Reptile & Flora and Son – Movie Reviews
Reptile, a Netflix film, a homicide detective with a troubled past examines a murder that has more layers than expected. You have to be in the mood for a story like this, but I enjoyed the darkness behind everything and the characters. The intensity would ramp up at times, which made things more intriguing and fit in with the darkness of the story. The soundtrack also helped intensify the scenes and the slow burn.
Benicio Del Toro is an actor that I underappreciate, and then I watch one of his movies and am reminded how awesome he is all the time. It will be difficult to have someone take on the role he did as Detective Tom. I even found his chemistry with his wife Judy (Alicia Silverstone) the balance his character needed to get things off his chest.
I still don’t understand why Justin Timberlake approaches roles like this sometimes. I think he has grown into being a really good actor. However, when he takes on roles where he tries to deliver a soft-spoken and high-voice approach, I just don’t understand why. I don’t know if he struggles with mysterious roles or if it’s a personal choice he makes. He employs this approach in this movie, and I believe it detracts from an otherwise good performance.
At times the story didn’t flesh out aspects of the story and gave a sense that things were just jumping around on screen. The payoff for a murder mystery felt a little flatter than I was hoping it could deliver. This mystery movie had a nice throwback feel that we don’t get a lot of these days. The performances were great and matched the slow burn/intensity of the story. I feel like the ending felt a little flatter than I was hoping for, but there are still moments that are gripping enough to give this a watch.
‘Reptile’ Rating – 3.5/5
A single mother in Ireland takes guitar lessons in an attempt to connect with her son. Eve Hewson has been hovering for a while for a big-time role, and this is it. I have thought for years that she has been ready to be a breakout star, and this movie was the role. I thought she fit in perfectly as the younger mother with no filter on what she would say to anyone. Throw in some singing chops, like her father Bono, and this seemed to come together nicely for her.
Flora’s (Hewson) relationship with her son, her ex and guitar teacher each had their moments that draw you into the movie. Solid performances throughout the film that give a sense of cringe, awkwardness, comedy and heart. For all of the relationships in the movie, you are left at the point to wonder where on earth the story was taking you. It is advertised as a mother and son movie. However, it takes you all over the place with Flora immediately flirting with her guitar teacher, her ex, playing music and then bringing in her son. The kicker was that the conclusion left so many doors open that you aren’t sure what to think.
For the base of Flora and Son being the music, I couldn’t really connect with most of it. There were some aspects that I like, but nothing that left me wanting to chase down the soundtrack immediately after watching. Movies like this that evolve around video chats and technology need to follow some basic rules. The first and biggest aspect was guitar teacher Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) doing his Eddie Vedder impression with somehow the greatest producing webcam of all time.
All it would take was a simple filter to make it look like he was online but things liked that just didn’t fit. Also, having Flora being able to see herself on screen and maybe using headphones in public places while on camera. However, I would say the aspects where it seemed like he was sitting beside Flora seemed nice. Flora and Son was a brief 97 minutes and really should have been a bit longer. The messiness of Flora’s relationships needed to grow on screen to allow the ending to really hit home.
However, there wasn’t enough development along with strong enough music to really connect with me. I do feel like the performances were great, especially from the breakout Eve Hewson. I think this was Apple’s next shot at recreating a form of Coda but this just wasn’t enough for me.
‘Flora and Son’ Rating – 3/5
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