A movie about a problem that have major concerns in our society deserves a better movie.
If you put Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn in any film, I will watch it, even if it's about the reverberations that pedophilia has years down the line. The easiest way to describe Una is that it is essentially Before Sunset... if Ethan Hawke had seduced Julie Delpy when she was 13 in Before Sunrise. It's a very uncomfortable film at points, yet Mara and Mendelsohn's tortured interplay is hard to pull away from. And to make this more uncomfortable, it adds some layers of vulnerability, remorse, regret, and anguish to our villain. It's not an easy or fun watch, but it is a film I really appreciated since it tackled a topic that is often very difficult to confront.
I believe he did it again.
Talky drama can't quite escape its stage origins. Interesting to watch, disturbing by nature, but ultimately inconclusive. Perhaps that's the point.
Review by BronsonBlockedParent2022-06-05T03:14:53Z
Una could be the sequel to Lolita, only in a different universe. This is every bit an indie drama: it deals with taboo subject matter, it's slow, it's 99% dialog, and it doesn't have a satisfying ending.
The movie is an adaptation of a stage play - Blackbird. Having never seen the play, I can't compare the two, yet the movie has the confined feeling of a play, since it mostly takes place in one location.
Here is where I think the movie really suffers: Una - our titular character - confronting Ray at work - while he's working - forces the story into two directions; the plot thread of Ray's work life keeps derailing his story with Una - much in the same way Una was shoving her issues into Ray's day. Two movies for the price of one? Uh, not really. I didn't care about Ray's work like. The movie is titled Una, we follow Una, it's her story, I want to see that. Just the thought that this interaction could have been set anywhere else, where the two characters could talk without being interrupted would have resulted in a better film overall. I love Rooney Mara's movies, and I could watch her in anything - especially when she has nude scenes, like here. The movie has much to say, and it's sad that it never gets a chance to really say it. There are several films that touch on this subject - statutory rape, to put it in legal terms - but this is the only one I have seen that asks what happens in the aftermath, and years later.
So, yeah, an okay movie, but totally a missed opportunity. Una should have been challenging: asking tough questions, and not spoon-feeding easy answers.