directed by Marc Turtletaub
Can you imagine a film about puzzles interesting? Neither could I. But I just played it because I was too lazy to search for something more ambitious and I was too tired for something more complex than watching a person putting all the pieces together to have a picture of a dog or some other animal on their table. And I made a huge mistake, because this film is nothing like that. It’s actually horribly difficult and, if you’re not a fan of keeping women in the kitchen, incredibly frustrating. I mean, the main character is Agnes (Kelly Macdonald) who’s married to Louie (David Denman) and they have two grown sons, Ziggy (Bubba Weiler) and Gabs (Austin Abrams). She’s a typical housewife, whose life focuses on cleaning, cooking and doing absolutely nothing for herself. The film starts with a party during which Agnes doesn’t even have time to sit and relax, because she needs to serve her family and guests. Soon we realise it’s her own birthday party. Feminists all over the world are screaming right now – trust me, I got pissed off too. Anyway, one of the presents she’s got is a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. After the party, she starts working on it and it’s so enjoyable for her that she decides to get another one. At the shop, Agnes notices an advertisement saying that someone is searching for a puzzle partner. She contacts Robert (Irrfan Khan) and those two begin the preparation for a puzzle tournament. Obviously, Agnes needs to keep everything in secret, because her family definitely wouldn’t approve her new hobby. First of all, it’s such a simple story, but it intrigues a lot. The character of Agnes is living a very limited life. Her reality is just serving her family and listening to the husband. Puzzles are a way to experience something new and forget about her everyday routine. It may seem trivial for us, but for this woman it’s something meaningful. This story makes you think a lot about our lives and our roles in the society. I must say the ending is quite surprising and it also gives a lot of food for thought. The film is actually an American remake of an Argentine drama of the same title made in 2010, but I’ll share more about it in my next post.
My rating: 7/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 