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O2 Review : Nayanthara skillfully shoulders O2, an okayish survival thriller

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User of Moves 652 days ago

For the message it gives to people 

vetrisselvis 652 days ago

Maram valarpom adhirkalathai kapom

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Plant more trees. Beautiful message children should see this for how to take care of future.

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Decent thriller

User Shukkur 721 days ago

Disappointed. Not up to the mark.Waste of time.Why nayanthara n what is her contribution <br/>Any other artist would have performed her role

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O2 movie review: Nayanthara’s film is a decent survival thriller uplifted by good performances and cinematography

O2 movie review: the nayanthara-starrer survival thriller from debutant director gs viknesh is merely good when it had the ingredients to be great..

If there’s something that sets Nayanthara apart from her counterparts, it’s her willingness to experiment with projects where she does all the heavy lifting. From time to time, she has spearheaded many women-centric films that have not only helped her chart her own path but has also given major breaks to several first-time filmmakers. With her latest outing O2, a survival thriller that’s predominantly set inside a bus, she gives debutant filmmaker GS Viknesh an opportunity to leave his mark, and he does a decent job. O2 has its share of flaws and loopholes in logic, but it’s an attempt you won’t write-off so easily. Also read: O2 teaser: Nayanthara’s film is a race against time survival thriller set inside a bus

Nayanthara plays Pavitra, a single mom to her 8-year-old son Veera, who is suffering from a rare disease (cystic fibrosis) that doesn’t allow him to breathe normally. This means he’s always on oxygen support. Pavitra’s last hope to see her son get well is to make him undergo a surgery in Cochin. The film revolves around a bunch of people, including Pavitra and her son, who get trapped in a landslide while on their way to Cochin from Coimbatore in a bus.

For a survival thriller that mostly takes place inside a bus, the film works to a large extent. It manages to create a claustrophobic mood and tension with the aid of very good cinematography. The writing does feel predictable and silly at times but the film makes it up with very good writing, especially how the tension is constantly maintained when the passengers start losing control over themselves when they begin to run out of oxygen. Most of the action that takes place inside the bus and the way it's shot does keep the viewer engaged for most part.

The performances are also a highlight of the movie. Nayanthara and child actor Rithvik as the mother-son duo have great chemistry and the latter performs very confidently, making a solid impact in crucial scenes. It’s the character of Veera that allows audiences to sympathize with the characters trapped in an unimaginable situation even more. Cinematography by Tamizh Azhagan plays a very key role in keeping the visuals gripping right till the end.

In the end, O2 is a film that is good but could have been great. It had the right ingredients but suffered in parts due to flaws in writing. But owing to its performances and camera work, it still ends up as a good attempt by a first-time filmmaker.

Director: GS Viknesh

Cast: Nayanthara, Rithvik, Barath Neelakantan

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'O2' movie review: An experimental film with uneven thrills

Love is in the air, as the saying goes, and it takes on a whole new meaning in the film O2 , directed by the duo Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj. Here, love and science intertwine, and the story implies that love is omnipresent. Within the confines of a hospital-based narrative, this film explores the emotional core of its characters and the human connections, with some thriller elements thrown in. In other words, amidst the clinical sterility of science, elements of a medical thriller and romance intertwine in O2 . Can all of it infuse its audience with a revitalising pulse? Let us find out.

O2 holds sentimental value as it was the last script endorsed and approved by Puneeth Rajkumar for his production house. The film, classifiable under a unique genre for Kannada cinema that focuses on medical research, revolves around Dr Shraddha Nayak (Ashika Ranganath), an MD in Anesthesiology. Alongside three other doctors—Shrushti (Siri Ravikumar), Dev (Praveen Tej), and Venky (Puneeth BA)—Shraddha conducts extensive research on a drug injection known as O2 that is said to revive the dead. Despite opposition from the senior doctor (Prakash Belawadi), they proceed to experiment on a patient, but this first attempt fails.

Amidst this, we are given insight into Shraddha’s own medical issues. Despite being a doctor, she fears conveying death to family members due to her past childhood trauma surrounding her father’s untimely demise. Since then, she has been on medication for depression.

We are introduced to Osho (Raghav Nayak), whose voice is first established on the radio, and we discover a connection between him and Shraddha. Osho is an aspiring musician who dreams of entering the Berkeley music studio. The kind, charming, and romantic Osho is head over heels in love with Shraddha, whom he fondly calls ‘Emergency’. What starts as friendship quickly evolves into a romantic relationship, within a few weeks of which Osho proposes marriage to her by presenting her with an ancestral finger ring. However, Shraddha, who is committed to her career as a doctor, hesitates to commit to a relationship. Meanwhile, Dev harbours feelings for Shraddha, although he has never expressed them.

