Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Two mysteries created to titillate the most seasoned of “series” or movie sleuths; missing murdered children, myriad of homicidal possibilities; both infused with an appropriate modicum of barbarity, enough to stave off ennui, and most importantly, capitalize on the element of surprise.
“I See You” commences benignly with the search for a missing teen: Jon Tenney (“The Closer”, “Major Crimes”) is “Detective Greg Harper” married to “Jackie” (Helen Hunt has ironed every emotive expression from her wrinkleless countenance), his unfaithful wife and Judah Lewis, “Connor” the couple’s curmudgeonly son. Director Adam Randall and screenwriter Devon Graye concoct and control the twists and turns with a “delicate balance”; “I See You” will not gift nightmares, but cements one’s attention as the scenario satisfies as a worthy watch.
TWO & ½ STARS!!
“The Girl in the Fog”
Fans of Italian actor Toni Servillo will be kvelling with this 2017 endeavor; he has garnished countless awards with his innate, insouciant subtlety and charm; 2013’s “The Great Beauty” Servillo delineates one of the most haunting portraits of an aging Lothario searching for a landscape of refined, unsullied splendor, ever to grace the screen.
A young girl has gone missing and “Detective Vogel” (Servillo) plagued with unresolved psychological issues, is sent into the naïve Alpine village of Avechot; in a series of flashbacks, all cloaked in a hazy, foggy veil, Vogel, with intelligent prescience focuses on schoolteacher “Loris Martini” (convincing, authentic depiction by Alessio Boni”) who fervently protests his innocence; the most engrossing character is psychiatrist, “Augusto Flores” (handsome, intriguingly cunning performance by Jean Reno); riveting, circuitous swivels and curves, plunge viewers into a miasma of doubt and dithering insecurity, which undoubtedly was the aim, of writer/director Donato Carrisi. “The Girl in the Fog” resonates with Sir Walter Scott’s aphorism: “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!”
THREE & ½ STARS!!!
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