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Hi guys it's Debbie and today I would like to speak about "Prisoners" directed
by Denis Villeneuve. Villeneuve has recently started to become one of the most
acclaimed directors of our generation and that is thanks to some of his works
such as "Enemy", his recent film "Arrival", which nearly reached 10 Oscar
nominations and also in October he will be giving us the highly awaited "Blade
Runner 2049". "Prisoners" is Villeneuve's 2013 film and it stars Jake Gyllenhaal,
one of my favourite actors, alongside Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis, Paul Dano and many
others. "Prisoners" is the story of two very young girls which go
mysteriously missing from their house in Pennsylvania one afternoon. The only odd
thing about this afternoon is the presence of an RV parked outside on the
road in which the two girls were playing just hours before the disappearance and
the driver's reluctance to speak to the police.
Unfortunately the RV doesn't contain any evidence and throughout the plot the
case thickens, proving that even a simple, rural, apparently safe community can
become the scene of an intense manhunt. Hugh Jackman portrays the furious (and
often arrogant) father which refuses to stay put and wait until the system has
found his daughter and decides to take the matter in his own hands, doing
everything possible, including going against the law. In general "Prisoners"
encourages us to try and mentally cross that line between what is legally
right and what we personally consider right. As a matter of fact alongside the
main investigation, other important topics are fury and
revenge. The film also portrays the two points of view on how to handle a
situation of this nature: Hugh Jackman's character is the skeptical guy who
doesn't consider the police as trustworthy as he would like to and
immediately takes the matter in his own hands, becoming hated by everybody
surrounding him. While Terrence Howard and Viola Davis portray the more
cautious couple, patiently waiting for the police to finish their job and also
they appear quite reluctant to take any personal rushed decisions. The film in
general leaves us free to judge, as it also shows the downside of the
characters' choices, of how victims can become perpetrators. So I feel safe to
say that this film is a very creepy analysis of which point
the human mind is willing to reach. If you enjoyed watching films like "Mystic
River", "Zodiac" "Gone Girl" or even "Changeling", I would definitely recommend watching
"Prisoners". It is an awesome, engaging blend of a suspense-filled crime drama
film, with some hints of pure horror. Jake Gyllenhaal did an awesome job at
portraying the lead detective on the case and watching this film made me
realise why I appreciate him so much as an actor. He completely managed to
combine the anger he had towards this case, to who took those girls, the fury in not
being able to find a clue, of the frustration of having to deal with
unbearable stress and uncooperative colleagues, but at the same time trying
to not show this to the public. Also his character at first appears very limited
and simple: your local police detective on a new case. But he isn't like the
others, he isn't like his colleagues. There's something about him, something
about his nearly punk, rebellious attitude and appearance that makes us
believe that something happened in his past,
there is something he's not telling us. He is never shown at home with his
family or friends, he doesn't speak that much if not necessary, never revealing
too much about himself. This is why I really liked Jake Gyllenhaal's
performance in "End of Watch", in which he also portrayed a member of the police
which had to deal with a series of contrasting issues. In general Jake
Gyllenhaal has always been a master at bringing on screen a wide variety of
emotions and a rich and vast range of personalities and minds. From "Donnie
Darko" nearly twenty years ago to the more recent "Enemy", "Nightcrawler", "Nocturnal
Animals". And in nearly all of these films he managed to contain the personality...
...within the character. What I'm trying to say is that in our daily life we don't
usually work out another person's personality and what's going through
their mind thanks to a narrating voiceover. On the contrary we go through
the mind's incredible maze observing a variety of behaviours, gestures,
expressions. And that's what Gyllenhaal is able to do at best: we meet his
characters, we discover them through vast set of details and peculiar features. As
a matter of fact I was quite surprised in meeting his loud and extravagant
character in "Okja", with an appearance and attitude
which spoke for his role. "Okja" also featured Paul Dano, which gave us the
awesome portrayal of Alex, the main suspect in "Prisoners". Often growing up we
heard so many stories about bad people, we were warned to stay away from odd
strangers and nasty men. And in this film you can really tell that everything in
Alex's character is built upon what society would consider.... the scary guy, on
wanting us to hate Alex. So the film plays a lot on disturbing us, on making
us feel uncomfortable. If I really had to point out a flaw without revealing too
much, there were some points in the second half of the film, towards the end,
in which the plot was giving us some quite obvious clues and I would have
preferred it to remain more obscure right until the end. But except for this
detail everything else was absolutely stunning and it really makes me look
forward for the upcoming "Blade Runner". Let me know about your thoughts
regarding "Prisoners" with a comment here below. I hope you enjoyed this video, if
you did remember to subscribe for more movie-related content. See you soon, bye!