Returning to the experiment, the doctors get an opportunity to test the O2 drug on a second patient, an experiment that is impeded by an accident. When the doctors feel they are having a breakthrough, a fire breaks out in the ICU, and while the three other doctors, including Shraddha, manage to escape, Dev is trapped with the patient. This mishap changes the lives of the three, especially Dev, who goes through treatment. Meanwhile, Shraddha takes it upon herself to prove the effectiveness of O2 , and successfully so. However, the interesting aspect of the narrative lies in how she takes forward her connection with Osho, Dev, and herself, as well as her reaction upon discovering certain truths that leave the film with an open ending.

O2 is an experimental Kannada film from Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj, who aim to introduce a rare genre combining medical, love and content-oriented themes. Despite the inclusion of several elements in this medical thriller, the straightforward narrative makes it predictable and somewhat kills the suspense. The film initially establishes the characters, focusing on father-daughter relationships and follows with the lives of doctors. The primary characters have dual shades to their personalities, and the director explores themes of astral travel, which comes across as unique.

Ashika Ranganath, in a refreshingly new role, is the heart and soul of O2 . She embodies the fears and commitments of a doctor and subtly handles her romantic track in the film. Her portrayal deviates from a typical commercial heroine, allowing room for a neat performance in line with the intricacies of the character. On the other hand, besides directing, Raghav Nayak appears in the film as Osho/ Omkar. His character explains love, contrasting with the theme of death, which becomes the moral of the story. Osho’s philosophy of living one day at a time is well portrayed by Nayak. Praveen Tej portrays a doctor navigating life post-incident with a well-balanced performance, while Siri Ravikumar shines in her limited screen time. Puneeth BA adds a touch of humour to the film, which also has Prakash Belawadi and Gopal Krishna Deshpande in supporting roles.

Aside from the story and the various characters involved, the music is a highlight of O2 . Credit goes to music director Vivan Radhakrishna as well as singer Sanjith Hegde, who lends a soulful voice to most of the songs. Special mentions should also be made to lyricist Jayanth Kaikini and the music director himself for penning some meaningful lines for the various tracks. The cinematography by Naveen Kumar S seamlessly complements the story’s movements, whether the location is a hospital, a beach, or amidst green environments.

While O2 stands as a good attempt by the directorial duo to explore a unique blend of a medical thriller and romance with heartfelt storytelling, the straightforward narrative may make some aspects predictable. However, it shines through its well-developed characters, engaging performances, and soul-stirring music. As Shraddha’s journey intertwines with the themes of love, loss, and self-discovery, viewers are prompted to contemplate the intricacies of life and the significance of human connections.

Director: Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj

Cast: Ashika Ranganath, RAghav Nayak, Praveen Tej, Siri Ravi Kumar, Puneeth Baa, and Prakash Belawadi

Rating : 3/5

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O2 MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

O2 is a survival drama film written and directed by GS Viknesh and produced by SR Prabhu and SR Prakash Babu under the banner Dream Warrior Pictures. The film stars Nayanthara and Rithvik in the lead roles while Barath Neelakantan, Rishikanth and others play crucial supporting roles. The film has music by Vishal Chandrasekar and cinematography by Thamizh A Azhagan.

Veera (Rithvik) is a kid with a medical issue in his lungs, which makes it difficult for him to breathe without an Oxygen tank. His mother Parvathy (Nayanthara) has to take him to Cochin so that his lung disease is treated. During the journey, their bus gets stuck underground due to a landslide. How they manage to survive nature's onslaught forms the rest of the film.

O2 starts off with an animation sequence where a bird flies across all sources of pollution such as factories, dumpyards, roads with heavy traffic and drops a small plant in a flower pot. And then a small kid starts taking care of it on a daily basis. This makes us all think that the film is based on a message to save nature.

But barring an explanation by Nayanthara at the start of the film, there seems to be little logical connection between the film and the message it wants to convey. The screenplay lags at many places, mainly due to the majority of the story is happening inside a bus. This doesn't mean that the film is bland in any sense.

The film solely relies on Nayanthara and Rithvik's brilliant performances. Their chemistry is superb and is probably the only thing that keeps us invested in the proceedings. Barath Neelakantan plays the role of a menacing police officer whose character comes across as irritating, but his performance is solid.

The music by Vishal Chandrasekhar supports the visual that is choas and intense. The cinematography and editing by Thamizh Azhagan and RK Selva respectively, create a bit of suspense and tension when the civilians are trapped under the rocks. The VFX could have been better as well.

Overall, director Viknesh has tried to take the famous philosophical 'Lever and Trolley' question and make a film having it as the base. There are good moments at regular intervals and the film has good potential as well. However, the engagement could have been better so that the potential of the script is completely tapped. Nevertheless, the film is a harmless one time watch with a message on protecting the environment.

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REVIEW RATING EXPLANATION

பிரேக்கிங் சினிமா செய்திகள், திரை விமர்சனம், பாடல் விமர்சனம், ஃபோட்டோ கேலரி, பாக்ஸ் ஆபிஸ் செய்திகள், ஸ்லைடு ஷோ, போன்ற பல்வேறு சுவாரஸியமான தகவல்களை தமிழில் படிக்க இங்கு கிளிக் செய்யவும்      

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பிரபல ஓடிடியில் நேரடியாக ரிலீஸ் ஆகும் நயன்தாராவின் ‘O2’… வெளியான சென்சார் தகவல்

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O2 Movie Review (2022)

O2 movie review.

