It's hard to write a review like this, it's a small, swedish film that needs all the support it can get, yet I can't rate it higher than 4 out of 10. Why? Well, first of, to me this was a 40-60 minutes long film, stretched out to barely 90 minutes. Keep it in the water the whole film through instead. I also guess my hopes were too high because of tag lines on the poster, calling it "the best swedish thriller" and other sentences with "Best" in it.
The thing is, all the technical stuff is great, the cinematography, the sound, the music, the scenery, it was a very easy film to follow and not shaky cam or something like that, it felt like I was watching a Hollywood film at some scenes.
What drags it all down is the story. We get some flashbacks to the main characters lives as kids, some look at their daily lives with one working as a repairman/diver and the other one having a difficult relationship with her husband, none of it really matter to the story. Then there's arguing among one of the sisters and their mom, feeding their dog cigarettes (wtf?) and then for some funny reason, a stranger on the road having a flat tire that one of the sisters decides to help, even if the owner of the car already called for help. Why? To show the jack-screw that lifts the car, it will obviously have an important role later in the film... but then again, no, it doesn't. An important thing when I watch a film is that I can somehow relate to the characters or if nothing else, get some kind of reward throughout the film, something that makes me like it, but as the film went on, I just didn't care if anyone lived or died, there wasn't really any reason for why I wanted them to live - one of them have kids, the other one going travel to the Philippines next week, not enough reason for me to care. At least make the main character smart, or even smarter than the viewer, that way I can actually cheer more for her - instead I was just rolling my eyes over every new mistake she made that lead to nowhere. It's noot until the end that she does something smart, but by then I had already stopped to care.
I think another thing that would've made the film more real, would be if the main character didn't talk as much, most of the things she said was obvious and already known by the viewers without having it told to them. It just made her sound more stupid. Just look at All Is Lost (2013) another thriller about a single person in a dire situation, barely no words are said during that film and it's not any side stories or flashbacks in it. I'm sure the two lead actors are great at their jobs, but with the wrong screenplay or direction, it's just another forgettable film among others.
Oh, and then there's the dog that gets killed, was that even necessary? It would've been enough with her being bitten and barely escaping the house, but to kill the dog and leave a message? There just wasn't any reward with the house-scene. At least she could've found a jack-screw or something else to try and save her sister, instead of destroying their car any more. It just made me dislike the main character even more.
The thing is, all the technical stuff is great, the cinematography, the sound, the music, the scenery, it was a very easy film to follow and not shaky cam or something like that, it felt like I was watching a Hollywood film at some scenes.
What drags it all down is the story. We get some flashbacks to the main characters lives as kids, some look at their daily lives with one working as a repairman/diver and the other one having a difficult relationship with her husband, none of it really matter to the story. Then there's arguing among one of the sisters and their mom, feeding their dog cigarettes (wtf?) and then for some funny reason, a stranger on the road having a flat tire that one of the sisters decides to help, even if the owner of the car already called for help. Why? To show the jack-screw that lifts the car, it will obviously have an important role later in the film... but then again, no, it doesn't. An important thing when I watch a film is that I can somehow relate to the characters or if nothing else, get some kind of reward throughout the film, something that makes me like it, but as the film went on, I just didn't care if anyone lived or died, there wasn't really any reason for why I wanted them to live - one of them have kids, the other one going travel to the Philippines next week, not enough reason for me to care. At least make the main character smart, or even smarter than the viewer, that way I can actually cheer more for her - instead I was just rolling my eyes over every new mistake she made that lead to nowhere. It's noot until the end that she does something smart, but by then I had already stopped to care.
I think another thing that would've made the film more real, would be if the main character didn't talk as much, most of the things she said was obvious and already known by the viewers without having it told to them. It just made her sound more stupid. Just look at All Is Lost (2013) another thriller about a single person in a dire situation, barely no words are said during that film and it's not any side stories or flashbacks in it. I'm sure the two lead actors are great at their jobs, but with the wrong screenplay or direction, it's just another forgettable film among others.
Oh, and then there's the dog that gets killed, was that even necessary? It would've been enough with her being bitten and barely escaping the house, but to kill the dog and leave a message? There just wasn't any reward with the house-scene. At least she could've found a jack-screw or something else to try and save her sister, instead of destroying their car any more. It just made me dislike the main character even more.