FILM REVIEWS:
BEST WISHES TO ALL (Japan 2023) **
Directed by Yûta Shimotsu
BEST WISHES TO ALL is a Japanese psychological horror film directed by Yûta Shimotsu, adapted from his award-winning short film. The story follows a young nursing student (played by Kotone Furukawa) who returns to her rural hometown to visit her grandparents. This leads to the discovery of what’s brought them happiness, a revelation that will lead her to question her choices, sanity and reality itself.
At the start of the film, the girl is asked, not once but a few times, “You are happy, right?” Therefore, one can expect that the film is about the pursuit of happiness. The film asks whether happiness is worth it despite all costs.
What begins as a warm and ‘happy’ reunion soon descends into unsettling territory as she notices increasingly bizarre behaviour from her grandparents and the local townspeople. The grandparents make pig-like grunting noises during dinner, later saying how much pigs have lived for the pleasure and cuisine of human beings. Then they say that she is the apple of their eyes, then pointing to their eyes in a very odd and disturbing way. Strange noises emanate from a locked room, and when she asks about the noise, she is told that the room is empty before being told later that there is someone else in the room.Not everything is what it seems and director Shimotsu uses the elements of mystery and audience anticipation to the best of his abilities. For example, a random old woman crossing the street tells the girl, “You young people have sacrificed so much for old people.” Then she is also told: “No matter what happens, I want you to believe in me.”
The girl’s observation of the odd behaviour is believed by a local boy, who seems to be her romantic interest, though director Shimotsu keeps the romance at bay.
But once the mystery is revealed, which is roughly at the film’s halfway mark, the film seems to go nowhere, leading to an ending in the air. But the biggest flaw is the credibility of the whole exercise. Why is the nursing student the only one not in with the happiness ploy? What about the rest of the population? There are too many unanswered questions in the hokey plot.
As far as scares are concerned, director Shimotsu resorts to jump scares, which is getting too common and annoying in horror films, especially when these are false alarms. On the plus side, the film moves on at a pace faster than those horror films that combine a slow-burn with the build-up of a scary atmosphere. The cinematography and score also contribute significantly to the film’s atmosphere. Director Shimitsu does succeed in some scary set-pieces, especially in family dinner segments.
The atmosphere of contrast between traditional and modern ways, rural and city life and the lengths to which someone would go in order to gain happiness are other issues examined in the film.
BEST WISHES TO ALL is open for streaming on Shudder Friday, June 13th.
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BLEEDING (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Andrew Bell
As the film title implies, the derivative vampire horror film is as bloody as one can expect. The subject matter also happens to be blood, which is defined in the film as an opioid harvested for the making of a drug called Dust and not as the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and other vertebrate animals, carrying oxygen to and carbon dioxide from the tissues of the body. The words on the screen inform that when users overdose on dust, it is best to avoid them as the victims are terribly contagious.
The film begins with several scenes. The first has a man going down into the basement to oversee a lady with her throat that can be seen slit. As she croaks, the title of the film BLEEDING appears on the screen. The scene is followed by a teen running away from what appears to be a shack he had broken into, and he returns to his bedroom through the window. He seeks and puts his mother to bed, before meeting with an older man who asks him to witness the shooting of an overdosed user. There is a difference between audience anticipation of what is going to happen next, creating suspense and not letting the audience on what is going on. The latter is true in the case of BLEEDING in the first 20 minutes or so, making the film quite a frustrating watch for the audience to figure out how the characters are related and how the incidents are tied together.
But on the positive side, director Bell has devised a good variation of the vampire genre by making what is basically another vampire flick to be one in which more authenticity involving blood and more human gritty matters, The film is also set in marginal North America where the characters are far away from the American dream. They appear to need to escape the American nightmare instead. The premise is elevated by the overall gritty and moody atmosphere created by director Bell.