O2 Movie Cast & Crew

Lady Superstar Nayanthara's O2 is the latest direct OTT release in Tamil cinema and the film is out on the Disney Hotstar platform. O2, a survival thriller, is directed by debutant GS Viknesh and produced by Dream Warrior Pictures. 

STORY:  A private Omni bus, carrying passengers traveling from Coimbatore to Cochin, meets with an accident due to a tragic landslide. The bus falls into a trap, eventually putting the lives of the passengers in danger. The doors get locked and the bus is covered by rocks and mud, leaving no space for air to enter. All of them will now have to fight it out for oxygen to survive. To what extent do the passengers go to save themselves and were they successfully rescued is what O2 is about. 

SCREENPLAY, DIALOGUES, & DIRECTION:  Debutant filmmaker GS Viknesh looks to be a person with clarity and his filmmaking style and presentation are suggestive of it. The premise is also quite interesting, with the potential to be converted into celluloid. The writing has a fair share of well-thought-out moments that hold your attention. Survival thrillers usually tend to keep the audiences on the edge of their seats, biting their nails and rooting for the characters. O2 also tried to leave that impact but fell short to an extent. The execution is where the film probably lost its fizz as you don't get to feel the tension as a viewer. Director Viknesh doesn't leave the shot to stay for a few more seconds, and instead, he jumps forward not leaving any space for the emotions to sync in. We see a character undergo a chaotic situation, but there's no space for us to feel the emotion. The moments are built nicely in an organic fashion, but the closure isn’t convincing. If the film had been packed with more nail-biting moments, we would have felt a connection to the characters. With a more effective execution, O2 would have been a terrific thriller, but what we see is just a decent drama. Despite understanding the idea behind the scene, the climax definitely lacks logic. Writer Viknesh could have arrived at the endpoint in an even more convincing fashion.  

CAST:  Nayanthara anchors O2 and takes it forward with a very intense and emotional performance that holds you till the end. As an emotional mother, she brings to the table her experience and delivers her part neatly. Master Rithvik, as her son, scores well with his innocent and admirable act. Director Barath Neelakantan is quite a revelation as he plays the evil baddie with conviction, making the audiences feel hatred towards him. Aadukalam Murugadoss, RNR Manohar, Rishikesh, Tharani, and others play their respective parts well.  

TECHNICAL:  Thamizh A Azhagan’s cinematography is one of the highlights of O2 which lends solid support in aiding Viknesh’s vision. The story is set inside a trapped bus and you don’t have the scope to explore the outside world. Instead, Thamizh provides impressive work with his camera. Vishal Chandrashekar’s music has a fair share of hits and misses. As already stated, the edit could have been smoother. There were also a few lip-sync issues in Nayanthara’s initial sequences. For a film that deals with natural calamities, the VFX should have been a step ahead to let the audience feel the impact. The graphics look tacky and needed more finesse. 

So?   Yes, there are shortcomings, but O2 can be watched for its interesting plotline. 

Verdict: O2 has a suspenseful premise, but falls short of logic and engagement!

Galatta Rating: ( 2.5 /5.0 )

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O2 Movie Review: A Captivating Medical Thriller with Strong Performances – CineSparsh

O2, the latest offering from PRK Productions, stands out as a testament to the production house’s commitment to fostering fresh and innovative storytelling. Led by the talented Ashika Ranganath, this medical thriller promises a captivating journey through the intricate web of life, death, and the human psyche. With a compelling storyline, nuanced characters, and commendable performances, O2 is a cinematic gem that deserves to be experienced on the big screen.

Plot Summary:

At the heart of O2 is the story of Dr. Shraddha Nayak, a brilliant and ambitious young doctor who is on the cusp of a groundbreaking medical discovery. As she tirelessly works to validate her revolutionary trials on an intravenous drug designed to delay death, she finds herself embroiled in a whirlwind of ethical dilemmas, professional challenges, and personal struggles. The film skillfully weaves together high-stakes medical drama with introspective moments, creating a narrative that is as thought-provoking as it is riveting.

Script and Direction:

The script of O2 is undeniably one of its strongest assets. Written with precision and flair, the narrative unfolds in a non-linear fashion, keeping the audience on their toes throughout. Directors Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj deserve accolades for their adept handling of such a complex subject matter. They have managed to craft a story that is both engaging and emotionally resonant, striking a fine balance between thrilling suspense and heartfelt drama.

Performances:

Ashika Ranganath delivers a tour de force performance as Dr. Shraddha Nayak. Her portrayal of a dedicated and driven doctor grappling with the intricacies of her profession and personal life is nothing short of mesmerizing. Newcomer Raghav Nayak impresses with his confident screen presence and nuanced performance, hinting at a promising future in the industry. Supporting actors Praveen Tej, Gopal Krishna Deshpande, and Prakash Belawadi also shine in their respective roles, adding depth and authenticity to the ensemble cast.

