The first part of the film depicts the rise of a scammer, while the second part portrays her remorse and anguish. However, there isn’t a clear redemption, and there is too little focus on the outcomes of her scam and the consequences it has on people. There’s a real risk that films like this glorify what’s wrong. It’s a shame.
"Fingernails" is a dramedy film that starts from a "utopian" premise. In the film's reality, couples have their compatibility measured through a gruesome test in which they each have to pluck a fingernail (hence the title of the film). The possible results are only 3: no affinity, one of them is in love, both are in love. In a world somehow governed by sentimental relationships continuously ready to be judged by the efficient and ineffable system, an impossible love story is born.
To me, one of the best surprises of the year. The film's concept is truly intriguing and never banal. Throughout its duration, you keep questioning the system on which the evaluation leading to the "Love Certificate" is based. As you witness these love trials that potential lovers undergo to improve their chances of a 100% positive test result, you realize how eerie and simultaneously a possible future reality it is. In an ever gamified world continually put to the test by social media, watching the two characters yearn for each other and seek each other's gaze is genuinely heartwarming.
The performances are top-notch, featuring three internationally acclaimed actors, and it shows. A pleasant surprise, a film that makes you reflect on how we experience our relationships but also, in general, on how we navigate our relationship with technology. If you enjoyed "Her," you'll like this one.
The movie has a very serious problem that is tied to the nature of the genre, its immortality: it's full of dialogues that explain, explain, and explain... it feels more like an essay than a film. Horror, on the other hand, never dies because it's a boundless machine: it doesn't need to explain. Other genres, from westerns to musicals to war films, have to justify their narratives and "close" them credibly. Horror doesn't. It has no limits and no obligations. Cronenberg deserves credit for resetting monsters, zombies, and vampires and bringing horror inside us, into our bodies. But in cinema, it would be better to make a spectacle of it, not philosophy.
Fascinating, gothic, and dark. The performances of the two actors make it worth watching (especially Pattinson), but you have to be a fan of films that "reveal little" to fully appreciate it. In my opinion, it has been described a bit too enthusiastically as a masterpiece, but it's certainly an original film to be watched on a stormy winter night.
Certainly, the set design and costumes are unique. The story is simple but impactful, yet it's unclear what this film truly is. It's not a thriller or a western, not a noir; it's a comedy that tries to do a bit of everything. It's original but slow-paced and not very engaging in the way it all unfolds.
