Falling Inn Love (2019)- Netflix

‘Falling Inn love’ is a run of the mill and predictable romcom that is light hearted and fun to watch. The first thing that I remembered was Elvis’ song which has lyrics similar to the movie’s title. It has a deep message with respect to fixing things that are broken and like the song the film subtly shows us that some things are meant to be. The script by Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galano isn't remarkable but can work as a good one time watch for the characters come across exactly as one usually expects from films of this genre. 

Directed by Roger Kumble this film stars Christina Milian as Gabriela an executive in San Francisco who routinely describes her life as one spent running like a hamster in the corporate wheel. Right from the first shot she is shown as someone who adores journeying through the countryside as she elects to have her virtual reality goggles show her as though she is cycling through the countryside whilst she pedals furiously in her living room.

Her personal and professional life unravel within the space of a few hours. Real life would usually have a person hit rock bottom only to realise that it wasn’t actually rock bottom, but that would defeat the point of this rom-com. Gabriella decides to enter an online contest called win an inn and based on the title of the film it’s all but obvious what the outcome of the contest is going to be. Or else what's the point of the movie?

The only catch is that she has to fly halfway across the world. However once she reaches New Zealand she learns that everything isn't as it seems and sets out to realise her dream and hopefully find herself in the fictional town of Beachwood Downs with the help of its residents( who say that everyone's business is their business). It’s amusing to see who strangers to a town are portrayed in different genres. Aren’t we all raised to be suspicious of a new person no matter who they are?

One resident in particular is Jack (Adam Demos), who is the first person she meets when he crashes his pickup truck into her suitcase. He is the contractor of the town. We learn that he has built a wall and locked himself from the world due to a deep personal loss, and it is to be expected that this complete stranger would somehow unlock this man from his fortress of solitude (I can totally see him as Superman in the blue bodysuit and red cape)

Based on rom-com formulas we know that he's the guy. Later on when the two repeatedly meet there is the aversion and the kiddish hiding from and trying to avoid the other. The ups and downs are like a regular rom com film however at times I did get a bit confounded as to why the happy ending isn't coming yet. There is just that one more level of disappointment we are made to encounter before that happy ending which happens not just to the 2 leads but one other important character too.

The script by though predictable successfully takes us on a journey and pieces together the 2 leads' thoughts and backstories which leads us to actually buy into the fact that this could be a happily ever after we can invest in. I found the ‘Crocodile Dundee’ reference quite hilarious for I haven't seen those 2 countries being mixed up in that manner. And it's something I'm so used to hearing with respect to ignorant individuals claiming that east Asians are the same when actually they are poles apart.

Christina Millian’s Gabriella is what most of us are. Frustrated run of the mill corporate employees who would gladly describe their lives as ‘soulless.’ We can relate to her and invest in her character as let’s face it, we all dream of going out there to the countryside and starting something of our own, or just taking a sabbatical and discovering ourselves. Her dialogues such as , We have off days, but just don’t take them”, and, “struck a chord with me.” She has an urge to be modern and wants to replace the old things such as the fireplace and a faucet. Her character is a polar opposite to  Adam Demos. As Jack he gave me Chris Hemsworth Thor vibes and wants to retain the past. He lives a country life that others dream off. In addition to being a corporator he is a beekeeper and even a volunteer firefighter.

But the star of the film for me for Gilbert the goat. Initially Gabriella says, "I don't like this goat", but the audience would surely have loved him and he could perhaps become a meme if this film is seen by many. Gilbert’s timing is amazing and you don’t even fault him when he punctuates a crucial moment in this film. You just can’t help but smile when Gilbert’s around.