Positive Aspects:

• Intriguing Script: The script of O2 is undeniably one of its strongest assets. It unfolds in a non-linear fashion, keeping the audience engaged and guessing throughout.
• Strong Performances: Ashika Ranganath delivers a standout performance as Dr. Shraddha Nayak, ably supported by a talented ensemble cast that includes Raghav Nayak, Praveen Tej, Gopal Krishna Deshpande, and Prakash Belawadi.
• Thought-Provoking Themes: The film explores a range of complex themes, including the dichotomy between belief in spirit sciences and medical sciences, mortality, and the human condition, offering audiences plenty to ponder upon.

Negative Aspects:

• Inconsistent Cinematography: While Naveen Kumar S’s cinematography is mostly commendable, there are moments where it feels slightly inconsistent, detracting from the overall visual continuity.
• Uneven Visual Effects: The computer graphics, although ambitious, occasionally lack the finesse required to seamlessly blend with the live-action sequences, diminishing the impact of some crucial scenes.

Technical Aspects:

While the cinematography by Naveen Kumar S is mostly commendable, capturing the essence of the narrative with its visual storytelling, there are moments where it feels slightly inconsistent, failing to maintain the desired visual continuity. The computer graphics, although ambitious, occasionally lack the finesse required to seamlessly blend with the live-action sequences. However, the music and sound design by Vivan Radhakrishna are a revelation, elevating the film’s emotional impact and adding another layer of depth to the storytelling.

O2 is a refreshing and ambitious addition to the Kannada film industry, heralding a new era of original and innovative storytelling. While it is not without its minor flaws, the film’s compelling storyline, strong performances, and thought-provoking themes make it a must-watch for cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike. The promising directorial debut of Prashanth Raj and Raghav Nayak, coupled with the stellar cast led by Ashika Ranganath, sets a promising precedent for the future of Kannada cinema. Don’t miss out on this cinematic experience; catch O2 in cinemas and support the spirit of creative exploration and storytelling.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A gripping narrative of a child prodigy who eyes the impossible as a doctor to give a fresh breath of life to life. A mesmerizing tale of ambition, sacrifice and the delicate balance between... Read all A gripping narrative of a child prodigy who eyes the impossible as a doctor to give a fresh breath of life to life. A mesmerizing tale of ambition, sacrifice and the delicate balance between professional success and personal redemption. A gripping narrative of a child prodigy who eyes the impossible as a doctor to give a fresh breath of life to life. A mesmerizing tale of ambition, sacrifice and the delicate balance between professional success and personal redemption.

• Prashanth Raj
• Ashika Ranganath
• Praveen Tej
• Raghava Nayak
• 23 User reviews

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• Soundtracks Nashey Nashey Written by Vivan Radhakrishna Performed by Vishwanath Acharya, Vivan Radhakrishna, Aditya Naik , Raghav Nayak

User reviews 23

• haroldsimmons-26161
• Apr 24, 2024
• April 19, 2024 (India)
• PRK Productions
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• Runtime 1 hour 45 minutes

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O2 Movie Review

• June 17, 2022
• 4 minutes read

Nayanthara starrer O2, directed by GS Viknesh and produced by Dream Warrior Pictures SR Prakash Babu & SR Prabhu is getting premiered tonight on Disney+ Hotstar.

On an unexpected turn, when a bus commuting its passengers from Coimbatore to Cochin gets trapped inside a landslide, a mother (Nayanthara) must not only survive the situation but battle against the notorious cop (Barath Neelakandan), who wants to grab the oxygen cylinder from her ailing 8-yr old son (Ritvik), who cannot survive even few seconds without it due to severe lung disorder.

There are three substantial reasons that O2 kept us awaited over its release. The first one is Nayanthara, whose screen presence in these visual promos assured us that she has something substantial to deliver. The second factor is the production house Dream Warrior Pictures which consistently churns out neat content-driven movies including its recent outing Taanakkaran. The third is the making style and the story backdrop, which looked something new to the Tamil movie industry.

Okay! If these were brimming in you as expectations, let us analyze the movie based on these aspects. Yeah! Nayanthara shines as a stellar performer. Even in movies like Aramm, her performance was good, but she didn’t have so much scope as other characters too had their play emphasized. However, in ‘O2’, we find her giving the best in every single scene. Moreover, her appearance as a lovely mother and her combination with the child artiste Viknesh is very convincing. When it comes to Dream Warrior Pictures, they are far-famed for cherry-picking debutants with good ideas, nurturing, fine-tuning, and bringing out a decent output. In this aspect, it looks like a slight disappointment as many scenes skip the logical quotients. Technology has advanced a lot, and when there are many more options to know about the minute-to-minute happenings about a bus on commutation, it’s a little illogical to see the dramatic events that revolve around this premise. Everything happens on predictions, assumptions, and coincidence. Say, for instance, Sha Raa reporting about Nayanthara and her son’s disappearance is acceptable, but, a co-passenger, who steps out to smoke cigarettes, misses the bus, and then becomes a major reason to doubt the accident is a pure illogical element. When there is a solid reason to exploit the story and take it forward, why do they have to come up with an additional one, which hampers down the intensity. The next one is the promising visual element, we saw in the trailers. Yes, the cinematography and art department has done a commendable job. The others, especially Barath Neelakandan have done a remarkable job. Late actors RNR Manohar, Aadukalam Murugadoss, and others have delivered decent performances.

