Review: Screwdriver

-


Official Synopsis: Taken in by a wealthy couple, (Charlie Farrell and Milly Sanders) after her sudden divorce, an isolated woman (AnnaClare Hicks) spirals into a surreal nightmare of manipulation, paranoia, and betrayal.

The first image I saw of this film is quite striking. Emily (Hicks) has her back to a wall, screwdriver in hand, her makeup smeared. How can I not wonder how she got there?

"Intention" is the word that sticks with me after watching this. None of the dialogue nor the movements on screen felt natural. It was all very intentional. Every conversation was for the viewer, not the two or three people actually having it. Everything felt staged. This appears to be director Cairo Smith's first full length feature so I won't harp on it too much. We have to start somewhere.

The production design shines. Robert and Melissa's home is immaculate. Smith has some great shots here. The actors all do very well even with the weak script. The characters are more like archetypes than people.

I expect there's going to be a ton of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss jokes on letterboxd for this film and while it didn't work for me, I hope Cairo Smith  continues to grow as a filmmaker.

Screwdriver will be available on Prime Video and VOD November 10th.

Grade: C

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 8, 2023 at 7:46 AM

    I would like to see this film..it does sound intriguing even though you don’t love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 8, 2023 at 9:01 AM

      Yes! It's definitely worth the watch to support an indie filmmaker.

      Delete
  2. thevoid99November 8, 2023 at 3:27 PM

    It's on Prime. OK then. I'll give it a look.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Batman

-
Image
Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) has quietly been trying to make a difference as The Batman in Gotham. He can't be everywhere. He works closely with Lt Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and they face a puzzling crime by a masked murderer going by The Riddler. (Paul Dano) As the stakes get higher, they realize just how deep corruption runs in Gotham.  The Batman is first and foremost a detective story. Director Matt Reeves obviously took inspiration from films like Se7en and Zodiac when he crafted this story. S e7en is one of my all time favorite films, so that worked well for me. I loved seeing Batman and Gordon work as a team. Same with Batman and Selina. (Zoe Kravitz) They ooze chemistry. As much as I love the Nolan trilogy, Christian Bale only really had good chemistry with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Here, Pattinson and Kravitz click together instantly.  I'll admit I was worried about Pattinson as Batman. His Bruce is VERY mopey, which fits with the story. My main issue with the movie,
Read more

Thursday Movie Picks: Wedding Movies

-
Image
How fitting that Wandering Through The Shelves has us start the month of June with movies about weddings. June brides are a thing, right? At least that's what people kept telling me when I got married in June. I just picked it because it was warm. To be honest, I don't like many wedding movies, so this was kind of tough, but here's a few I can tolerate. 1) Wedding Crashers This is one of my favorite comedies until the last 20 minutes or so when it falls flat on its face. But it's so hilarious and quotable before all of that, I can forgive it. Lock it up. 2) Rachel Getting Married I used this one for a pick last year but it's easily my favorite movie involving a wedding. The acting is fantastic. I 3) Corpse Bride Truth be told, I wasn't crazy about Corpse Bride, but like I said. Slim pickings in the wedding movie world for me. I'd watch this over a "classic" like My Best Friend's Wedding or Runaway Bride any day.  click th
Read more

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more