August 21, 2022
Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
Cassie Salazar (Sofia Carson) was the lead singer of her band The Loyal, who was working as a waitress to pay the bills while waiting for their big break. However, her diabetes medications were about to run out and she had no cash nor insurance. She overheard that wives of soldiers had great health care benefits, so she asked US Marine Lance Corporal Luke Morrow (Nicolas Galitzine) if she could marry him before he left for his tour of duty to Iraq. Luke had a huge debt to pay, so he agreed to her proposal to get extra income.
In the guise of a romance-drama, this film tackles a pretty serious topic about defrauding government funds for personal gain by taking advantage of loopholes in the system. The act they had to do to keep their sham marriage believable was uncomfortable to watch, as their feelings for each other seem to shift radically from one extreme to the other. The ending was typical Netflix, not really realistic given their widely-differing world-views. Cassie's songs were not bad, actually catchy, but not sure if these songs can really bring her all the way to a Rose Bowl gig. 5/10.
Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Natalie Bennett (Lili Reinhart) had her life all planned out. After her college graduation, she was all set to go to Los Angeles with her friend Cara (Aisha Dee) to pursue her dream job to be an animator. However, she had a one-night stand with her supposedly platonic male best friend Gabe (Danny Ramirez) just on a whim. A week later, Nat began having episodes of nausea and vomiting, so she took a pregnancy test. The film then diverges into two paths, showing what happens to Nat's life if the test was positive or when it was negative.
Film director Wanuri Kahiu from Kenya put together a well-crafted and beautifully resonant film about the two possible ways the life of a young woman can go whether or not she gets pregnant. Kahui seamlessly shifted scenes from pregnant Nat in Texas and not pregnant Nat in LA, showing both the good and the bad in both alternative timelines. This type of story had been done before in films like "Sliding Doors" (1998) and the ending was typical of Netflix love stories, but Kahiu's insightful direction and Reinhart's nuanced performance elevates it. 7/10.
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