After 30 minutes of the film’s running time, the story can be determined. The older man and the younger one are uncle and nephew. The narrative follows two teenage cousins, Sean and Eric, who become entangled in this dangerous world. After Sean's father destroys a stash of Dust intended for sale, the boys find themselves indebted to a ruthless drug dealer. In a desperate attempt to escape their predicament, they break into what they believe is an abandoned house, only to discover Sara, a young woman held captive and used as a source of vampire blood.
Director Bell is dedicated to the making of the film, which can be witnesses as one watches his film, flaws and pluses. “This is a story and issue that’s important to me and our team. These experiences shaped who we are. We set out to make something raw, powerful, and honest. We wanted to tell you a story about vampires, but show that the real monsters were there all along, preying on the young, feeding off the people that trusted them most.” These are the words of Andrew Bell, writer/director.
BLEEDING is available on Screambox + VOD beginning Tuesday, June 10th. (Review was embargoed till June 9th)
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CHEERS TO LIFE (Viva a Vida) (Brazil 2025) **
Directed by Cris D’Amato
CHEERS TO LIFE (Viva a Vida), directed by Cris D’Amato and written by Natalia Klein, follows Jessica, a disenchanted salesgirl at an antique shop in Rio de Janeiro. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she finds a mysterious medallion—identical to one she inherited from her late mother—among her shop’s acquisitions.
The character-driven film gets a bit complicated to follow, with 2 sisters, one missing mother and more assorted relatives. The film also contains quite a few flashbacks, with flashbacks filmed in black and white to distinguish from the ones set in the present.
Investigating the pendant leads Jessica to Gabriel, a distant relative; together, they discover that their grandmothers were sisters. Against the backdrop of Israel—from the Negev Desert to Jerusalem—they encounter adventure, romance, legal trouble (including a humorous incident involving stolen jewelry), and a touch of spiritual reflection. As they piece together their family history, Jessica meets her estranged relatives, and the trip becomes a journey of self‑discovery. Along the way, she and Gabriel develop a deeper bond that evolves into romance once her true lineage is confirmed
There are a bit too many coincidences in the story. For one, the pendant that Jessica finds in the antique shop's shipment is one related to hers. Then finding out more information that leads to the road trip.
As in all romantic comedies and harlequin novels, there are always obstacles to the romance. For Jessica and Gabriel, the big obstacle is that they are cousins. When they almost kiss one night while drunk, they also make a pact never to be together as a couple.
For a comedy, the script tries hard. This includes casting a flamboyant gay tourist guide for the couple. A few things are unexplained, such as why Jessica and Gabriel are arrested while going into the water in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. Is swimming not allowed? Nothing is explained.
The film plays mostly as a romantic comedy, though not like the usual one, as the romance only begins slowly as a trickle at the film’s start, growing from there. The first time both get used and get comfortable with each other is only at the 30-minute mark of the film.
Though the film is set in Rio de Janeiro and in Portuguese, the audience does not get to see much of the seaside city of Rio. The film shows more of Israel, including what is well known as the weeping wall.
At a time when there are too many romantic comedies (in fact, Netflix has another one opening for streaming this week, a sci-fi one called OUE TIMES), CHEERS TO LIFE fails to elicit much wonder or insight or intrigue though it does attempt to explore the themes of identity, forgiveness, and the bonds of family, wrapped in lighthearted humour and scenic travelogue.
CHEERS TO LIFE (Viva a Vida) opens for streaming on Netflix from Wednesday this week.
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ENDLESS COOKIE (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver
Through a series of vignettes -- some tragic, some funny, all a little bizarre -- this animated feature documentary explores the complex bond between two half brothers, one Indigenous, one white, spanning bustling 1980s Toronto to the present day isolated First Nations community of Shamattawa.
