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A Young Man's Future [A Nice Quiet Life]

What a wasted opportunity!! This was the first thought that came to my mind after I finished watching the film. The one person who should immediately be fired is the casting director, followed very closely by the director, who couldn’t see what was going on. I feel so sad and disappointed when something that could have been so wonderfully fantastic ends u being so cheap and terrible to watch.

The story is based in a college where Jeremy lives with his partner Elliott for the past 2 years. However, Jeremy has had enough of betrayals and mistreatment by his partner and he decides to break-up. Very next instant we find him moving in with Scott, who he had met just a few days back. A charming young man, Scott genuinely likes and care for Jeremy. The relationship is going fine till its time to meet parents. When Scott’s father comes to meet the couple, he is very visibly unhappy and disapproves of their relationship. Thankfully Jeremy’s parents are much more positive but shock comes when Scott starts behaving weird and ultimately being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Thankfully Scott agrees for a proper treatment and Jeremy wants to be there every step of the way for his love. His parents are equally supportive till there is a point where financially and logistically its not possible for Jeremy to take care of Scott. Scott’s father takes him to take care but after a few months Scott runs away and becomes dangerous to the community. Jaded by life and circumstances, Jeremy gets back with Elliott, who now together are looking for Scott everywhere in town. They find him but find it very hard to convince Scott to get medical attention. Ultimately he is admitted into a hospital and the film ends with Jeremy handing a pen to Scott hoping that it will reignite his passion for Maths in him and will get better.

So if you read the above synopsis, you really feel that there is so much potential but ultimately everything depends upon execution. The film was so badly directed, that I can go on and on finding faults in the film; lot more than positives. Firstly for a subject like this, there has to be a crazy chemistry between the leads; which is clearly missing between either of the couples. The acting by supporting cast is terrible. Both sets of parents are just awful and there is absolutely no explanation given for their odd behaviour. Why does Scott have estranged relation with his father and why won’t he talk to Jeremy about it? (Maybe his disease has some origin there). Jeremy’s parents are all good till suddenly his mother shows up saying things are not ok financially. They look and act totally like strangers than a couple. They are both terrible. The pace of the film was odd. Sometime sit felt it was being stretched beyond a point while they zipped through the illness so fast without delving deeper into the causes. And what kind of college were these guys studying in? I never saw any other student walking in the campus, or apartments or parks besides these 3. And as far as I know , most students are really poor, but here , our protagonists live in fancy houses and have money to drink wine pretty much every day. C’mmon now!! The only saving grace in this film was Jeremy. He looked pretty and acted well as the character that of confused young man who doesn’t know what to do. He has to choose between his past, his present and will he have a future. But how much can a poor guy save the film by himself. Scott was ok for what was given to him but I think his character was all over the place.

A beautiful story about two college kids who experience a terrible disease, could have been a great film in the making; however a poor screenplay, a shoddy direction and supremely bad acting makes this film a terrible watch. (3/10)

Comments

ILHiker said…
This movie is a conundrum for me. I love it because I like to see mental illness addressed in film, and I cared about the characters and the story. And yet, when I just rewatched it, I had to wonder if I was remembering the same movie because I'd built up something in my memory that didn't actually seem to be there. Your review is spot on, yet somehow even now when I try to remember the movie all the fondness I have for it colors over the actual viewing experience. Weird. I remember a non-gtm movie from the 80s I fondly recalled called "The Big Blue" that I finally got to rewatch 30 years later and I just couldn't stand it...slow movie, horrible 80s synthesizer soundrack, and the guy I remembered as so gorgeous was completely unappealing. I love to rewatch some movies, but I wish I had the knack for knowing which ones I should just happily remember instead of going back to.
Golu said…
only if our memory could help us remember all of the good stuff that we have seen, life would be so much better.
But I hear you. Also, the thing is something that you liked when it came out, sometimes doesn't hold that appeal anymore. Many films have known to not age in the right way and this is probably one of those for you.

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