Review of Proxy (2014) by Thomas L — 18 Aug 2014

In some ways you could say that this film's reach exceeds its grasp, but it's also an interesting character study on people, in this case two women, who seek attention to the point they would either pretend their son and husband were dead, in the case of Melanie, and, in the case of Esther, have your girlfriend knock you out with a brick and kill your unborn child.

This isn't the type of characters that you see in movies every day and, for that, I must give the movie props. This is certainly a taboo subject that I think some would be scared to shine a spotlight on.

It's an issue that most people would rather pretend doesn't exist, but it is very real. This is something very real, people seeking attention to the point that they'd be willing to purposely harm someone they love, whether it be their child, family member, significant other, in order to get attention from people.

That's sick and disturbing and it's surprising that no one, to my knowledge, has made a movie about this subject. But I don't think this movie is perfect, the narrative certainly isn't great, it goes all over the place with too many characters too focus on, and too little time, the acting isn't particularly great, and I don't think the film does a great job at creating a truly compelling story about these people.

There's so much more that could've been done with these characters than what was actually done. Getting into their psyche, explore what makes these people think these thoughts. Explore the reasoning behind their actions.

These are all things this movie doesn't do. You could say that Melanie wanted to achieve fame at the expense of her family's life, but that's about it. World's Greatest Dad, one of Robin Williams', RIP, more underrated performances, explored this theme better.

Someone using a personal tragedy to improve their position in life. Ultimately, and this is something mentioned in a review here, that the answers the film offers aren't as interesting as the questions it poses.

I agree with that completely, but I still found, at the very least, this film to be good enough to warrant a Netflix watch. It's not flawless, it's overlong with too many characters and no real narrative focus, but it's still a good movie, in my opinion, I wouldn't blame anyone who ended up hating this movie, it requires a lot of patience.

But I believe Zack Parker is a filmmaker to keep an eye out for, as he can only get better. At least you'd hope.