20140511: Thriller Review--Trap for Cinderella

Trap for Cinderella

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 99 minutes, thriller.
2. IMDB: 5.4/10.0 from 657 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% on the meter; 20% liked it from 129 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 4,276 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Iain Softley.
6. Starring: Tuppence Middleton as Mickey, Alexandra Roach as Do, Aneurin Barnard as Jake, Frances De La Tour as Aunt Elinor, Stanley Weber as Serge.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Mickey and Domenica meet each other after a number of years.  Do is a bank employee; Mickey is a photographer who lives as if she were rich.  Do quits her job, and they get to know each other somewhat.  They decide to get together at a house where they had common experiences as children.


2. As 'Mickey' recovers her memory, and recovers from reconstructive surgery, we switch to flashbacks of when the two had just met each other again.  Then there are further flashbacks to the estate where there was a near drowning incident when Do and Mickey were pre-teens.  Mickey was blamed for this and a subsequent event that was at least as bad.  They do not see each other for years, partly at Do's family's insistence.


3. In the depths of these flashbacks, a plot is hatched.  Will it succeed?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Fraud, deceit, and bullying aplenty; good story telling, not so much.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Mostly good, parts excellent, but sometimes in shaky camera mode, which looked horrid.


2. Sound: 3/10 Bad sound leveling.


3. Acting: 2/10 There was acting? The characters were repellant, but not engaging. I hoped the trap would spring on Cinderella so that the film would end.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Neither the pacing nor the labyrinth of flashbacks and reinterpretations were engaging.  I had a strong hope that all the main characters would be terminated with extreme prejudice.