Rebirth (2016) Reviews

• Finally, a movie about AmWay

  saintutzman2016-07-24

  I was a part of AmWay and AdvoCare. So tragically, I understand how this movie works all too well. Possible spoiler alert? The mind games. The backwards questions. Sex with strangers at conventions. Ridiculous anti- cult propaganda that, in fact, makes it more or a cult. Songs written specifically about the brand name. The chants. The appeal to psychology, meditation, and religious themes. The passive aggressive condescension. This is in the real world, believe it or not. I saw a lot of bad reviews, mostly by people who state clearly they don't understand the connections they are seeing. Watch this movie (again if you must) as if you're watching a dramatic biography of a network marketing scheme gone bad, i.e. AmWay, AdvoCare. I'm still in network marketing, but for myself, not these inane cult - like engines. This movie highlights the worst of it so well, it's fantastic. Also, good acting and story telling. I enjoyed it immensely. I hope you do too.

• A Movie that Needs to Decide What It Wants to Be

  skyemail-797552016-07-21

  We were all once young, idealistic, and a notion of what we wanted out of adulthood. We settle for employment that isn't really what we wanted and we learn what we need to pretend to be to be successful at a job, especially once promoted. Then the kids come. We wake up one day to realize that we are no longer pretended to be a strict supervisor focused on productivity but have actually turned into that person. At some point we feel inside that we've sold out and a correction is needed. And then comes the often ridiculed but essentially needed mid-life crisis where we get back on track (having dutifully waited for the children to be old enough to fend for themselves). However, some never question what they have become which are basically people pleasers. Our protagonist is forced into realization by an old college friend who kept his Manifesto of how he saw life and the goals he wished to achieve and basically wrangles our protagonist into a weekend seminar. And like all people pleasers, he asks for his boundaries, if he's in the right room, and doesn't understand when some people are mean to him. I like story lines where average people are forced into extraordinary circumstances and rise to the occasion. And part was hard to watch, especially that blond girl who always answered a question with a question. She was stopped just in the nick of time as I almost quit watching because of her. She was necessary but that didn't make it easier to watch. I think what weakened the film was that the group did not essentially succeed in waking our guy up, blackmail rather defeats the effectiveness of the program. It should not be needed. And the whole "product" usage was strange as well. Was this just a strange initiation into a pyramid scheme? Was this truly to wake up people from being zombies? Has our hero truly changed or is he just being exploited by a new boss/company? The rooms with sexual things going on also confused the point of the film, where no really should mean no. Yet obviously a group who would trick people into attending would have no problem with carefully manipulated seduction of a sexual manner. The strength of the film is that it is thought provoking. It provoked a review which I do not usually do. It made observations about society, big business, and how so many go through through life in a prescribed way never living out their dreams. It's not a movie that I'd wholehearted endorse, but one I'd recommend to another if I had an indication that they'd like the subject matter. It's a thinking person's film, not lighthearted entertainment. It's ending was weak, having peaked in a very well executed scene where our hero seems to deal with the situation very appropriately, having pleased his last person . . . only to be thwarted once again and giving in. Maybe. Maybe the clues were there all along as he was told by others, "I had to take the seminar several times." Maybe like Fight Club, one becomes addicted to the fight and the adrenaline rushes. Who knows? Like I said, this film is very thought provoking, just muddy as to what the goal of the organization really about. I would have liked to see that eliminated and the scenes not conducive to the ending omitted.

• Slightly above average, good potential misused...