One thing for sure is that the animated feature ENDLESS COOKIE does not feel like a documentary, though it is classified as one. For one, it is animated and goofy, so it has a Looney Tunes characteristic uncommon for a doc. Also, the story about two brothers meeting up in an indigenous country to make a movie sounds like made-up fiction. Truth be told, these two half-brothers did get together to try to make an animated movie after winning a movie grant. So all of it is true, and making the film with animation also does not disqualify the film from being a documentary. The result is a weird, very amusing. original indigenous animated documentary that is a one-of-a-kind. The humour is funny with a lot of indigenous slants, and the animation is also kooky, making up for Hollywood-style expensive special effects computer animation.
The two half-brothers are Seth from Toronto and Pete from Manitoba. Seth, now 47, says that Pete, 62, is “one of the best storytellers I know.”So he decided to audio-record Pete’s stories and then animate them. This is the birth of the documentary ENDLESS COOKIE, which took an endless time to make, according to Pete’s daughter Cookie, one of Pete’s nine children, owing to too many disruptions, as humorously depicted in the film.
Though the film is amusing for its spontaneity and humour, this trait can also be distracting and annoying. The film lacks a strong narrative, which could be strengthened with fewer distractions. The directors are not working the delicate balance.
ENDLESS COOKIE is a fresh, innovative, and indigenous animated documentary with loony and arguably accurate depictions of what it is to live in the Manitoba reservations. Anything can happen with the director’s often amusing distractions that sometimes distract from the main idea at hand, the idea of which is never made clear for the most part.
ENDLESS COOKIE is the Audience Award winner for Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs 2025! opens June 13 in Toronto (TIFF Lightbox), Vancouver (VIFF Centre),
Winnipeg (Dave Barber Cinematheque) and Montreal!
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HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (USA 2025) ***½
Directed by Dean DuBlois
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON is a media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the book series of the same name by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three animated feature films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) and several short films. The film reviewed is a live-action remake of the first film, with the same director, Canadian Dean DeBlois, making all the films.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON follows the adventures of a young Viking named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Macon Thames), son of Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), leader of the Viking island of Berk. Although initially dismissed as a clumsy and underweight misfit, he soon becomes renowned as a courageous dragon expert, alongside Toothless, a rare Night Fury breed member as his flying mount and closest companion. Together with his friends, he manages the village's allied dragon population in defence of his home as leader of a flying corps of dragon riders. Upon becoming leaders of their kind, Hiccup and Toothless are forced to make choices that will truly ensure peace between people and dragons.
Macon Thames makes a natural, perfect Hiccup. He is the white, clean, boy-next-door look kind of young hero one can hardly dislike. Thames, who has already starred in a few films, embodies all the innocence, clumsiness and reluctant hero that everyone would fall in love with. Jay Baruchel picked him among the last 3 shortlisted and it is not difficult to see the reason Thames was picked.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON suffers from the cliched fairy tale in which a hero finds romance, trains his dragon, overcomes all odds, and saves his village from dragons. But it is the details of the film that add that extra title to the tale. The gang of misfits, with Hiccups, undergo the dragon slaying training that provides the realistic problems of growing up and Hiccups’ inventions are examples.
Director DuBlois resorts to shot-to-shot filming of key scenes like the first bonding (Hiccup’s touching of Toothless) so as to maintain the spirit of the original animated film. But as Hiccup takes Toothless (or is it the other way round) on the first flight, the film soars despite the over-fast visuals.
Director DuBlois claims in the Q&A at the end of the promo screening that if there's one word he wanted the audience to come away with after watching the film is ‘wonder’. To this effect, DuBlois succeeds. Stunning CGI dragons, especially Toothless’s emotional expressions; faithfulness to the original’s tone and structure, together with the film’s strong visuals and score, make HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON a wonderful film, allowing audiences to take the emotion of wonder away with them.
Judging from the quality and audience response from the promo screening I attended (which Jay Baruchel, who voiced Hiccup in the animated films, attended quietly and quickly disappeared after the screening), a sequel should be and in fact is already in the works, scheduled for June 2027.