Now getting on with some minuses, the first thing that would strike your attention would be the screenplay. The running length is 2Hrs 15 Mins approximately. A thriller inside a limited space and characters really needs lots of drama for this duration. However, things look repeated, and audiences soon start getting bored with it. A crisp 90-100 minutes version would have made it decent and appealing. On the other end, the climax totally ruins the entire show. It looks like the writers would have gone through several ending options, and since, couldn’t find the perfect one, chose this illogical aspect. We don’t want to reveal the scene as it would become a spoiler.

On the whole, O2 has some good and racy moments, decent performances by actors, and lots of effort from the technical team. But a good, intact and engrossing screenplay would have made it an impressive show.

Verdict: O2 has appreciable moments, but ends up as a mediocre flick at the end.

Rating: 2.5/5, related post.

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O2 Movie Review & Ratings | Hit or Flop?

O2 Movie Review : Lady Superstar Nayanthara is known for lady-oriented movies as she has done many female-centric films now she entered into digital space and her latest flick called O2 series has released today June 17, 2022, on Disney+Hotstar with Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam audios, the trailer has raised the expectations so without any delay lets get to know whether the series is worth watching or not.

Table of Contents

Veera(Rithvik) who can’t breathe normally as we do as his mother tried a lot for his treatment and a doctor told her that he can get treatment in Cochi as she decided to go to Cochi from Coimboter at night, unfortunately, that night has changed her life, where the bus goes missing and polices are starts finding the bus, finally, what happened to that bus is the rest of the tale.

Cast & Crew

O2, a film starring Nayanthara, Ritvik, and others, was directed by GS Viknesh, with cinematography by Thamizh A Azhagan, music by Vishal Chandrasekar, and production by SR Prakash Babu and SR Prabhu under the name of Dream Warrior Pictures. The film was funded by Disney + Hotstar.

Movie Verdict

O2 is an emotional thriller as the point looks so exciting and also makers have partially succeded in making the film, the film starts off quite normal with introducing Nayantahra’a world and his son’s problem as the film is linear narration I found it that was a drawback for the film, the film gets bored in starting but once the bus went missing the films gets interesting.

The bus sequences are designed so well as they hooked the audience to watch the film because initially, the conflict looks normal but it slowly turned out to be an imaginable conflict, in the procedings the passengers start suffering from Oxegen, and eventually they start killing each other for survival and those scenes came out quite well but if we look at whole movie its ended with a norma thriller.

The emotions have worked quite well and Nayanthara, as usual, did a fantastic job as she brilliantly showcased the struggle and suffering of a mother for her son, and the rest of the cast did their best.

GS Viknesh has succeeded in engaging the audience from start to end we can see his finest writing in the film and he has written some brilliant scenes that can bring out the emotions so well as all the aspects land well but still we feel something is missing. despite the fact the Bus sequence is one the best sequence because there are two emotions we get to see on is thrilling passengers are fights to survive and another one is mother emotion as she tries to save her son and both emotions land well.

Technically O2 is just okay the VFX could have been better, Thamizh A Azhagan’s cinematography is not up to the mark, survival thrillers need more dark visuals, then only it creates some interest watch the film and Vishal Chandrasekar has done a decent job by creating a thrilling background score and rest of the technical departments did well.

Finally, O2 is a decent survival thriller to watch, and the film currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

Rating: 3/5

Bhargav Reddy

I am a passionate content writer and critic with extensive experience in the entertainment industry. I write reviews, opinion pieces, feature stories, and interviews for way2ott.com. With a Bachelor's degree in Media Studies from IIT Bombay, I have the knowledge to analyze media texts critically and provide insightful commentary on film, television series, web series' etc.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, i used to be funny.

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On stage, comedians use their words to make their audience laugh, gasp, or think—sometimes simultaneously. But what happens when a joke is used against a comedian? It’s one of the many thorny ideas Ally Pankiw ’s bold feature debut “I Used to Be Funny” wrestles with over the course of its emotional story. 

When we first meet Sam ( Rachel Sennott ), she’s in a very serious funk, barely making it to the shower, withdrawn from the limelight of her local comedy club, and her good friends and concerned roommates Paige ( Sabrina Jalees ) and Philip ( Caleb Hearon ) are covering her rent. Why she is in such a state is revealed through a breadcrumb trail of flashbacks and passing conversations. We learn that Sam was also once an au pair for a troubled young teen named Brooke ( Olga Petsa ), whose mother is dying, her aunt Jill ( Dani Kind ) can only help so much, and her father Cameron ( Jason Jones ) is tied up with work. Sam steps into her life as a kind of supportive older sister, but that too is talked about in the past tense. Sam used to be funny, but no longer. What happened to her? 

