I CARE A LOT | FILM REVIEW
Dir: J Blakeson (15, 118 mins)
An engaging, darkly comic thriller full of likeably unlikeable devious characters, I Care A Lot is diverting, twisty and full of dubious morality. Rosamund Pike stars as Maria Grayson, a lawyer with few scruples, bamboozling the system by becoming a legal guardian to the vulnerable and not-so-vulnerable for her own financial gain. Using a loophole in the system to gain access to people with dementia, or other illnesses requiring assistance, she seizes these patients’ assets for herself whilst sending her poor victims to care homes and medicated delirium as she rinses them dry.
Unfortunately, her latest target is Dianne Wiest’s Jennifer Peterson – a woman just beginning to be forgetful, and with no apparent family. When Maria gets her signed away into a care home, Jennifer’s murky past becomes evident, as her secret crime lord boss son (an excellent Peter Dinklage) decides to take action. Pike is steely, determined and unwilling to be scared off by this gangster – no matter the danger into which this places her and Fran, her partner in love and business, played by Eiza Gonzalez.
A critique of the American Dream – as long as you succeed you can screw anyone over – this is also an entertaining thriller with some unpredictable moments thanks to Pike’s bullish protagonist. The violence and threat feels real throughout, as the film dextrously tiptoes the line between comedy and drama thanks to writer/director J Blakeson. It’s also wonderful to see the excellent Wiest back on the big screen, after her brilliance in the likes of 80s hits Parenthood and Bullets Over Broadway, as the initially sweet but eventually deadly mother. The film also addresses the shame of the old in Western culture: how people over a certain age, or with illness, are perceived to have no use, unless it’s through chilling capitalism. Very much worth caring to check out.
Released on Fri 19 Feb
words KEIRON SELF