Falling Inn Love is a fun 98 minute watch for those who just want a couple hours of leisure and light hearted entertainment. The shots of the beautiful New Zealand landscape lend weight to the leads love of the countryside and at times it may seem like a New Zealand tourism advertisement (I certainly added New Zealand to a bucket list of countries I’d like to visit someday). These beautiful shots help us understand the mood of the characters and also the magnet which is attracting Gabriella to remain where she is. The story could even present us that fantasy for a fleeting second (till we learn that the only place we can visit are our desks and our homes) and act as a clarion call to ditch your soulless lives and head to an exotic location to finally realise that dream of running your own business.

Badla (2019)- Netflix

'Badla' is just as its title suggests. A tale of revenge which leads us to believe things and switch those very beliefs within seconds. This film is an elaborately constructed psychological game of cat and mouse, which covers what the general public believes about the legal profession. It has us empathize with certain characters and hate them just minutes later for their despicable actions. This movie comes across as a locked room mystery, a revenge story, a twisty thriller, but it is a tale which implores us to pay attention to the details again and again. More often than not a tiny element in some frame was missed by me and I felt just as a particular character did when they too realised that they hadn't paid close attention to all the details. 

We get right to it from the start. The opening credits created a tense atmosphere which captured my attention. Everything was in black and white and seemed intricately connected. The background song vocalized by the lead actor too was what I managed to identify and began thinking of the last time an actor sang his own song in a film. There have been many instances of course, but this minor thing got me interested.

This film takes place in the apartment of Naina Sethi (Tapsee Pannu) where she is interrogated by her defence counsel and undefeated lawyer Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan) who says he has been persuaded to come out of retirement. Naina who is out on bail (she has to wear an ankle tracker) narrates her version of events which have led up to this moment to her legal counsel. The scenes from outside the apartment take place in the form of narration through flashbacks. 

The first thing I remembered about this combo was their earlier film "Pink" where they portrayed the lawyer and client characters. However, this lawyer-client relationship here is completely different.

Badal believes that justice is blind and constantly thwarts Naina’s version of events going as far to call it very convenient that a character develops a new skill just at the right moment. Isn’t that a thought we have all had whilst watching a movie. 

He repeatedly tells Naina (and indirectly addresses us behind the 4th wall) that it is important to focus on each and every single minute detail. At times I wish I had paid better attention to the minutest element in the frame and not just been delighted at having found that one detail but completely miss the details within that detail.

Badal takes the words of Dr. Gregory House to heart and believes that, "Everybody lies." And it is only through the successful identification of ones lies that the truth can be spotted. The thing to remember while watching this film is to focus on the details and believe everything or maybe not? But always remember the liar seeks to recreate a setting from inspiration and if something seems out of place... well it usually is. Spoiler? No, you will see too many red herrings if you are determined to spot this based on my previous sentence. 

Having caught this film on Netflix after being confounded on numerous occasions I decided to rewind to the critical moments and saw that what was being shown more clearly was actually there in screen in a blink and you miss it style of appearance. To really enjoy and experience this film you need to have your brain switched on throughout. ‘Badla’ does spell things out for you later on, but what's the fun in that.. wouldn't you rather have that satisfied smirk on your face when you see your prediction unfold on screen. And make no mistake if your grey cells are active you will be able to predict what happens for this film seems to fall victim to the frequency of its plot twists. 

With the basic structure of mystery films in general and our limited number of characters it is all but obvious that one of them is heavily involved in the killing. You know that there will be that one final twist, because the film has had no shortage of them and the twists won’t stop coming right at the climax where the audience usually expects the major reveal to pop up. You will be waiting for it and perhaps like me you too would find it predictable and be of the opinion that 'Badla' fell victim to its own ingenious script character development

The acting is good with special praise going to Tapsee Pannu after initially coming across as the scared woman she has been in both Pink and Game Over presented another side of herself which managed to make me direct a variety of emotions other than sympathy to her character. In her scenes with Amitabh Bachchan she both acts with authority and reacts with tension and is able to hold her own. 

