Grove City Messenger - March 7th, 2021
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PAGE 16 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - <strong>March</strong> 7, <strong>2021</strong><br />
With so many awful people living among<br />
us on this planet, it is no wonder why those<br />
who are seeking an escape through film,<br />
television, or literature shun fictionalized<br />
works that feature morally reprehensible<br />
topics or morally reprehensible characters.<br />
And while I do respect their point of view,<br />
and even agree with it to a certain extent, I<br />
also feel that those who disengage completely<br />
are shutting themselves out of<br />
opportunities for complex discourse with<br />
real-world implications or depriving themselves<br />
of immersive art through rich text<br />
and fascinating on-screen performances.<br />
For example, one such work that is currently<br />
being debated to the entertainment<br />
sphere is “I Care a Lot,” a film that touches<br />
upon the exploitation of senior citizens or<br />
those deemed “unfit in mind,” made possible<br />
by the collusion between government<br />
institutions and corporate and criminal<br />
enterprises. When it debuted last week on<br />
Netflix, it sparked a frenzied discourse as it<br />
arrived with a strange intersection of current,<br />
real-world events — one where interest<br />
in court-appointed conservatorship is at<br />
an all-time high due to articles and documentaries<br />
related to the case involving<br />
Britney Spears and one where society is<br />
reckoning with how little oversight is given<br />
to some facilities housing our country’s<br />
elders. In addition to this discourse, which<br />
has been eye-opening, informative, and<br />
enraging and depressing, the film also critiques<br />
the #GirlBoss mindset, reminding<br />
those that just because a woman is in a<br />
powerful position does not mean she is not<br />
abusing, or cannot abuse, her authority<br />
just as much as any #BoyBoss.<br />
But while “I Care a Lot” wants to delve<br />
into these topics, it does not go too far into<br />
its murky depth; instead, it prefers to skim<br />
the waters, pointing out things here and<br />
there in favor of a more entertaining and<br />
fast-paced movie. And to be sure, it is just<br />
that, but I also think it would have been<br />
better served had it remained focus on a<br />
singular plot rather than lose it halfway<br />
through for more entertainment value.<br />
In the film, the fabulous Rosamund Pike<br />
(or Amazing Amy from “Gone Girl”) plays<br />
Marla Grayson, a court-appointed<br />
guardian who specialized in elder care.<br />
Working legally through the system but<br />
with the assistance of shady doctors and<br />
nursing home executives, she finds seniors<br />
who either have no family or family members<br />
willing to take them in, puts them into<br />
an assisted living facility and proceeds to<br />
drain them of every asset they have<br />
acquired throughout their lives.<br />
Having amassed a small fortunate (but<br />
not enough, it is never enough) through her<br />
business venture, Marla and her work/nonwork<br />
partner, Fran (Eiza Gonzalez), set off<br />
to find their next mark, er, ward after their<br />
latest unexpectedly dies. Upon the recommendation<br />
of a shady doctor, they establish<br />
a route in the life path of Jennifer Peterson<br />
(the equally fabulous Dianne Wiest) who<br />
In Entertainment<br />
www.columbusmessenger.com<br />
Viewers can loathe and like the main character in “I Care a Lot”<br />
they caustically refer to as a “cherry.” A<br />
cherry, they gush to the doctor who is set to<br />
declare Jennifer as a ward due to a dubiously<br />
diagnosis of “rapid mental decline,” is<br />
someone who has no living spouse, no living<br />
children, and no living relatives to get<br />
in their way. So, with all of this information<br />
on her status, and with a healthy bank<br />
account to her name, they believe Jennifer<br />
is ripe for the picking. They soon discover<br />
they should have picked another mark.<br />
In a surprising turn of events for Marla<br />
and Fran, the whole “no living relative”<br />
turns out to be a mistake — and quite a big<br />
one. This long-held secret, or so we are led<br />
to believe at first, puts them on the path of<br />
some hardcore people, led by the fearsome<br />
Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage). At first,<br />
Roman respects their hustle and asks<br />
Marla to release Jennifer from her care<br />
immediately. Stubborn to a fault and<br />
unwilling to heed to the threats of any man<br />
(it also doesn’t help that he denied her<br />
request for millions of dollars to do so), she<br />
digs in, uncaring of anything but her need<br />
for more money and control. Later, as she<br />
is caught in their own tightly spun web, she<br />
laments that they are not playing fair. And<br />
while you hate to agree with her on anything,<br />
you kinda do from a viewer’s perspective.<br />
While Marla meets Roman, the film,<br />
once a cutting look at the shady side of<br />
elder care, turns into an adventure-thriller<br />
complete with rapid-fire montages set<br />
The Reel Deal<br />
Dedra Cordle<br />
against electro-music. It makes for a complete<br />
tonal shift and one cannot help but to<br />
think of Marla’s comment about wanting<br />
her rival to play by her rules. Just think of<br />
how great it could have been had Jennifer’s<br />
friends, all senior citizens like her, banded<br />
together to fight Marla and the system<br />
through legal and dubiously legal means.<br />
But instead of that twist, we get something<br />
altogether interesting but inconsistent<br />
with the rest of the film.<br />
But despite the complaints about the<br />
drifting plot, “I Care a Lot” is an engaging<br />
film with some terrific performances, most<br />
notable from Pike. With her sharp, blonde<br />
bob, power suits, killer heels and outward<br />
projection of false kindness, Marla is an<br />
unabashedly deceitful human, not caring<br />
about who she hurts and how it hurts them<br />
as long as she gets her slice of the sweet<br />
life. Pike plays her so subtly and serenely<br />
menacing and it is so, dare I say, fun to<br />
watch. While in the real world, you would<br />
(hopefully) loathe a person like this, but in<br />
a fictionalized setting it’s just a delight to<br />
be able to catch a performance like this and<br />
to be able read the discourse on a multifaceted<br />
character and a multi-faceted topic.<br />
Grade: B<br />
Dedra Cordle is a <strong>Messenger</strong> staff writer<br />
and columnist.<br />
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