Review Of The Film Gregory Go Boom
Michael Cera stars in this intriguing and brilliant yet disturbing short film about a disabled man who attempts dating for the first time which doesn’t end well. The film shows George as an oppressed paraplegic man who feels mistreated by those around him, throughout the film the director Janicza Bravo shows the effect this has on the character through a series of events.
The first few minutes of this film you instantly understand it’s a comedy and what the aim of the film is, however as the film continues I was questioning what kind of film I was watching as the film got more intense and dramatic and felt less of a comedy. This film definitely blurs the lines of what a comedy film is, the film does have its funny moments but feels more of a drama than a comedy. Michael Cera leads the film as Gregory, He is a dark and twisted character who is clearly mistreated by those around him but he does the same to others which puts him in this uncomfortable situation that we are forced to watch. The dates Gregory has in the film show us the oppression that happens on a regular basis for the character. Because of how he is treated by the other characters you don’t know how he is going to be with people, on his dates you are shown different sides to this character depending on who he is with, you are shown him being vulnerable but you’re also shown him being rude and offensive.
Janicza Bravo directs this so brilliantly that it actually makes you feel uncomfortable for the characters involved and at times the film felt difficult to watch. Reflection I found starting this review difficult as I didn’t know the best way to get my thoughts about the film across and I was not used to this review style format. I found getting my opinions about the film in this journalistic review structure difficult to begin with as I found it challenging to not jump into an essay. Using the readings to find techniques for my review made it more daunting to write, the idea of a review is to provide an opinion for an audience to read and decide if they want to watch it. As Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis (2005) State “The primary function of the popular review is to encourage audiences to see a particular film… or stay away at all costs. ” I found it hard to force a strong opinion of you should or shouldn’t watch this film and feel as if I have just given a weigh up of good and bad points and allowed the audience to decide for themselves.
When first watching the film, I wasn’t sure how I fell about the film, my first thoughts were that it was directed really well and the acting was brilliant but overall, I didn’t know how to feel about the film. So, when beginning my review, I wrote my thoughts based off that rather than saying whether it was good or not. Maria Paramoaggiore and Tom Wallis (2005) explain how “Effective reviewers are conscious of what criteria they use to evaluate films, and they make these criteria clear to readers. In other words, readers should understand why a reviewer liked a film”.
I feel as if my opinion on the film in my review felt mixed and I didn’t give a clear enough strong opinion because that was how I felt and I didn’t know another way to get this across in my review. When starting the film, it was obvious to me it was a comedy but as the film went on I was unsure there were certainly funny moments and scenes done in the film to signify the comedy genre however as the film continued it felt very dramatic. Because of this I wasn’t sure how to review the film to a genre, I didn’t know whether to review the film as a comedy or a drama or both “Identify for yourself what common structures, themes, and stylistic techniques are associated with a particular genre. ” Timothy Corrigan, 2010: 93. I then felt unsure on how to structure my review to a genre, so I didn’t I did more of a general review and referenced both drama and comedy.
