Film Review - Press Play
Images courtesy of Rialto Distribution.
This is the most difficult review I will ever write. Not because of the profound impact Press Play had on me, not because of how incredibly indescribable this work of art is, nor is it because I don’t have an opinion. I certainly have an opinion, and it’s one of profound frustration.
How do you review a movie that has a complete tonal shift about halfway through without invalidating the impact of the entire first half? I don’t typically like giving spoilers to facilitate my own lack of creativity, but I am honestly at a loss for words on how else to describe it.
One thing I will critique, and heavily, is whoever was behind the IMDB blurb for this one. What in the heavens were they thinking? They did exactly what I’m trying to avoid!
So, I will try my best to make a cohesive review of a movie whose central element is not introduced until most people leave for their first toilet break. An easy place to start is that the build-up for this payoff is way too long. I finally know what it’s like to be a teacher reading a 2,000-word essay with a 1,200-word introduction. The last 800 words are good! Tantalising even! I just wish that Press Play realised quicker than I did that its own unique selling point is what brought me here, not its fake-out premise. Even with that description I am flying too close to the sun.
The last I will say on the film’s first half is that it’s like a million movies I’ve seen before. The first thing I will say about its second half is that it’s one of the most unique movies I’ve ever seen, and I literally just watched Everything Everywhere All At Once, so I deem that relatively high praise. Press Play somehow balances morbid bleakness with reliably solid humour in the most bizarre way. I knew at points after main character Laura’s life got twisted upside down that she was genuinely upset and things could barely get worse, but the circumstances and situation that she finds herself in, and is unable to avoid, simply reaches absurdity in most comically impactful ways. I will also mention that this film deals with multiple time periods and its visual clues to help distinguish where we’re at are gorgeous. The blurriest neon I’ve ever seen never got old and I just wish there was more, but again that plodding build-up really squashed the potential Press Play possessed.
And while I’m complaining here’s a two-fold:
All sense of meaning I gathered from the Laura’s progression and feedback she’d received from friends felt invalidated by a brazenly unnecessary ending, promptly ripping from me a sense of warm satisfaction I’d felt 10 minutes prior, and;
C’mon! I just looked it up and the poster and blurb spoil the mod-movie twist. I guarantee you that optimal viewing is achieved through avoiding promotional material to Press Play at all costs.
Press Play is screening in cinemas from Thursday, 28th July. For tickets and more info, click here.