Looking back and thinking closely about this film, particularly the dialogues I felt delighted that I was able to predict that ending. It was that obvious in retrospect... who else would speak about what they spoke in that manner. Perhaps it was due to the fact that there were so many twists and turns throughout the 117 minute run time that there could be an argument that this was predictable and shouldn't have been missed by the eagle eyed viewers. But are we conditioned to tune in to a Bollywood film with our brains switched on? 

This is a good thing that is happening in Bollywood right now and hopefully more films like 'Badla' can change the way Bollywood is looked at from films of song and dance melodrama to serious and gripping cerebral cinema.

Netflix: Murder Mystery

Murder Mystery is a murder mystery movie distributed by Netflix. The name of this film may come across as one of a tentatively titled venture during its pre-production and production stages but is not. This is the film's final title and like the title the film seems quite unfinished.

As Adam Sandler's Nick Spitz says to his wife Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) "This is our adventure." That's primarily what the movie (Murder Mystery) is and strives to be. The adventure of an officer and his hairstylist/avid murder mystery novel reader as they go on a honeymoon to reignite a spark in their marriage and fall headlong into a Murder Mystery.

Nick Spitz fails his detectives exam and in a bid to surprise his wife and also pacify her decides that the time is now ripe for them to take their dream honeymoon 15 years to the day they were married. Their vacation turns into quite a surprising invitation by Viscount Charles Cavendish to a family gathering aboard a yacht. This invitation reeks of desperation and made me think about the character of 'the millionaire' from 'City Lights.' Except for the fact that here Cavendish is not drunk and he remembers then the next day and their invitation still stands.

Throughout the movie there are major call backs to Agatha Christie novels. The mixture of characters aboard the yacht are introduced in a manner so synonymous with the way they are in her novels. And every single one of them feels completely out of place in the year 2019. For example. The Maharaja of Mumbai! If you recognised this introduction style, you would understand that one particular character is crucial to the story.

The gathering of all the characters in a plethora of classic Agatha Christie novels such as 'Hercule Poirot's Christmas' and the iconic 'And then there were none' takes place here and we finally get the murder.

From this point on, one would be expecting the story to pick up, but it stumbles as it's sole purpose is to get particular characters to various locations. It has a stop start kind of feel to it which caused me to zone out.

Rather than a compelling murder mystery or even one along the lines of the 2006 film 'The Pink Panther' and it's sequel which fall into the comedy mystery genre we get ridiculous gags such as touching the body and puerile shtick like sticking the knife in and pulling it out.

The reactions and acting of the other guests aboard the yacht made me think of entertainment skits on talk shows as their reactions seemed manufactured and over the top. The two leads' bickering is also annoying, but this is their adventure.

'Murder Mystery' meanders on for another hour introducing us to a French detective whose name on first hearing sounds like Hercule Poirot. There are further call backs to Agatha Christie mysteries such as questioning everyone individually, the mysterious reveals of deeds many years ago and the classic seating of all the participants involved before the killer is revealed.

At this point I was so disinterested in this film and was extremely happy when the final reveal came in about 15 minutes before the movie was about to end. I didn't think that it's not quite right and there must be something more and was happy that this parody like film was finally over....

Murder Mystery is the type of 1 time watch for anyone, though most people may lack the mental fortitude required to not click the back button and return to the Netflix home screen. Fans of comedy and not so serious and dramatic Murder Mysteries will enjoy this Murder Mystery but unfortunately I'm not one of them. The movie ends in a manner that leaves room for a sequel which I personally hope isn't part of Adam Sandler's remaining films on his Netflix deal.

Black Mirror S05 E01: Striking Vipers

Striking Vipers is the first episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror.

The episode features best friends Karl and Danny use the video game 'Striking Vipers' as an escape from their day to day lives. The game offers players a chance to choose between a plethora of characters. Danny chooses a ripped male fighter Lance and Karl opts for scantily clad female fighter Roxette.

