Movie/TV Show Reviews:

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  Philosophical "The Riddle of Kaspar Hauser"? Or maybe a crime mystery straight from "To Kill a Mockingbird"? The screen adaptation of Delia Owens's best-selling novel resembles "Walden" ground up by pop culture, with a romantic impulse of the heart and a maudlin sigh as the main ambition. If you prefer otherwise: "Where Crayfish Sing" is a melodrama filtered by (over)sensitivity of Nicholas Sparks ("The Diary") with a small "m". From the beginning devoid of suspense, in the end ridiculously simple court detective story is only an excuse to serve romantic and ecological bonuses that Paulo Coelho would not be ashamed of. Written by Lucy Alibar ("Beasts of the Southern Lands"), the story about the union of man and nature is dressed in magical realism in a comfortable-Instagram aesthetic. Unfortunately, Instagram would not contain the excess of sentimentality and it hit the big screen. Call me a cynic and a smartass, but I just think that even escapism can be a sign of sobriety. And it certainly should have its limits. They could be determined, for example, by a slightly more nuanced characterology - which does not reduce the characters to being evil or good from the beginning to the end - or realities that do not forget about the reality from which they come. Taken from the South American 1960s, the story of an outsider unspoilt by civilization realizes a fantasy about a world where we can read the heroine's wildness only from her deer eyes. A recluse living in the bosom of nature, the complexion is polished of blemishes, and her hands have the delicacy of porcelain. In the world directed by Olivia Newman, Kya is a reflection of the idyll in which she lives by a strange coincidence. It is appropriate to ask where the rawness of nature, praised by the author of the literary prototype (a zoologist by profession), has gone. Winter is only mentioned on the screen, the twelve hours of the day are mostly golden, the swamps are predictable like a holiday postcard, and the wind exists to turn into a leaf tornado for the kissing couple inside it. Nature resembles Granny Willow from "Pocahontas"; a predator like a crocodile has little to say here. In a specific historical, geographic and social reality, race does not matter either, but a polite white beauty with an almost caricatured innocent look may turn out to be public enemy number one. Although children are abandoned here, domestic violence is the order of the day, poverty paralyzes, and the judiciary leaves much to be desired, the creators aestheticize poverty and do not want to escape aestheticization. As has been said, there is an escapist method to this, but there is also a contradiction. "Where the Crayfish Sing" is a first-person paraphrase of the meeting between the princess sleeping in the highest tower and the equally sensitive blond prince (Taylor John Smith), without whom she would not dare to expose her head to the world. Everyone has their own fantasy, especially if you like films older than cinema. And even if it is difficult to accuse the producers of going after the costs and of sloppy production, and the Hollywood cast works perfectly, the cinematography is merely nice and also conventional, the plethora of flashbacks complicate the uncomplicated, and the exaggerated, literal off-screen prose seems to forbid the viewers to think . Where crayfish sing, thoughts are sin and feelings are virtue. Who suffers from a shortage of the latter, let him rush to the cinema. However, I do not vouch for their quality.

  12/7/2022