Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: GO TO KILL [Austin Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
The essence of hopelessness reflects in circumstance but there needs to be heart to see things through. Creating this within a comedy structure bathed in thoughts of consequence is a very fine line. In "Go To Kill", [Texas Premiere/Comedy Vanguard], newscaster turned actress Oh Jung-yeon plays her character with a sense of energy and manicness in a world that is going down the toilet. She wants to be good at some things but is ultimately not very good at anything overall. The realization that the only way to save others is to sacrifice herself is a noble one but the way her character moves it forward is with a sense of obliviousness and inevitability comes off forced. Her character, a single mom of an obese kid whose husband has been living in a vegetative state, happens upon a classmate whom she believes was going to be successful yet is still living in the same low rent housing as she is. But it turns out her old classmate has bigger problem but ultimately is plagued by certain misdirects of perception,
All these stories are reflected in the face of 4 girls [now women], all of whom started at the same point but ended up in vastly different spots in life with the same overall issues. The film could have had a "Short Cuts" vulnerability to it but is mostly played too over-the-top. As a result the timing is very shaky and at times cringeworthy. While this might have been partially on purpose it does not fare well overall. The film would seemingly be more based on its premise reflective of an action film possibly at its core but it is a mediation more on inevitability in a way. Some sequences including a former Special Forces soldier training sme of the girls has possibility but stumbles. The issue with these kind of dramedies is that it can fall into melodrama. This film does not devolve that far but it also doesn't rise above it either. Ultimately the point becomes that life goes on in whatever shape or form, even if it is not the life one expected. C
By Tim Wassberg