There is a line in this pre game dialogue between Karl and Danny which shows that Danny is one who has responsibility at the back of his mind and uses the game as a fantasy escape from reality. His tone shows that he is slightly sad, but that is a constant of Danny throughout the episode. It's sad-sad, sad-angry and shows us that he is just resigned to accepting life.

We jump 11 years to Danny's birthday barbecue party. He is now in his late 30s and doesn't seem that into his love life and is searching for excuses to avoid a second child. At this gathering his old friend Karl comes back into his life and his gift is the 'Striking Vipers X' game complete with all the technological upgrades of a decade.

Callister Inc (from the episode USS Calister) has released its technology which allows humans to transfer their consciousness onto the characters they play and even gives them the exact experience their on screen persona is going through. This is like Westworld come real except that here there are no other characters (hosts) apart from the ones you choose to lose yourself in.

They choose the same characters as they did over a decade ago, inhibit the characters consciousness in the virtual world and resume their battles. Then they have virtual sex with each other. It's a heterosexual encounter w.r.t. the virtual characters but the consciousness inhabiting the characters and experiencing the pleasure results in it being a homosexual encounter.

This frequent virtual sex leads to a further decline in Danny's marital life with Theo and she can sense it as she literally asks is there someone else. He forgets important dates and lives each day of his life waiting to get to the time he and Karl's consciousness will meet. And soon he feels guilty and locks the game, but Karl who continues to play reveals to Danny that virtual sex with other characters doesn't feel the same.

Striking Vipers a solid episode which manages to provide a balance between technology, fantasy and a way of escape and real life and responsibilities in keeping the commitments people have made to one another. It focuses on how people consider their virtual in game identities as a projection of their real lives unfulfilled desires and at times they become unable to differentiate between the boundaries of real and virtual.

It speaks about how technology can also be used to satisfy ones intrinsic needs but it's usage in limitation with the consent of all parties is a solution which has benefits for all.

The cast of is one of the best ever ensemble lineups for a Netflix episode and honestly such a line up should be getting much more attention than Miley Cyrus received for her appearance in the third episode of the series. 

Black Mirror S05 E03: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too is the third and final episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror. 

The episode features sisters Rachel and Jack who live with their father who is designing a humane replacement to eliminate mice from households. The family has moved to another city and the 2 girls are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their mother. Rachel is gifted an Ashley Too doll on her birthday which spouts out motivational lines resulting in it (a robot doll) becoming a 15-year-olds closest companion and alienating her from other humans in her life. 

Miley Cyrus as Ashley O along with the AI doll Ashley Too

Their story runs parallel with teenage music sensation Ashley O who we see as happy on camera but her off screen persona is a complete contrast. She is under the control of her manager/aunt/guardian who is keen to make money off her niece until she turns 25 and maybe even after that. As Ashley O rebels against her support system (controllers) and refuses to take her pills they are slipped to her over the course of a single dinner rendering comatose. Ashley O is hospitalized and her legion of fans are distraught. 

Technology is used to interpret her subconscious thoughts and shape her preferred crude rock music into pop (because just hiring a ghost writer would be too non Black Mirror right) with the voice recordings taken for the Ashley O dolls serve as the audio for Ashley Eternal (a holographic version of Ashley which kind of makes front row seat demand at concerts to be useless)

When the words Black Mirror flashed on screen at the beginning of the episode and the glass cracked up until this point we had an episode showing us a glimpse into the future of concerts and a possibility of simultaneous concerts as well as the horrific possibility of technology controlling the real pop star. It was a representation of the culture of controlling people for profits and going to any measure to achieve that control. The 'my way or the highway' culture. This is/will be/could be the future and was perfect for an ending. 

But no, the two sets of parallel stories intervene with Rachel's Ashley Too watching a broadcast about Ashley O which causes it to glitch out? Too convenient for the doll to suddenly break out against the limiter installed in it as the siblings find out when they set about to repair it. The beans are spilled and aided by the two sisters the digital Ashley O i.e. Ashley Too goes to set things right and then guess what Ashley O and Ashley Too team up. Are you kidding me?

