February
19
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I CARE A LOT (15)
I CARE A LOT (15)
Director: J Blakeson
Runtime: 118 minutes
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Chris Messina, Macon Blair, Alicia Witt, Nicholas Logan, Damian Young, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Dianne Wiest
Synopsis: A crooked legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards meets her match when a woman she tries to swindle turns out to be more than she first appears.
URL : https://youtu.be/T7Zt bubcx_s
British writer/director J Blakeson [Gunpowder – TV mini-series (2017), The 5th Wave (2016), The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)] delivers an unnerving thriller built around a scam just credible enough to have actually happened.
Rosamund Pike [ A Private War (2018), 7 Days in Entebbe (2018), A United Kingdom (2016), Gone Girl (2014)] gives a career best performance in this black comedy and social satire.
Cool, cold, calculating and poised with shark-like self-assurance, Marla Grayson (Pike) is a professional, court-appointed guardian for dozens of elderly wards whose assets she seizes, cunningly acquiring them through dubious but legal means. It is a well-oiled racket that Marla and her business-partner and lover, Fran [Eiza González – Bloodshot (2020), Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Alita: Battle Angel (2019) use with brutal efficiency on their latest “cherry,” Jennifer Peterson [Dianne Wiest – Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)], a wealthy retiree with no living heirs or family. But when their mark turns out to have an equally shady secret of her own and connections to a volatile gangster, Marla is forced to level up in a dangerous game.
The toxic Marla is undeterred. “I don’t lose,” she tells Jennifer “I won’t lose. I’m never letting you go.” Soon the ruthless legal guardian gets entangled in a kidnapping plot, a car chase, and more in her quest to take down Jennifer just like the rest of her victims.
Peter Dinklage [Three Billboards outside Ebbing (2017) Missouri, Avengers: Infinity War (2014), Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011-19), The Station Agent (2003) convinces with his slightly over-the-top yet intriguing interpretation of a dangerous gangster.
The three flawless performances of Pike, Dinklage and Wiest are supported by the strong ensemble including an attorney sent to Marla’s office, Dean Ericson [Chris Messina – Argo (2012), Away We Go (2009 make I Care a Lot a well crafted, sleek crime caper, full of intriguing twists and turns with a great dollop of surrealism
rooted in relevant themes about the power of authority, people versus profit, control versus freedom and humanity versus bureaucracy.
J Blakeson is asking pertinent questions about the evils of capitalism and the failure of the American dream in his cleverly scripted and superbly executed toxic thriller.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Images courtesy of : STX
I
I Care A Lot: Rosamund Pike as “Martha”. Photo Cr. Seacia Pavao / Netflix
