I Do Movies Badly: The Rhythm Section
Reed Morano month(s) goes out with a whimper instead of a bang. From box office receipts to tepid creativity, there is no way to describe The Rhythm Section other than a disappointment.
Reminder that I’m taking a hiatus for March but I’ll be back with a new guest, new theme, and a wife! In the meantime, head over to my other podcast, The Cast of Cthulhu, to get your fix!
I’m nearly a year late in watching this, which means I Do Movies Badly has already come to an end (again). I agree with many of your criticisms of this movie, but the basic genre elements were enough that I still preferred it to the other two she directed. I didn’t think we were supposed to think Stephanie had an ulterior motive in her penultimate encounter with Serra, although I also agree with Ignatiy & Katie over at Film Club that there was a deficiency of the chemistry required for that scene to seem natural without such a motive. I also didn’t think she was supposed to be “soulless” by the end, she’s quite upset about what happened as a result of B carrying out a hit that she couldn’t and separates herself from him. I think we’re supposed to see it as a good thing that bad people get taken out before they can cause more harm though.
I saw a connection between this film & Meadowland in that both films are about a woman grieving the loss of a family member (although in this case it’s the entire family), and coping rather badly with the guilt. So it wasn’t quite as much of a mystery to me why Morano wanted to direct this.