The Guilty (2021)

     Last night while sitting in my dorm with my roommate, we were looking for a movie to watch to fall asleep to. We wanted to watch something new and exciting, so we Googled the best movies on Netflix. Usually, I will watch a couple minutes of whatever is on then fall asleep, although The Guilty kept me up all night to see the entertaining end. The guilty (2021), by director Antoine Fuqua introduced a modern style of movie to me which I really enjoyed. The main protagonist Joe Baylor, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, was a police detective who was demoted to 911 operator. Based in California, you can see the forest fires in the background and all over the police station. Throughout the entirety of the film, he is answering distress calls, which he did not seem too fond of. As he nonchalantly answers another phone call, he hears a very distressed woman kidnapped and thrown into the back of the car. He then spends the rest of the film trying to save this woman dealing with her day of reckoning.      

    What I really appreciated about this film was the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal was the only person in the film. He did such an incredible job at creating immensely intense scenes that kept me engaged throughout the entire film. He masters the ability to scream and whisper in a way to make you listen very well. Jake is also good at using his body to create drama! He would move his arms around in precise ways to make his words more emphasized and bolded, which was remarkably interesting. I really want to pay attention to that in other movies to see if other actors do it as well.  

     Finally, we spoke about interesting camera angles in class this week, so I really wanted to pay attention to what this movie did to create interesting effects. The camera work was incredible, which really emphasized the scene and created intensity. The camera would stay still when there were quiet scenes, although they would shake and vibrate when Jake was screaming or crying. While I have paid attention to camera angles before, this camera work was dramatically better and more noticeable than other movies I have watched in the past. I would recommend this movie to anyone that wants an interesting, entertaining, and exciting night on the couch.