Written and directed by Pankiw, Sam’s story weaves between her present emotional turmoil and the outgoing version of herself who’s funny and caring. Pankiw carefully constructs her narrative, doling out just enough morsels of information to keep the audience intrigued in the mystery without getting in its characters' way. We see Sam and Brooke grow close then apart in Pankiw’s fractured timeline, which lends further meaning to each previous interaction when seen together. Their shared moments together are the highlight of “I Used to Be Funny,” so the contrasts in their dynamic before and after an unspoken incident make the loss of their camaraderie feel even more pronounced. 

Pankiw’s movie does more than just follow the adventures of a babysitter/stand-up comedian and her young but troubled charge. It soon becomes an exploration of trauma and its effect on one’s creativity and their relationships. As this mystery seeps into every aspect of Sam’s life, like water flooding a home, it leaves behind both visible and invisible damage in its wake. The violence she experiences ripples out to affect those she cares for in unintentional ways. Pankiw explores the issue of Sam’s words being used against her, with her own jokes becoming weapons against their creator in a court, a reminder that the conversations sparked by #MeToo are still far from over. In trying to reclaim her own narrative, Sam must work even harder to hold onto her comedic self and the relationships that matter most to her lest they too are destroyed. 

To bring Sam’s arc to life, Sennott essentially plays two characters, one before and one after the event. In one portion of the movie, she’s bright, energetic, and unafraid to deliver raunchy punchlines onstage or argue over Team Jacob or Edward to make a teenager smile. In the other half of the movie, Sennot looks worn down by the world; her shoulders are shrugged as if to protect herself, and she walks the apartment like a ghost of the outgoing personality we see in brief flashbacks. Although her previous roles in movies like “ Shiva Baby ,” “ Bodies Bodies Bodies ,” and “ Bottoms ” showcased her comedic chops, Sennott proves herself every bit as sharp as a dramatic actress. 

Many of the funniest comedians are not afraid to dig deep, expose their vulnerable side, and just when most of us would break out the waterworks to a therapist, build up to some insightful punchline, shifting the tone from tragedy to comedy and inviting us to laugh at the absurdity of life and our shared human experiences. 

“I Used to Be Funny” works through its themes in a thought-provoking way, structuring the story more like a mystery to be solved for its main character to move forward and touching on issues of consent and relationships along the way. Pankiw and Sennott bring Sam’s story to life with an inventive yet sensitive approach, creating a sympathetic portrait of someone learning to cope with the tragedies of life and embrace their funny side despite everything.

Monica Castillo

Monica Castillo is a critic, journalist, programmer, and curator based in New York City. She is the Senior Film Programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center and a contributor to  RogerEbert.com .

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I Used to Be Funny (2024)

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Liam Gallagher at the O2 review: a heartfelt celebration of Oasis' enduring power

A nniversary tours have become big business. But they don’t come much bigger than Liam Gallagher playing Oasis ’ generation-defining debut album Definitely Maybe in full.

At the first of four sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, it was clear just how much care Gallagher had put into these gigs. As well as recreating the album cover onstage with inflatable flamingos and a flickering television set, a six-piece band performed alongside a trio of backing vocalists to add new flair to those rumbling rock ‘n’ roll classics.

As well as the album in full, fans were treated to era-specific deep cuts, demos and b-sides. There was nothing from Gallagher’s celebrated solo career, and no easy crowd pleasers like Wonderwall either.

Leaning into the warmth of the occasion, Gallagher even put aside a decade of squabbling and seemingly dedicated the dreamy Half The World Away to his brother Noel, “one of the greatest songwriters ever”.

There was a heavy sense of nostalgia to the evening with a majority of the crowd eager to relive their youth. There were plenty of people who weren’t even alive when Definitely Maybe was released as well though.

Fathers and sons giddily screamed the lyrics to Rock & Roll Star to each other, while Liam’s son Gene opened the show with his band Villanelle. The whole gig was a multi-generational celebration of Oasis’ enduring legacy, with Gallagher due to take the same show to the Gen-Z playground of Reading and Leeds Festival in August.

When Oasis wrote Definitely Maybe, they had everything to prove and their music was a youthful blend of swaggering confidence, wide-eyed hope and determined escapism. That gritty optimism felt just as important on Thursday night, especially with the world outside the venue feeling increasingly heavy.

However, it seemed like not everyone was ready to go as deep down memory lane as Gallagher. ”You’re a f***ing strange bunch,” he told the crowd after the riotous Cigarettes & Alcohol saw the room explode in a flurry of flung pints after a somewhat muted response to folksy b-side (It’s Good) To Be Free and rare demo Lock All The Doors. “I’m not arsed about these old tracks,” he added, not fooling anyone.

The evening ended with a trio of Oasis’ biggest hits – Supersonic, Slide Away, Live Forever – before a second encore saw Liam Gallagher take on The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus, just like the good old days.

