I Care a Lot (2020) was a thriller I enjoyed a lot, as the film had a powerful protagonist and antagonist characters with no giveaways. The plot was about a greedy, dishonest person exploiting the old for her benefit with the help of the corrupt in the state departments that were meant to protect the vulnerable. The film is available on Netflix.

Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) has the doctors, judges, and the police eating out of her hand, with the help of the ecosystem she identifies the wealthy old who are alone or having a troubled relationship with their children. She exploits legal loopholes to get court guardianship over the old’s assets and locks them for life in care centers with state help. Watching the first twenty minutes on how easily she is getting this done was scary and makes us contemplate what will our own old life look like if something like were to happen due to health issues. Once Marla tries this trick with one rich lonely lady Jennifer Peterson, her problems start. She seems to have put her finger in a snake pit – did Marla win this round or Jennifer who the court has rendered legally invalid?

This film is not a court battle but of ruthlessness and greed fighting over one another. Rosamund Pike has played the smart, bold, cunning businesswoman role of Marla Grayson eloquently, she deserves the Golden Globe Award for which she has been nominated. She is supported adequately, if not a little less by Peter Dinklage – his character suffers from being a typical one with expected responses.

The screenplay was not flawless. It is inconceivable that Marla can keep repeating her trick with scores of people, the system especially the judiciary had to be completely rotten for something like that to happen, which I doubt is in a democracy like the USA. The way Marla achieves an upper hand in the climax looks pretty naive as her opponents were no pushovers.

I Care a Lot, directed by J Blakeson.

I Care a Lot, directed by J Blakeson.

Categorized in:

Tagged in:

, , , ,