Review of I Care A Lot
midlandsmovies • February 26, 2021
I Care a Lot (2021) Dir. J Blakeson
From Marla Singer in Fight Club to Gremlins 2’s red-headed no-nonsense career woman, what is it with take-no-shit cinematic “Marla’s”? In I Care A Lot we get another to add to the list. We have Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) running a con putting the elderly into care homes as she reaps the profits of the sale of their houses and possessions.
With a number of professionals in on the scam too, she chooses her next “victim” (a not-enough-seen Dianne Wiest as Jennifer Peterson) but this gentle lady is hiding a two-faced secret of her own.
I Care A Lot has a very tough beginning though. To be serious for a moment, my own mother was reluctantly put into a care home and I found the exploitation of vulnerable people almost unwatchable. The jet-black comedy becomes so harsh that there is literally no-one to root for a fair chunk. Pike is amazing in the role though and is truly one of the nastiest villains I’ve seen on screen for a while. Think her character in Gone Girl was bad? You ain’t see nothing.
After some hidden diamonds are later discovered, it is slowly revealed that Jennifer has a connection with a Mafia boss (Peter Dinklage) who locks horns, legally and very much illegally, with Marla whose cruel guardianship leads to violent encounters between them
The film does settle down however and for want of a better word, ‘lightens up’. The film switches allegiances and attempts to push audiences towards some kind of sympathy to Marla’s predicament with the increasing threats directed against her. However, not once did I empathise and so the film settles into a place where neither protagonist is really relatable.
But Pike delivers fully as the lead and maintains her current run of form supporting her spiky and excellent performance in A Private War.
Without spoilers I think the ending is the only way this film could have gone (and I guessed it 30 mins before the conclusion) but that’s not to say the film isn’t a riveting ride with tension, drama and great character drama all rolled into one.
It tags on a bit of political commentary to the proceedings but in reality, a fair chunk of the film sits firmly as a satirical thriller that amps up all its aspects to the extreme to get an audience’s emotions boiling with rage.
With likeable actors playing unlikeable people, I Care A Lot has lots to recommend it, all held together by Pike’s forceful and accomplished take on this low-life law-breaker.
★★★★
Michael Sales
Leicester Square didn’t host one particular UK premiere back in the 90s - but the city of Leicester in the Midlands sure as hell did. Holy cinema, Batman!
I’ve mentioned this before in reviews for Midlands Movies; reviewing low budget, independently made films requires a change in mindset. There’s a level of compromise, with allowances made for the odd rough-around-the-edges performance or some shaky effects work.
After an unexpected stroke, former Judge ‘Stefan’ is forced into an assisted living facility. Whilst there, he is forced into sadistic encounters with another psychopathic resident and his vicious puppet companion.
Filmmakers would kill for a scene as recognisable as the exploding head scene early into Scanners. A moment so sudden and exciting that it was shown out-of-context in place of a trailer in some regions, and has been a horror touchstone, even for those who haven’t seen the film.