20140224: Drama Review--Concussion

Concussion

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 96 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 1,147 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 75% on the meter; 56% liked it from 1,106 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 47,085 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Stacie Passon.
6. Starring: Robin Wiegert as Abby Ableman, Johnathan Tchaikovsky as Justin, Maggie Siff as Sam Bennet, Ben Shenkman as Graham Bennet, Daniel London as Evan, Janel Moloney as Pru, Julie Fain Lawrence as Kate Abelman.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Abby gets a baseball to the head; hence the title.  At age 42, this event, plus general mid-life crisis, seems like a reason to change up her life significantly.


2. She provisions a new apartment that she shares (non-overlapping time slots) with Justin.  She finds that his girlfriend is paying for college by arranging prostitutes for lesbians.  Abby tries a prostitute arranged through the girlfriend.  The prostitute has good things to say about Abby; after several talks with Justin, he agrees to help get her clients.


3. Not unexpectedly, some of the client matchups work out well, others not.  After a time, she cuts out Justin and works with his girlfriend directly.  Clients come and go.


4. Since her relationship with Justin has deteriorated somewhat, she and Justin decide to sell it.


5. At the end of the day, does her choice of activities make anything better?  Is anything cleared up?  Is there any resolution that arises?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Entitled lesbian tries prostitution to fix her emotional constipation.
2. Final rating: 1/10


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautiful.


2. Sound: 9/10 No particular problems.


3. Acting: 0/10 There are lots of head shots of entitled people who are ever so satisfied with themselves.  This endless, pointless, distracting stream of body English rather defeats attempts at acting in this muddy vanity film by a first-time auteur.  The lead, Robin Weigert, was the worst.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Oi, tiresome.  Lots of kvetching, PC rants, and people who cannot connect with themselves.  The kvetching and the rants come from the self-loathing.  Does this emotional constipation ever get unblocked?  No.