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THE LIFE OF CHUCK (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Stephen King, the famed horror novelist, has created a feel-good fantasy in his novella THE LIFE OF CHUCK, one of the 4 stories in his book IF IT BLEEDS. The only horror in the life of Chuck is the end of the world, but before that happens, Chuck’s life is celebrated; the man is suffering from a brain tumour. King’s whimsical stories have created hit movies like STAND BY ME, APT PUPIL, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE. These 4 films are based on the four stories in the King novel, FOUR SEASONS. As for the novel “If It Bleed’s one of the stories MR. HARRIGAN’S PHONE has already been made into a Netflix film.
The story is split into three acts, given in reverse chronological order. Following the book, Act 3 comes first. They are given in chronological order here:
In Act 3: "Thanks, Chuck", Marty drives home and sees a billboard showing an accountant sitting at a desk, underneath it says "39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck" as the world appears to be slowly crumbling. That evening as Marty visits his ex-wife Felicia he notices Chuck's image appearing everywhere. In a hospital, Chuck is dying surrounded by his family. Marty and Felicia see the stars disappearing, then blackness.
In Act 2, "Buskers", Chuck sees a drummer busking and starts dancing. A young girl joins him, dancing with Chuck as a crowd surrounds them. After dancing, Chuck suffers a bad headache and walks away dejected.
n Act 1, "I Contain Multitudes", Chuck is orphaned and is brought up by his paternal grandparents, where his love of dancing develops. His grandparents always keep their house's cupola locked, but eventually Chuck unlocks the room and sees himself as an adult dying of a brain tumour.
THE LIFE OF CHUCK is meticulously crafted by writer/director/editor Mike Flanagan, keeping much of the spirit of Stephen King’s story, which is feel-good with lots of spirited and inspired dancing, aided by the wonderful performances of both Jacob Tremblay and Tim Hiddleston as the young and older Chuck.
THE LIFE OF CHUCK, winning the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival is already destined to be a hit. The film opens in theatres worldwide June the 13th.
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OUR TIMES (Nuestros Tiempos)(Mexico 2025) ***
Directed by Chava Cartas
Space travel is an intriguing concept and has led to many a successful sci-fi movie like Nicholas Meyer’s 1979 TIME AFTER TIME and of course, the Robert Zemeckis 1985 back to the future. But few films have examined the theory behind time travel.
The new Mexican sci-fi adventure does. And with that comes the film’s ‘wonder’ - a magical feeling that is often absent in films these days. The wonder comes early in the beginning of the film where the professor talks about a wormhole before travelling through time through the wormhole into the future of 2025, our present time. They travel 69 years into the future.
So the professor explains the wormhole via a diagram. A wormhole is a hypothetical structure that connects disparate points in spacetime. It can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate points in spacetime (i.e., different locations, different points in time, or both). Wormholes are based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations. For a simplified notion of a wormhole, space can be visualized as a two-dimensional surface. In this case, a wormhole would appear as a hole in that surface, lead into a 3D tube (the inside surface of a cylinder), then re-emerge at another location ( as the two in the film travel) on the 2D surface with a hole similar to the entrance.
In 1966, physicists Nora (Lecero) and Héctor time-travel to 2025. As Nora thrives, Héctor struggles, leaving her torn between love and a world that empowers women. Besides being a sci-fi movie, the film also plays as a romantic comedy with a message of female empowerment. Nora is called sweetie by he boss, and females are not given a second look at the University in New Mexico. The couple comically adjust to modern life—state-of-the-art smartphones, public transit (mass transit was not built in the year 1966), flavoured condoms. They also meet an older version of their young friends in 1966.
OUR TIMES is a small budget movie but it survives credibility with simple special effects like the use of light and lasers and spinning contraptions. The use of modern machine and computers is avoided by the fact that the story is set in 1966.