  suppoost2016-07-23

  I really wanted to like this film more than I rated it, a slight 6. The concept appealed to me: The protagonist is surrounded by abstract situations and aberrant behaving people while they, by contrast, experience everything as being ordinary. Only the protagonist seems to have problems with the conduct of his antagonists and we must watch it, frustratingly. There are not many good films doing this so I gave it a shot. The film makes it seem as if all the people surrounding the protagonist conspire against him, in some sort of illicit plot to brainwash him. It reminded me of 'The Game' by David Fincher, however, Michael Douglas is way more convincing. In 'The Game' Michael Douglas plays a real emotionally strong character and we witness him breaking down. 'Rebirth' starts off with a real insecure and somewhat awkward main character and this is in my perspective one of it's flaws. There is not much character to break down, the protagonist already seems to be too unable to cope with his changing environment. I mean, you notice this in the opening of the film. You are already watching a guy who is emotionally unstable. So you might think that he might gain some character but this is a disappointing thought. Of course, why not have an emotionally weak character if it's played well and fits in the overall concept? The performance of Fran Kranz was likable, at some point flavored with humor when it needed to be but it just didn't nail it for me. In two or more situations I really felt I would have reacted differently to the situation, making his insecurity unbelievable to me, on the edge of annoying. His frantic attempt to exit, or rather escape the building, resulting in an endless trip through hallways was really unbelievable to me. He couldn't find the exit and just leave? While being totally sober? Come on... There are so much films doing this better, the sense of claustrophobia or being lost in some place: Fear-X, Into the Void, Psych9, Stay, Limitless whatever. So the whole concept of him trying to escape the building is not conveyed at all while they do show it on screen.It seemed to me that the whole voyage through the building and it's rooms and characters were almost a trip through his mind, or for that matter, the writers mind. The film unfortunately lacked a necessary amount of symbolism to support this. When disappointment started to emerge the film avoided to become vulgar and cheap and that made me watch it to the end. It started off with so much potential, it was somewhat curious to see it all unfold. The scene in the beginning of the film where they remove the blindfolds had this 'Fight Club' kind of feel about it and really felt genuine. Again, a Fincher title where the film seems to be inspired by. While he is picked on by the leader of the group and used as an example of a rookie, he is drawn away by the attractive blonde. I found this somewhat strange, as the room was really tumultuous. Her voice being very soft made it seem it was only audible to the main character Kyle through the uproar of the audience. This emphasized the 'mind game' what was going on, but as mentioned before, the film does not back this up enough to make it palpable. The scene where he is hit and emotionally abused by the, presumably, psychologist was really unbelievable to me. I would go along with the mind games of this 'Rebirth' program to some extent, but this was way too belligerent and hostile for me to just stand there. I would have absolutely tried to defend myself. Towards the end it appears the people behind the 'Rebirth' program stole his identity and bank account information, blackmailing him to do, well, I really did not get to do what. It felt cheap to me, the film didn't need this at all, I needed a more abstract solution to this all. In 'The Game' the protagonist also is led to believe he is bankrupt, but there it's way more significant and convincing. The film ends with Kyle suddenly being totally integrated in the 'Rebirth' program, somehow as a full fledged member and promoting the whole program. This felt as a unnatural transition and seemed redundant to me; maybe to give some kind of mocking criticism to cults, like Scientology, but it didn't convince me enough. I found the ending not satisfying. It seemed totally misguided here, or maybe it's just me and am I missing something. Still considering a second viewing. The atmosphere of the film stayed fresh enough, I liked the tension and cinematography and this kept me going, but in the end, slightly above average, considering what could have been done with the concept.

• Had potential, but ultimately the execution is flawed

  brendan-821-6548552016-07-17

  This is one of those movies that you get to the end of, and you just know that a lot of people are going to be too scared to admit what they really thought of it, and so instead they're going to start suggesting it's a clever art piece. It could have been so much better, but the execution is ultimately flawed. Firstly, the entire plot is reliant on a Machiavellian plan that is so complex that even the Emperor Palpatine would consider it above his pay grade of nefarious scheming. If it's a piece of pointed satire (presumably the target is Amway) it seems like a rather confused and dishonest way of satirising the cult-like behaviour of a certain direct marketing company - they've mixed honest satirisation in with dishonest and far fetched absurdity. If it's meant to be a more general artistic commentary about modern life and the modern search for meaning, then it's even weaker - the development of those themes is barely even present, let alone brought to completion, and the entire premise relies on a bizarre act of blackmail to be achieved (hardly the stuff of an honest and sincere examination of the modern search for meaning.) There is definitely the genesis of a good idea here, but the final product is totally lacking in depth and clarity of vision, and as a result you walk away feeling like you've just been subjected to a technically well made film school project that's more about showcasing set pieces rather than telling a compelling story or presenting a particularly believable and engaging narrative. The acting is great, but other than that, it's not a particularly good or memorable film - certainly not something I'd re-watch or recommend to anyone.

• Good, but flawed

  welsh_dragon_roar2016-07-16

  This gets an average rating. The plot was extremely good, great acting and there was a wonderful claustrophobic feel to it. Unfortunately, as compelling as it was, the pacing was all off, and I found myself getting bored about three-quarters of the way through. It almost felt as if it could have been an hour long and much more satisfying. As mentioned though, the acting was really good, and there was some real talent on show; I would hope that some of the names in the film go on to bigger things as the characterisations were fantastic. It's definitely worth your while to watch it if you've already got Netflix, but beyond that I'm not really sure of its place in cinematic history.