning at all, it felt like all of the scenes had just been thrown together and it definitely didn't flow smoothly as the start. Like I mentioned, the scenes didn't really relate to each other and we were thrown around from character to character in a variety of locations, without understanding the relevance and importance of these scenes, this was a big miss in the film for sure.
Overall, I would give this film an 8.5. Not only were the plot and dialogue executed amazingly well, but the film had a long lasting impact and seemed to evoke a few emotions really nicely. Keeping the audience intrigued and excited throughout. This film did have a few issues such as choosing relevant scenes and making sure that some of the beginning scenes actually linked together, but overall, this film had such a great impact that I just really enjoyed it and I can safely say that I am glad it was on when it was! I definitely enjoy this aspect of having an unlimited card, films such as this I definitely wouldn't have seen before, but having an unlimited card has really helped me to broaden my horizons. I say this because I had heard nothing about this film before, so I really didn't know what to expect, but I can confidently say that I am impressed. I would definitely recommend watching this film, regardless of whether you like drama films or not, it is sure to excite!
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing the review and indeed watching the film! Have a lovely day! :)
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