The script by Juan Carlos Garzón and Angélica Gudiño adds drama to the story. Nora, in the year of 2025 feels empowered, recognized and appreciated, unlike back in 1966. While the husband wishes to return to 1966, she wishes to stay and so adds drama into what was, till then, an almost perfect relationship. Should they both stay, both leave, or should they go their separate ways? This is a relevant question as the audience will ask themselves what they would do.
OUR TIMES ends up a sweet and charming, funny and insightful sci-fi rom-com about societal norms, while not being too demanding of its audience.
OUR TIMES (Nuestros Tiempos) is a Netflix original film and opens for streaming on June 11th on Netflix, in Spanish with English subtitles.
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THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN (Ireland 2023) ***½
Directed by Pat Collins
The slow burn of a light viewing drama of everyday rural Irish life is adapted from John McGahern’s acclaimed 2002 novel. The film is set in rural County Leitrim during the early 1980s. The film follows Joe and Kate Ruttledge, a couple who have returned from London to settle near Joe’s childhood home. Joe is a writer, and Kate is an artist; together, they seek a quieter life immersed in the rhythms of the countryside and its close-knit community.
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. located just south of(central) of Northern Ireland, It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county, which had a population of 35,199 according to the 2022 census.
There will be no one left but ducks and warrens, says a character, Patrick of the people in the countryside.
This is a film of the Northern Irish countryside. And a slow one at that. The film opens with a long shot of a landscape with piano playing amidst the opening credits. A charter says later on: “The rain comes and then the morning and the sun shines. The children grow old and die. And there is not a whisper fit.” The title also implies a slow-moving film, but forgoes Irish and those who love anything Irish, the film is not without its rewards. There is plenty of rural countryside to look at and admire, and the slow pace of the Irish on display indicates that making money in a fast-paced world is not always the best thing to do.
“So you're happy then?" Joe is asked at one point in the movie, His answer: ”We have our health, peaceful life, work that suits us. What more can you ask for?”
The film, contains few dramatic plot twists, but offers a contemplative portrait of everyday Northern Irish life. The events unfolds over the course of a year, capturing the passing seasons and the subtle dynamics among neighbours, including characters like Patrick, a sharp-tongued bachelor farmer, and "The Shah," Joe’s uncle, thinking of retiring, who runs the local garage. The narrative emphasizes daily rituals, communal gatherings, and moments of quiet reflection, portraying the complexities and humanity of rural Irish life.
The couple, Joe and Kate, make a lovely couple living in nature’s paradise. Trouble arrives when Kate is asked to manage an art gallery in London, something she has always wanted to do. Her husband Joe wishes she would not go, but leaves it up to her to make up her mind to do what is best for her, or perhaps the best for both of them. Her decision is left after the film. The film also ends with a solemn funeral of a much-loved member of the community.
Reminiscent of the beauty of the recent Irish film, a few years back, THE QUIET GIRL,THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN is a quietly moving drama about living it out in nature in rural Ireland. Trials also exist though the film largely contemplates the lasting happiness that passes unnoticed. A beautiful film!
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THINGS LIKE THIS (USA 2025) **
Directed by Max Talisman
THINGS LIKE THIS is a romantic comedy, but one with a difference. Not counting the fact that it is a gay romantic comedy, the main difference is that one of the men is quite fat, to put it mildly. If one looks at his plump face, one could even say that he is on the borderline of obesity. However, the fact that this person, Zack Anthony, is played by Max Talisman, who also wrote and directed the film, is a big credit to him and the film. It is a very bold film. Everyone knows the obstacles a fat person has to overcome to find a long-lasting and worthwhile relationship. Zack is self-conscious. And all the self-consciousness and insecurity are handled tactfully by actor/writer and director Talisman.