It seems as though Charlie Brooker has taken to watching and getting heavily inspired by Disney which is where the star of this episode Miley Cyrus made her name as Hannah Montana. 

After watching 'Smithereens' I had big hopes from this episode but rather than end the episode at a proper moment which would have maybe appealed to more fans as well as earned praise for its shorter runtime they chose to give the big star her defining moment in beating the villains. The 'Ashley Eternal' reveal would have worked well without all of the other forced drama. 

In the final credits scene, I was stunned to see Charlie Brooker credited as the writer. Was this uh this..... thing actually written by the brain behind 'White Bear'? 

Just because 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too' is part of the iconic 'Black Mirror' series people may start thinking about it and try to interpret various sorts of conclusions. Social media comment sections may be filled with ardent fans debating this stuff. But honestly, if this episode had been the series premiere instead of 'The National Anthem' then Black Mirror would have remained a Channel 4 show and probably ended in the early part of the decade. For now though this would be considered as one of the most disappointing episodes of Black Mirror and possibly be remembered as 'That Miley Cyrus episode.' Quite a shame considering that Miley's performance is one of the better ones of the series. 

Black Mirror S05 E02: Smithereens

It  possible that you may get this notification whilst driving or walking or doing something much more important before the cell phone beeped and alerted you to this. Please ignore this if you are busy with anything. Too late right? You already will have yanked out your phone, glanced at the notification, swiped it out of sight and refocused on your task at hand. Those few seconds of lost focus would be detrimental though. For you or for anyone else, but after the seconds hand completes a 360° journey around the face of the clock do you even remember what you looked at? 

'Smithereens' is the 2nd episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror. It targets the present day obsession i.e. our addiction to social media and how evolution has resulted in us not having the self control to shun our desire to reach for our phones when we hear a beep. It also shows us how trivial and uniform our reactions seem to be no matter what the thing we are reacting to. Do we actually care about what happens?

Chris Gillhaney (Andrew Scott) is a cab driver who wishes to speak to Smithereen (a social media platform) founder Billy Bauer. Simple right? Not so. Chris has been planning this for a long time. The episode starts off in a suspicious manner as Chris is waiting for his passenger. Such a thing happening without the passenger uttering a courteous apology about his/her tardiness is very unusual. 

What comes off as casual conversation is later on revealed to be a master plan hatched by the driver to achieve his goal i.e. ensure that his feedback reaches the top rather than the feedback option which is read by employees sitting before a screen and providing feedback to a board. He finally gets hold of an employee (intern) and takes him hostage. 

Andrew Scott as Chris Gillhaney in the drivers seat with his hostage Damson Idris as Jaden Thomas

The next 40 minutes feature scenes from within the taxi where Chris and Jaden are sitting, the British police officers on the periphery of the field, the FBI and the top brass of Smihereen. 

Despite all the key pieces in this episode scattered across 2 different continents there isn't a feeling as though we are randomly jumping from one spot to the other. 

When watching this episode most of us would recognise Chris Gillhaney (Andrew Scott) as BBC Sherlock's Jim Moriarty, but as the episode progresses we do not see a single trace of the iconic villain and instead see a person who is frustrated and deeply traumatised but is essentially good at heart.

Andrew Scott had to tap into some really personal trauma to summon up all the facial expressions and the choking voice when with pent up frustration he delivers his lines.

In another monologue he also manages pull off what in the hands of other actors would have been seen as an over the top comedic turn and make the audience actually understand and relate to his frustration at our lifestyle where a beep mechanically draws our hand to our pockets to whip out a device which we unlock without even realising, all this while not stopping what we were doing before. 

The regular action and the setting of the scenes in the episode providing the background music makes the audience feel like they are actually there and are part of the action unfolding on screen. The episode catches in the elements of the characters and minor details that lead to absolutely no questions about why something was included which could have cut short the duration by a few seconds despite having a longish run time of over an hour. 