It's hard to tell if this tour was a trial run ahead of a proper Oasis reunion, or what remains of a failed reconciliation. Either way, this heartfelt celebration of one of the greatest debut albums of all time was as beautifully rowdy as you’d hope. Same again next year for (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?

The O2, 7, 10 and 11 June; theo2.co.uk

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‘hit man’ review: richard linklater’s new netflix movie just isn’t very good.

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Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in 'Hit Man' on Netflix.

Richard Linkletter—the director of films like Dazed and Confused, School Of Rock, Bad News Bears and numerous other pop culture touchstones—has released one of his rare duds in Netflix’s new comedy-noir, Hit Man.

The film opens with a quotation from Nietzsche: “ the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! Send your ships into uncharted seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves!”

This is spoken by the film’s protagonist, Gary Johnston, during a lecture to his college philosophy class. The rest of the quotation—the part he leaves out while asking his students for its meaning—reads:

“Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge! Soon the age will be past when you could be content to live hidden in forests like shy deer! At long last the search for knowledge will reach out for its due: — it will want to rule and possess, and you with it!”

Spoilers follow.

The rest of the film is spent, haltingly and with great clumsiness, exploring this notion. That a man who has lived rather timidly, very much in the shadow of others, could shed one identity and adopt another. That this man could take his normal life, cast it aside, and rather abruptly take on the life of a criminal, suffering no consequences whatsoever for his actions. It’s an odd take on morality.

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A movie with no identity.

Linklater’s story takes several shapes. At first, I thought it was just a goofy oddball comedy in which Gary (Glen Powell) would don funny wigs and personas to catch bad guys as a fake hit man working for the police.

Gary in one of his disguises.

This was a little bit funny and entertaining, though it was clear the movie wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible in order to get us to the plot. So after little more than a montage of Gary’s undercover work, we meet Madison.

Madison is played by Adria Arjona who I previously only knew as Bix in the wonderful Star Wars series, Andor. I didn’t even recognize her at first in Hit Man, though I thought she looked familiar and not just because she reminded me a bit of a young Salma Hayek.

After convincing Madison not to go through with a hit on her husband—they hit it off and he could tell she wasn’t doing it for money or out of hate, but because she felt imprisoned by her husband and so Gary felt sorry for her—she texts him sometime later and soon they have a blooming romance built on lies. He continues to tell her that he’s Ron, a hit man, and that their relationship can only continue in secret. She finds him exciting and kind and agrees to these conditions. Ron allows Gary to shed his old self and become the confident, sexy man he always wished he could be.

And here I wonder, if it’s not a goofy comedy about a dude in wigs with funny accents, is it actually just a rom-com? Is it mostly an excuse to have Arjano dress up in sexy outfits? Because the second third of the movie sure feels that way.

Madison and Gary

Then things go wrong. Madison convinces Ron/Gary to go out dancing. They run into her abusive soon-to-be-ex-husband and there’s a confrontation. Then they run into Gary’s crooked cop co-worker, Jasper (Austin Amelio of The Walking Dead ) who recognizes Madison. Then Madison’s ex-husband tries to hire Gary—not realizing it’s him—to kill her. It’s a comedy of errors at this point.

Gary, oddly enough, doesn’t just trick the husband and have him arrested. Instead, he makes it clear who he is and the man runs off spooked. Gary warns Madison that she has to make scarce because her husband might try to kill her, but she refuses. And then her husband turns up dead, shot to death with a .38—the same type of gun Madison owns.

At this point I’m starting to wonder if we’re actually watching Linklater’s oddly colorful take on film noir. The husband had an insurance policy, you see. And Madison admits to Gary that she killed him. She’s scared. She needs his help.

Clearly—clearly!—Madison is a femme fatale using Gary to get what she wants. It’s a classic setup, only it’s been disguised by all this goofy comedy and romance stuff, and the lack of any other indications that we’re watching a film noir. But now it all adds up. Madison has been using Gary, who she must have suspected wasn’t who he said he was, or at least she figured she could play him for a sucker.

I am still convinced of this theory as the end approaches, and when Jasper shows up and blackmails them, offering his silence for a big chunk of that insurance money, all the pieces come crashing together. When Madison poisons Jasper, it’s clear that my theory is correct. She acts scared—whatever will she do? If only someone could help her!

Naturally, Gary obliges. He puts a bag over Jasper’s head, suffocating him, telling Madison that he’ll dispose of the body and make it look like a suicide. Nobody will care about a crooked, vile cop like Jasper turning up dead.

All that we need now is for Madison to double-cross Gary. Once he crossed that line, crossed the moral Rubicon and became a killer, his protection from the femme fatale is destroyed. I’ve seen Double Indemnity and plenty of other film noirs. I’ve seen how this works. He’s fallen from grace and she’s bested him. Surely, he’s next. Or he’ll wake up and she’ll be gone, leaving him with a guilty conscience and an empty bed, while she drives away into the sunset with a million bucks.