When the film opens, Zack’s rejected by his sexual encounter, a hunky muscled jock type. “You are not my type,” the jock tells Zack, who realizes as the audience does, that fattys are seldom anybody’s type. Writer Talisman adds other problems Zack faces, like money, a book deal, and security. But Zack often goes about eating ice cream with one hand, without any thought of losing weight. The weight issue is largely ignored, wi=hcoh is both good and bad things. The bad thing is that it gives false confidence to fat people, but the good thing is that perhaps there is hope out there, though maybe not as much as one would expect.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, the film follows the unexpected connection between two men who share the same first name. Zack Anthony (played by Talisman) is a plus-sized aspiring fantasy novelist struggling with self-doubt and a series of disappointing relationships. Zack Mandel (Joey Pollari) works as an assistant at a talent agency and feels trapped in a stagnant relationship. Their paths cross at a showcase, leading to a connection that begins with a small act of kindness and evolves after a disastrous yet comedic first date. As they spend more time together, they uncover a surprising shared past that feels like fate. Despite personal challenges, misunderstandings, and life's twists, their bond deepens as they navigate what could be the start of something special.
“Is this some dollar store romance?” asks Zach’s best friend, Ava, to him after the typical break-up that is typically found in every Harlequin novel.
The film is aided by a cameo by veteran actor Eric Roberts playing Zach’s estranged father. The additional subplot of the father/son estranged relationship does not help the film either.
Despite the filmmaker’s bold move to make his movie, he seems destined to make, to dispel the negativity of a fat man getting into a relationship, the film falls into all the traps of a Harlequin romantic comedy type that fails to impress.
In celebration of Pride Month, Shout! Studios in collaboration with MPX Films will release the new rom-com THINGS LIKE THIS, available streaming on digital and VOD in the U.S. and Canada starting June 10.
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TITAN (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Mark Monroe
Going underwater to great depths or travelling thousands of miles into space spins awesome adventures. But with these journeys come imminent dangers. The new Netflix documentary focuses on the dangers of the TITAN.
Everyone loves a good adventure. And many good disaster films. Combine the two in a real-life documentary that occurred not too long ago in 2023, and one would have a winner that everyone will want to watch, It is of no wonder that Netflix, as TITAN is a Netflix original documentary is a number one top streaming service in the wold.
The story of the 5 crew members aboard the TITAN that perished is one that the whole world knows, but there is much more to the story as the doc presents in this insightful and intriguing documentary.
On4 of those interviewed in the doc is an engineer at OceanGate, a whistleblower. He knew that there were many things wrong and he brought them to the attention of thee company but to no avail. Apparently even the CEO of OceanGate ignored the warnings.
OceanGate Inc. is an American privately-owned company based in Everett, Washington, that provided crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration. The company was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein.
The company acquired a submersible vessel, Antipodes, and later built two of its own: Cyclops 1 and Titan. In 2021, OceanGate began taking paying tourists in Titan to visit the wreck of the Titanic. In 2022, the price to be a passenger on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic shipwreck was $250,000 per person.
On June 18, 2023, Titan imploded during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site, killing all five occupants on board, including Rush.[2] An international search and rescue operation was launched, and on June 22, the wreckage was found on the seabed about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the Titanic wreck site.
The doc has clips and describes the 5 crew members. Aboard the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood's son, Suleman. Imagine paying a quarter million dollars to die an awful death.
The film dives into the story within 5 minutes of the film's opening. Quite a fair amount of time is also devoted to the design and test operations. During the final voyage, communication between Titan and its mother ship, MV Polar Prince, was lost 1 hour and 33 minutes into the dive. Authorities were alerted when it failed to resurface at the scheduled time later that day. After the submersible had been missing for four days, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) discovered a debris field containing parts of the Titanic, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic. The search area was informed by the United States Navy's (USN) sonar detection of an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion around the time communications with the submersible ceased, suggesting the pressure hull had imploded while Titan was descending, resulting in the instantaneous deaths of all five occupants.
Every film needs a solid villain. In the case of TITAN, it is the owner Stockton Rush, paralleling the egoistic acts of Elon Musk. Rush wanted the submersible vessel to dive despite all the test facts pointing towards failure.
TITAN opens for streaming on Netflix from Wednesday this week.
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