A fade out climax after the high drama drives home the key points of the episode once again in case it slipped our mind as audiences began analysing Stockholm Syndrome 

Just for he sake of finding a flaw in the episode I'll talk about the abyssmal aim of the British police sniper. He could have moved a bit right, but to miss twice? They need to recruit Euron Greyjoy for that role. 

'Smihereens' doesn't touch upon the fact that humans must have self control despite admitting that the applications are designed to be so addictive that it's almost like muscle memory for us to open it on our phones whenever they are in our hands. However, it does focus on other things such as that of our culture of being controlled by notifications for a split second and then not giving a damn about it, it also focuses on topics such as the robotic language of negotiations, the way the human mind has forgotten the importance of memorizing another person's number, the way in which social media can be used to decipher a person's state of mind, the fact that we are broadcasting our true selves to the world and providing the social media giants with every minute detail about ourselves thus rendering anybody a detective as they can just log on and find out anything about anyone, and the evils of social media and minute by minute news in a crisis situation. 

This episode has a Black Mirror feel to it but it doesn't feel edgy or offer that sort of shock ending akin to some of the iconic episodes of this series. Smithereens is the saving grace of Black Mirror Season 5. Unlike 'Striking Vipers' and 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too' this episode is set in the present day and we can relate to these events as we have gone through them. Maybe not at the extent at which Chris Gillhaney did, but one may have bumped into someone at a crowded place when their phone rang which caused them to look at some nonsense like snapstreak notification or an Instagram notification that someone is going live and honestly how important is all that? Like all the characters swiping their phones and like Billy Bauer flicking his mental switch post the crisis and resuming whatever he was doing, you too will forget about this in about much lesser time than it took you to read and peruse it. 

Roma

Roma is a Mexican language Black and white film. It is written, directed, shot and edited by Alfonso Cuaron. The film stars debut actress Yalitza Aparicio in the lead role as Cleo, a domestic help. The film is set in the Roma district of Mexico in the 1970s and follows a year in the life of Cleo and her employers. (a family consisting of a Grandmother, a couple and their four kids)

The best movies and characters mostly are inspired by a writer or a director's real life experiences. The real characters or certain characteristics of theirs is what lends weight to the character or work of art and make it seem real and not reel. But, what if an entire movie was literally taken from memory? Like a faithful adaptation of a autobiography with no aim to make it over dramatic for the screen? Director Alfonso Cuaron has said that 90% of the movie is taken from memories of his own growing up years and a portrait of life in Mexico in the 1970s.

The movie has been presented to us exactly as he visualized it.

I do not understand or speak Mexican which leads me to observe the images on screen even more than I would do had the film been dubbed in English. The subtitles are present on screen, but having been conditioned to witness the subtitles as a tool with which to enhance the audio I hear, the subtitles were lost on screen, as I chose to let the visuals convey the story to me.

The movie is in Black and White, which automatically conditions audiences to the fact that the film is set in the past and leads them to decode the content in a manner quite different from what they would have done had it been in colour.

It seeks to eliminate the distractions on screen thus enabling the audience to focus solely on Cleo and her life inside and outside the house.

Such a character is usually a background filler in stories. Even if they are the leads, films focus just on said characters perspective on the house where they are employed and not their life in detail.


This is a film for cinephiles, as it is filled with excellent camerawork and pans that help drive home what the visuals on screen are indicating. You have to be able to spot it and know what it is. Even if you are unfamiliar with the technical terms you can appreciate it.


The life of the help is mostly associated with the silence of the house for a large part of the day. They are a part of the family, but apart from the family.

Their days are spent doing repititive tasks, up and down and up and down in the same manner akin to the motion of a pendulum. The camera work with its positioning and lateral panning drives home that fact to the audience. The silence in the film followed by the sudden cacophony of noise is a nice touch as well.