Happily Ever After

None of this happens. Instead, they get away with it. They get married and have kids and apparently nobody notices or cares or thinks that’s suspicious. No further investigation into Madison’s husband’s death apparently takes place. They don't even try to make it look like Jasper did it in order to take the heat off of them. They sit around the table with their kids telling cute stories about how they met. The end.

Ugh. I don’t think this needed to be a morality lesson, but there are some rules when you’re crafting a noir (or any good story) and this breaks them not in some clever or subversive way, but rather . . . I'm not really sure. Just to give the movie a garishly happy ending, I suppose. Treacly and cloying. We even get a final speech from Gary to his class about seizing their own identities. Carpe-friggin-diem. I suppose we can view it as irony or as some dark twist, but the guys they killed were terrible anyways, so why should we not celebrate? Madison double-crossing Gary would have at least been surprising.

Here’s the problem with such an atrocious ending: The rest of the movie was only average at best. At times it was plodding. Often it was implausible. It was rarely funny enough or steamy enough to work as a screwball comedy or a rom-com. Arjano is gorgeous and talented, and Powell is an attractive and charming guy, but they don’t have the star power to elevate such a thin script. Linklater has made some great films, but despite this one’s high critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, this isn’t one of them. The ending could have swayed me, could have convinced me that it was all a clever setup, tricking me until the last 20 minutes, with a great final twist of the knife. Instead, I was left rolling my eyes and wondering how on earth so many people thought this was a good movie.

And if this was some attempt to create a Nietzschean happy ending—where casting off the moral bonds of a weak society results in happiness and fulfilment—then I offer up this quotation from The Anti-Christ:

“The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest: asceticism becomes in them nature, need, and instinct. Difficult tasks are a privilege to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. Knowledge–a form of asceticism. They are the most venerable kind of man: that does not preclude their being the most cheerful and the kindliest.”

Nothing that Gary does in the end is hard. He does not face burdens that would crush other men. He gets away with an easy murder he didn’t even plan, bags the girl with only the tiniest friction, and lives a boring life in the suburbs. What an empty ending to an empty film, with few laughs and little else to show for it.

P.S. Yes, this is based very loosely on a true story . No, none of the twists and turns and sex that serve as the film’s plot are part of that true story. Surely a better embellishment could have been dragged out of the subject matter. How bizarre.

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‘The Watchers’ Review: Now They See You

The folk-horror genre welcomes a young new voice in the director Ishana Night Shyamalan, but she’s singing a familiar old tune.

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By Elisabeth Vincentelli

Seeing the name Shyamalan on a movie trailer leads to certain expectations: plot twists, incremental reveals that change the nature of reality, foreboding supernatural vibe. Check, check and check with “The Watchers” — even though in this case the filmmaker isn’t M. Night Shyamalan, of “The Sixth Sense” and “Split” fame, but his daughter Ishana .

After making her debut as a director on “Servant, an Apple TV+ series Ishana has moved on to features with this folk-horror tale about a troubled young woman, Mina (Dakota Fanning, fresh from a big turn in the Netflix series “Ripley” ), who finds herself stranded when her car breaks down in foreboding Irish woods while she was ferrying a parrot (you read that right) from Galway to Belfast.

Ishana is 24, and “The Watchers” shows that she truly is Jung at heart: At times the movie feels as if an eager undergraduate patched it together from the greatest hits of the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, most notably the forest as both physical and psychological place, the mirror as revelator and the presence of the double.

Fine, so this is a lofty way to say that the film is a little bit frightening and a big bit comically grandiose.

As dusk sets in, Mina is rescued from the forest’s terrifying noises and encroaching shadows by Madeline (Olwen Fouere), Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan), who live in a Brutalist house where an entire wall is a one-way mirror. This is so that every night, mysterious creatures called the Watchers can observe those who are, in effect, their prisoners; as Madeline tells Mina, whoever goes out after sunset dies. Fleeing at dawn isn’t an option because there is no escape from the forest within a day’s walk.

“The Watchers” is based on a novel by A.M. Shine (a sequel, “Stay in the Light,” comes out in October), and works best when it fully exploits the wonders of sound design to build a feeling of Dolby-enhanced dread. The technique is so effective that the jump scares feel cheap in comparison.

In theory, surveillance and night creeps make for a good scary combo, and in a nice touch the captives’ are stuck watching a DVD of a “Love Island”-like reality series. But as stifling as the atmosphere tries to be, it’s just not gripping enough that plot holes will go unnoticed, especially when the four prisoners make a major discovery that had somehow eluded them for a conveniently long time.

If we go along with the story at all, it’s thanks to Fanning, who resists the temptation of softening the edges of her stock character — a guilt-ridden young woman who hides behind a detached facade because “you wouldn’t like me if you knew the real me” — while also making the standoffish Mina worth caring for. Fanning often deploys an unsentimental reserve that’s very effective from a dramatic standpoint. Here, it provides a steady counterpoint to the predictably bananas plot. Mina may be emotionally shaky, but she turns out to be an anchor nonetheless.

The Watchers Rated PG-13 for violence and creepy Irish mythology. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. In theaters.

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