Despite her barn-storming and immediately legendary turn as Amy Dunne, it has taken some time for Rosamund Pike to return to the awards conversation. She has however entered it once more this year with her turn as a similarly machievillan and extremely intelligent ice-cold blonde figure, with Marla Grayson in J. Blakeson’s I Care a Lot. Although topping Amy is a feat that hasn’t been achieved here, Grayson and I Care a Lot are deeply intriguing and make for a cruelly fun film that revels in the spoils of some truly despicable figures, accompanied by an all-star cast all on top form, even if its first half is significantly superior to its second. 

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I Care a Lot starts especially strong as we are introduced into the world of Marla Grayson, a legal guardian who has perfected a duplicitous racquet conning and effectively kidnapping the elderly by forcing them into care homes, before then auctioning off all their possessions and liquidating their economic savings and stealing all the spoils. It’s a deeply unnerving and relentlessly interesting occupation and Pike and Blakeson, our writer and director, brings us into this world with effective montage and voice-over, as we come to understand the ins and outs of Grayson’s bizarre and deeply unsettling job. Pike herself is truly sensational as Grayson and really is the biggest reason to give this film a watch. Perfectly embodying the hardened persona of an experienced business woman with a serious “no fly’s on her” policy, Pike utters all her words in the first half at least with a dynamite razor sharp precision that makes Grayson impossible to turn away from, no matter how much we dislike the manner of her work and the way she goes about it. The chief final ingredient to Pike’s stunning turn as Grayson is an inherent believability, solidified by the script and direction of Blakeson. This believability is what takes all of the films performances over into the level of greatness, but is the chief ingredient that the film itself is seriously lacking when it comes to plot and character choices. As the film continues and the machinations of its plot reveal itself to be something far more thriller-esque than a simple character study of a cunning con artist backed by the state, the films plausibility goes out of the window almost immediately, with the moments where it returns a moment only being sparring and nowhere near cemented enough to bring us back entirely from beyond the point of no return. Whereas Blakeson’s writing excels in small character exchanges with biting and bitter dialogue, he unfortunately lacks this talent when it comes to structure, plotting and overall tone.

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Blakeson’s greatest talent within the film is his great direction, with the film keeping an accelerated and taut pace throughout, never once leading one to boredom, this all being punctuated naturally by the effectively subtle and at times wickedly frantic editing of Mark Eckersley and the pulsating synth based score of Marc Canham. The film too has multiple beautiful vibrancies to it, often positioning itself in a world of neon or pastel, befitting the costume design given to Pike’s Marla Grayson. As aforementioned the rest of the cast are similarly sensational, with really no weak link. Chris Messina who only shows up for a couple of scenes even does them with great effectiveness, perfecting the sleazy but well put together lawyer type that Grayson so clearly despises. Eiza Gonzalez is stunning and effecting as Grayson’s lover and business partner Fran. The chemistry of Pike and Gonzalez is very evident from the off-set and the touching heart of their relationship lends a real level of pathos to the film as the plot continues to get more and more far-fetched. The grand villain of the film is Peter Dinklage as a Russian gangster who doesn’t have to lift a finger for anybody, Dinklage knows this and underplays almost every exchange. It’s the stillness and quietness of this performance from Dinklage that makes it stand out amongst his oeuvre and within the film’s ensemble. Dianne Wiest however may very well be the clearest standout amongst the ensemble as one of the unwitting elderly taken under Grayson’s wing and into her scheme. Wiest is vulnerable and docile at times, but then brutal and viscous at others. Her Jennifer is an unknowable and a very humorous at times addition to the films array of talent and interesting characters. However for all these great strengths that the film does have, it does simply falter as it grows into a very different beast than the one we started with, and frankly in my opinion a far less interesting one, despite the newfound action and violence of this second half.

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A vibrant and visceral 7/10 whose faults do start to show as the running time continues. However a very, very strong start and an absolutely electric lead performance from Pike make this a very watchable dark comedy with a deeply rotted nasty heart that makes it frankly all the more compelling. But it’s not just Pike, everybody is on top form in the cast and Blakeson as a writer and director excels frequently. Although I don’t know when I’ll be returning to the film, I certainly enjoyed my watching of it and would recommend it to most anyone.

P.S. Let the record show that we do get in this film another glorious Pike hair flick, albeit nowhere near as iconic as her Gone Girl one – one of the undisputed iconic moments of cinema from the past ten years. Or at least for me and my friend Katrina.

-        -  Thomas Carruthers