Review of I Care a Lot (2021) by Kanae — 02 Mar 2021

This movie is edgy for the sake of being edgy. It reminds me of the short angsty stories 15 year olds would write in their bedrooms at 3am pretending to be mature by setting such a pessimistic tone and having the characters be cruel for the sake of being cruel.

The introduction and the first half of the movie started off good, there seems to be a lot hinting towards a plot twist, however all your expectations are subverted in the last 20 minutes of the movie in a rushed, messy clean up that is ultimately incredibly unsatisfying. There is no one for you to root for, and the movie seems to be pushing you strongly to root for Marla despite her own deplorable actions. It seems to me that it wants to send a message of the extent of exploitation of elderly, vulnerable people by the terrible healthcare system we currently have, and it has succeeded. However, I felt that this has wasted so much potential of the characters. There is so many scenes pointing towards Jennifer being such a 'well read' and 'literate' woman, so there was an expectation that perhaps she could somehow work the system from within, but that expectation is swiftly crushed when it was revealed that she is no more than a sitting duck. If this was not frustrating enough, she has further worsened her own situation in such an illogical move, which makes it all the more frustrating to watch.

The main character, Marla, honestly feels like a Mary Sue as well, especially with how the plot seems to bend over backwards to make her succeed despite all odds. >Roman was shown as a powerful man with connections (the lawyer) and men that would work for her (the henchmen, who are obviously experienced and trained) but through sheer luck was Marla able to escape almost unscathed to make a grand return and stalking Roman's driver and infiltrating the building Roman resides in, in a move that you would expect to see from a spy movie rather than an amoral businesswoman. But she succeeds, again, obviously.

This movie called itself a black comedy, a satire, but it couldn't even get it's own genre right, nor is it funny in the slightest. I watched this in a room full of people and not a single person laughed.

Not to mention how aggressively the director pandered to the entire 'female empowerment' in the movie, it is not subtle, it is directly in our faces. Normally, writers would try to 'show, not tell' but no, this movie just had to spell it out in our faces, as if it cannot be more obvious.

The acting of the supposed 'misogynist men' in the movie seems intentionally terrible as well. When Mr Feldstrom appeared in the final scenes of the movie to shoot Marla, it feels to me like there is barely any emotional weight and his script felt lame and half-hearted. This makes me think that the director is intentionally trying to dismiss the cruel things Marla has done in order to sway the audience towards her, again.

Also, having such deplorable characters be written as lesbian seems to me like a half-hearted attempt at getting us to root for them, which honestly, is a terrible move in my opinion.

All in all, a terrible movie. It might have prompted dialogue on the abuse of elderly, but it is done in such an inorganic way it certainly fit the bill of satire. Now, if only it was funny.