Blackberry Review; Glasgow Film Festival!
Not only entertaining but I actually learned quite a lot from this film.
It's obvious what this film is about; the tale of the company Blackberry. I personally never knew the story & although this is dramatised like crazy it's still interesting to watch how this Canadian company became so popular and changed the world as we know it. As someone who had a Blackberry before moving to iPhone, it was so intriguing to know the behind-the-scenes + what my unconscious young mind did when apple decided to take the market by storm (only mentioning as I feel everyone knows Apple’s impact but still does not hinder anything with the premise of the movie.) The film is funny but gripping as we uncover what had happened to the once-huge company.
It feels slightly different from Johnson's other work but not far off. The same choices the director makes are still there but this time, it has a slither of feeling like a traditional drama, especially in the latter half of the film. The first half does follow the story of the rise of the company but it's hilarious, especially with its outlandish characters. Hearing about his unique style of filming (mostly improvised or subtly scripted) somehow works and is cohesive (due to using two cameras.) The audience was laughing throughout showcasing mostly the talent on screen. It could also be a positive reflection of the screenplay laying the groundwork but I think the actors excelled in bringing this film to another level.
Linking onto the talent on screen with their ability to naturally improvise segments but somehow find cohesiveness for the entire film, the acting also was brilliant but especially from Howtern. His character embodied the entire film with such comedic and thrilling moments by playing the dramatic co-CEO of Blackberry in such a powerful memorable way. With that being stated the whole cast really pushes in making their characters the best they could be and the audience including myself become invested.
The latter half of the film is where the laughing gets toned down (though still overly dramatic) as the story became more ‘serious’ in tone. Johnson like his other work can find the balance of drama/comedy and he does it again. Although he stated changes will be made to the final film, it never missed a beat as I never found myself losing interest or the film not wavering too much into the comedy/drama route. What I meant by a traditional movie was it’s still overly dramatised but it felt more grounded in terms of focusing on the story than the comedic elements. This does reflect the narrative of the film.
Technical wise it’s nothing award-winning but as mentioned again it's the director's unqie style which has never gone wrong so far. This is not me critiquing that the score, cinematography or editing is bad but it's standard with nothing truly taking the spotlight. It definitely feels like a film that puts the cast/story at the forefront, with that being said this works for this film. I will state that his previous film The Dirties still overtakes this film, just from a story point of view, the unique style but also the camera work on that film. Blackberry is an excellent movie, I just feel The Dirties was something special that is hard to replicate.
To conclude; I highly recommend checking this movie out. It not only going to entertain you but I learned a lot from this film about a company that was truly dominating the world. A film that is styled like you are witnessing the actual events… well in an insane parallel universe (I guess?)