Mind Games
- 2017
- 1h 44m
YOUR RATING
A man tortured by guilt meets a psychopathic killer who forces him to revisit and conquer his personal demons in order to save his only daughter and survive the day.A man tortured by guilt meets a psychopathic killer who forces him to revisit and conquer his personal demons in order to save his only daughter and survive the day.A man tortured by guilt meets a psychopathic killer who forces him to revisit and conquer his personal demons in order to save his only daughter and survive the day.
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the monthly season of December 2017, "Mind Games" was awarded Best Narrative Feature in Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, in India.
Featured review
Simple, realistic, and efficient
"Mind Games", directed by Charles Mawungwa, had all the potential of being a breathtaking movie till three fourth of its duration. However, as the saying goes: too many cooks spoil the broth. The plot became predictable with too many twists and turns. The film hits high notes with two mind wrenching murder sequences in the very beginning, inducing a sense of mystery in the audience. Soon, everything shifts to Sam, who's a successful businessman, divorced and has a beautiful daughter with his ex-wife, who he meets on the weekends, and loves more than anything in the world. Sam's girlfriend dislikes his connection with his daughter, so does his ex-wife. Things turn topsy-turvy when Sam is taken hostage by a shrewd murderer, who identifies himself as Ex.
The man tells Sam that he's taken his daughter hostage and shall leave her if Sam follows his instructions. Ex makes Sam do bizarre things, confess some of his criminal activities, and his role in his son's death. After, the audience is hit with the big twist that's at the same time amusing but also predictable. It's not predictable storywise (although some viewers might figure out that element as well), but more in the terms of the overall mood. We had so many films of this kind that our brain somehow learned what emotion to accept. We can say our brains finally learned to expect the old Chekhov's Gun... at least to a certain extent.
Mysteries unfold one after another raising the expectation of the audience, and ultimately ending up in a predictable pattern of two geniuses playing mind games with each other.
The movie is simple, realistic, and efficient. It does not grab your immediate attention with overwhelming sound, light, set; which is the 101 list for many crime thrillers; a cold blue tone, drony, deep music & you got yourself a thriller. The places and events are more like what we see in real life, and this toned down mise-en-scene is the strongest element of the film. Very well crafted realistic art direction, subtle background score, realistic light adds up to the storytelling.
The direction is decent, until the point the film falls in the redundant trap of repeated attempts for the two main characters to check-mate one another. That is where the film stops being a 'mind game'. The editing could have been a lot crisper. As far as the performance goes, most actors play their role really well, except for the fact that the protagonist did not live up to the mark. But then again, that's as much up to the actor as it is to the creator of the character. His expressions and dialogue delivery didn't have variations through the mountains of emotions; from fear to anger, to anxiety, to hatred, to revengeful attitude, which his character was subjected to. The other actors however delivered their best shots. The child actors do deserve a special mention.
Panchali Kar/Cult Critic/CCMA
The man tells Sam that he's taken his daughter hostage and shall leave her if Sam follows his instructions. Ex makes Sam do bizarre things, confess some of his criminal activities, and his role in his son's death. After, the audience is hit with the big twist that's at the same time amusing but also predictable. It's not predictable storywise (although some viewers might figure out that element as well), but more in the terms of the overall mood. We had so many films of this kind that our brain somehow learned what emotion to accept. We can say our brains finally learned to expect the old Chekhov's Gun... at least to a certain extent.
Mysteries unfold one after another raising the expectation of the audience, and ultimately ending up in a predictable pattern of two geniuses playing mind games with each other.
The movie is simple, realistic, and efficient. It does not grab your immediate attention with overwhelming sound, light, set; which is the 101 list for many crime thrillers; a cold blue tone, drony, deep music & you got yourself a thriller. The places and events are more like what we see in real life, and this toned down mise-en-scene is the strongest element of the film. Very well crafted realistic art direction, subtle background score, realistic light adds up to the storytelling.
The direction is decent, until the point the film falls in the redundant trap of repeated attempts for the two main characters to check-mate one another. That is where the film stops being a 'mind game'. The editing could have been a lot crisper. As far as the performance goes, most actors play their role really well, except for the fact that the protagonist did not live up to the mark. But then again, that's as much up to the actor as it is to the creator of the character. His expressions and dialogue delivery didn't have variations through the mountains of emotions; from fear to anger, to anxiety, to hatred, to revengeful attitude, which his character was subjected to. The other actors however delivered their best shots. The child actors do deserve a special mention.
Panchali Kar/Cult Critic/CCMA
helpful•10
- CultCriticMovieAwards
- Jan 21, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 44 minutes
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content