The scene in the hospital drives home the fact that we don't really know the small insignificant but highly important things about the servant. Yet without them the day to day activities are incomplete.
Throughout the movie Cuaron let's realisation hit us slowly. Like in real life how light dawns upon us so late and so suddenly.

These moments are very relatable for some.

When Alfonso Cuaron accepted one of the Golden Globe awards for Roma he said "
Cinema builds bridges and tears down walls with other cultures. Understand how much we have in common."

The film focuses on the minute details such as the raindrops hitting the floor, breaking into multiple smaller droplets, the drops of water dripping from the clothes on the string whilst she is washing another set of clothes and the translucent nature of wet clothes through which the sun flashes through, driving home the fact that it is a hot day.

For some this film is overhyped, for something so simple. But, isn't this hype needed? Honestly who would've watched it hadn't it been so hyped up. Of course the Academy would've and probably rewarded it as well (in the foreign language category) and there would have been a furore over the Academy rewarding movies that people don't watch. Moving back to the simple. The movie was hyped up and there was buzz about it and it is just so simple, which is what makes it so extravagant. It doesn't strive to make itself dramatic. Roma is just a mirror of our own lives in some way or the other.

Based on the precursor awards, Roma is a among the frontrunners to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and we already know that it has wrapped up the win in the Best Foreign Langauge Film. The film feels like a documentary and almost is, but Netlfix has presented it as a movie. Focus on the word Netflix. The biggest obstacle for the film to overcome with the Academy seeming averse to rewarding work which deviates from the traditional form of movie consumption in the theatres(Netflix did have a 3 week theatre screening before releasing it on the streaming service). Will It overcome? We shall find out. But until then this film must be observed, appreciated and admired by all. Films aren't more authentic than this.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Black Mirror: Bandersnach is the first ever Black Mirror movie and is an interactive film experience which offers everyone their own movie. Stefan has to create a video game called Bandersnatch. That's all that is the same.

The film has a run time ranging from anywhere between 35 to 90 minutes. How it ends is completely dependent on you. You have 'complete control.'

Being a Black Mirror film, Bandersnatch will obviously focus on how behaviour is manipulated by technology and how people's actions and thoughts are shaped by it.

Yes, it is possible to watch Black Mirror:Bandersnatch like a traditional movie where you refrain from making a single choice. So then....

Why do we even make that first choice?

If we don't make it, it will be made for us and we will be controlled.

Just like Netflix offering us the choice of 'Next episode' and 'go back' and making the choice of next episode if we refrain from clicking on either of the options, the movie too choses either of the two options if you do not make a choice within 10 seconds. It's not that the two options will remain there until you decide. So we make a choice to be in control, but....

Are we the ones in control, or, is control an illusion?

The film has certain supposed endings which are actually resets. A reset is when you reach an ending and then are taken back to the place where you made the wrong choice. You are taken back to that place in a manner akin to episodic television's "previously on so and so show" type of way. A fast forward from the start. Till.... That choice confronts you again.

Infinite loops are real until we accept that we are being controlled.

The film shows us again that despite having control, we are controlled. At times (based on the path you chose) Bandersnatch proves to be an infinite loop. I was repeatedly given a choice between the same password or symbol. At times i was faced with two televisions with two choices from the past, one was the previously ignored one and the other was 'go back'. At times I'm told stuff along the lines of "try again" or the usual, "wrong choice." I'm in the loop till I make the choice they want me to make.

It's a restart. Like a video game. Like life. It's up to you. You will be a bit more aware than you were the last time. It'll show. Make the right choice or live with what your choices, till you eventually learn that what you chose was wrong, or, you can go back make the wrong choice again and stay in the loop. You chose wrong and are stuck. In the end you need to choose what they want you to choose. Control is an illusion.

Consuming content or consumed by content?

