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View Full Version : Octavio Is Dead! (Sook-Yin Lee)



Stay Puft
01-19-2019, 05:21 AM
OCTAVIO IS DEAD!
Dir. Sook-Yin Lee

https://i.imgur.com/hXdCTgM.jpg

IMDb page (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6320482/)

Stay Puft
01-19-2019, 05:27 AM
Last one, I think. Not sure if this ever travelled south of the border, or if Sook-Yin Lee's brand carries the same signifiers for y'all. (I grew up watching her on TV as a MuchMusic VJ, an inescapable image/persona that she, as an artist, remains entangled with in my mind.)

This movie has a lot of good ideas, but it takes forever to get to them. It drags its feet for what feels like the first half of the film. The film also seems to set up some plot threads but then suddenly abandons them (there's a bit with a stalker that suggests something larger and supernatural but then the movie forgets any of this ever happened). The ending is abrupt, too. There's even a double fake-out, with the movie cutting to black, but then resuming, and suddenly cutting to black again. I sat there for a minute, scratching my head. The ending itself makes sense, but I just don't think it was built up properly. It didn't hit me, emotionally.

Basically, the movie could have used a lot more development. It has some good moments, and about 30 minutes or so of story that was actually pretty cool. I liked the themes, and I liked what Sook-Yin Lee was doing here. Not a complete success but I dug it enough to vote a mild yay.