You know a movie is going to be good when its opening is a Rosamund Pike’s monologue. J Blakeson’s The Fifths Wave didn’t inspire me to follow his career, but judging filmmakers by their work on big studio budget films is not fair. If there’s something the superhero movies Hollywood drama taught us, is that filmmakers rarely get creative freedoms on these projects. I Care A Lot is clearly not a movie that suffers from a lack of creative control, it goes against the boring norm of setting heroes as protagonists, instead, they choose a villain for the role. And not just any villains, but elderly abusers who get their power from feminism. The setup is perfect, Pike does what she does best, makes us fight the urge to slap her through the screen. Her character Marla is one of the vilest products of capitalism to ever grace the small screen. She’s greedy, motivated, and willing to destroy anyone who stands in her way. And then comes the one who dares to, an ex mafia leader looking to free his mother from her clutches using any means necessary. The film starts with a deep dive into Marla, but the real character study comes much later. I Care A Lot takes its time to not only flesh out the plot but the characters as well. There’s always a new twist to drive the story forward. It doesn’t have a hero for you to root for, so it’s easy to find yourself completely immersed in the chaos on screen. Cinematography wise the films were stunning, as stunning as Marla’s suites. The color palette was bright and lively, which is a nice contrast to the plot. The gripping sound design is just the cherry on top.
To prevent this review from turning to poetry waxing about Pike’s performance, I’m going to move on to the rest of the cast. Dianne Wiest’s character was severely underused, but from what we got it was pretty epic. Peter Dinklage really stands out and delivers his best performance to date, I would love to see him do more roles like this one. Chris Messina sold his shady lawyer role while Eiza González struggled to outperform the props.
I Care A Lot is a film that will make you uncomfortable because nobody wants to face reality in the make-believe world of cinema. These types of movies don’t get made a lot anymore because most studios are afraid of the backlash, even the ending is made as an apology for the movie itself. However, despite what you may think this film glorifies, we have to admit it is very rare for women to be portrayed this way in Hollywood. Villains that happen to be women are either the winy jealous spout, anti-heroes or haunted by tragic past but end up getting redemption at the end. Marla is not one of those, she owns her nature. She admits to using whatever tools she has, including feminism, to reach her goals. She is vile, and that’s a character we need to see more of.
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