Ideally the first proper ending (not reset) that a viewer reached which led them to the end credits sequence would be the ending they had chosen out of interest. An actual choice. What if the first ending was the perfect ending (not in the game, but perfect on the basis of how we would control our character). I watched 4 endings. But actually, the first one I saw was the perfect one. The second and the third and all the endings are the result of us wanting to see whether the other choice was better. It was us choosing what we didn't choose earlier.

The show gave me the option of going to the end credits, or go back, and I chose to go back. Black Mirror and Netflix obviously knew I would go back. We think we control Netflix as we can choose what we want to watch, when we want to watch it and how many times we want to watch it. But isn't it actually Netflix that is controlling us and attracting us to them, like how the fly is attracted to the sweet scent of the flytrap only for it to be consumed. We know there are five endings and we are desperate to unlock them all And find out what would have been had we chosen differently. Not only with this. We want to know what happens in that new show or movie as well.
We are consumed by the overload of content.

There is too much content online, some of it not even entertaining

The overload of content on Netflix and other platforms and even TV may have been addressed in the show. Why is everything so ordinary. Shouldn't it be spiced up a bit, isn't that what we would do. Do you imagine yourself in extremely mundane situations and at those times you suddenly transform into something and spice up the moment a bit? Isn't that, what would be considered as entertaining? Don't we watch some show and think, "this is how I would spice it up a bit." Yet you watch what you find uninteresting or you have changed your definition of interesting to fit in things that are called interesting. Why? Again. Netflix wants you to choose to watch it. Netflix wants me to watch Bird Box. I am inundated with posts about that movie on my feed.

Different routes may lead to the same goal

At the start we were unaware of th key choices and did doovers on quite a few of the choices only to go down a different road and reach an ending we had already witnessed.
Every single choice made by every single person is different hence every single outcome experienced by everyone is different. And then there are different routes to reach the same place. Many roads. Audiences the world over would behoove from realising this.

Is insanity the key to success?

Does every artist need to be a damaged and destroyed, non conforming being? Do they have to have some dark secrets for then to succeed. Can't they conform or get cured, or even accept and repent and then achieve success. Is every single artist someone who has a dark past?

What's Good?

Netflix may have found the answer to combat piracy. A new form of storytelling and movie watching had been experimented with. Audiences cannot be unhappy with the ending as every ending they discover is a result of their choices. Subtle commentary about technology and how technology are our masters.

What's Bad?

A film is something where we go and watch what unfolds before us and not something where we make the choices. Movies are usually enjoyed when one can focus or maybe watch it with a snack in one hand and a drink in the other. You make decisions in your daily lives, you decide to switch on your laptop or open your phone and log onto Netflix in either device and then that's not the last decision for the next couple of hours as you have to make decisions throughout the movie itself.

I chose an option, I was taken to an ending. And then I went back to my last choice. I chose the other option. Now that choice has somehow resurrected a character I had chosen to take a leap. How is that possible?

Also a time travelling sequence? Really? Atleast the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the waverider are believable time travel devices. But what was used to time travel in this episode was just weird. This is the storyline i didn't buy into. Atleast they didn't mess around with the laws of time travel from popular time travel shows.

Tolerance level of the audience in desperately searching for commentaries of technology will not mask absurd storylines and will alienate the loyal fanbase.

I felt that making your choice viewing was extremely annoying as the screen just freezes for 10 seconds despite me sometimes making a choice within 5 seconds. And the two choice option box popping up constantly on screen spoils the viewing experience.

Who should watch it?

Watch this movie if you want to literally play a movie. Watch it if you got nothing to watch for the next 5 evenings and wish to watch 5 different movies. All you need to do is remember the choices you make so that you can avoid making them on the next day.
If you think Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is that typical two hour entertaining movie which you can watch,laugh about and forget. You probably should refrain from watching it. Bandersnatch is filmed, edited and presented in a way to make us all paranoid, and to make us think, our choices can end up scarring us as well. 

Rating
Just for the first of its kind new format.
3.5/5