A Good Woman is Hard to Find

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jonbly
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A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by jonbly »

8/10 - Hard going for the first half hour of life as an unemployed single mother of two. Luckily, a selection of villains start to muscle their way into the plot and things get a lot more interesting...
Alex J
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by Alex J »

Another very solid film to close the fest, with a fantastic performance from Sarah Bolger in this dark, grimy gangland thriller cum family sink drama.

Gripping and mostly realistic (although there are a few exceptions) the negatives are few - aside from some implausibilities the plot is largely straightforward and unsurprising to those familiar with genre movies. Overall though it is a very enjoyable watch. 8.5 / 10
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
valido
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by valido »

Person lives a very shitty and difficult life, then something happens that makes it even more shitty and difficult.
Amazing in the first half, very bleak and grounded and with a strong lead performance.
Then it spoils everything with a cartoonish villain and the silliest plot turns I've seen all year, basically contradicting its tone.
Spoiler:
(seriously? the kid randomly screaming "Tito" while the bad guy looking for him is casually around?)
Shame, I was enjoying it a lot.
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The Soapmaker
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by The Soapmaker »

valido wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:03 pm Then it spoils everything with a cartoonish villain and the silliest plot turns I've seen all year, basically contradicting its tone.
Spoiler:
(seriously? the kid randomly screaming "Tito" while the bad guy looking for him is casually around?)
Agreed that Edward Hogg was a bit too David Tennant as the main villain. And they really should have re-thought that moment in your spoiler, what a clanger. It should've had a sound effect going "DOINK".
But they didn't spoil the film for me. A solid thriller and a pretty good choice for the final film, you don't want to end with something which will divide the audience too much.
leytonrocks
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by leytonrocks »

The Soapmaker wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:27 am
valido wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:03 pm Then it spoils everything with a cartoonish villain and the silliest plot turns I've seen all year, basically contradicting its tone.
Spoiler:
(seriously? the kid randomly screaming "Tito" while the bad guy looking for him is casually around?)
Agreed that Edward Hogg was a bit too David Tennant as the main villain. And they really should have re-thought that moment in your spoiler, what a clanger. It should've had a sound effect going "DOINK".
But they didn't spoil the film for me. A solid thriller and a pretty good choice for the final film, you don't want to end with something which will divide the audience too much.
I enjoyed his pedantry and the different accent from everyone else gave him an other worldly quality in the context of the movie
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by ChrisReynolds »

Sarah Bolger's performance carries the film to a large extent in one of many great performances that were something of a theme this festival (her acting wasn't Oscar-worthy, though, that's just Frightfest hype). Solid for the first half, although there are occasional plot conveniences to keep the story going, in the second half it fell apart: a quirky crime lord obsessed with grammar appears, who seems to have wandered in from a Guy Ritchie film, and he's magically always exactly where the script requires him to be. There's also a straw man supermarket security guard who exists so Sarah can outwit him in an idiotic way to show that her character has gained confidence. And didn't the writer mention in the introduction he'd only done a single draft of the script, like it was something to be proud of? A shame, as some of the direction of the tension and violence was good. Not the worst film to end the festival with, but compared to previous closers like Climax and Train to Busan, this falls short.
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Re: A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Post by TheDukeAbides »

Bit of a comparison to "A Lonely Place to Die" as a festival closer.

A strong cast and performances, even budget Sean Harris was entertaining if in a twee way and it cracked on at a good enough pace and was about the right length.

I found myself caring enough about the good and hating the bad for it to be absorbing as a piece though I can't help feel it had a certain BBC drama vibe going on.
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