365 Days | Film Review

Hey Guys x

This is a Polish Netflix film that has been getting a lot of attention, mainly for either the incredulity of the plot, or the multiple sex scenes. But either way, after hearing certain things, I definitely wanted to review it!

Massimo (Michele Morrone) is a member of the Italian Mafia who meets a woman called Laura (Anna-Maria Sieklucka) and immediately falls for her. His plan? To kidnap Laura, giving her 365 days to fall in love with him. But will Laura fall for the man she's trapped with?

Okay, so...

The plot of the film before the couple meet is flimsy at best - it is clear that the writers didn't care what was happening before Massimo kidnaps Laura, and it's really hard for the audience to care too. 

But even after they meet, the plot is ridiculous, and there are so many parts of it that just don't make sense.

The suspension of disbelief for the audience has to be incredibly high to even think about entertaining the realities of the film.

Aside from the sex, which happens way too often in the weirdest of scenes and places, the film is just really boring. The story doesn't hold up at all, and there are so many details that the audience has no reason to care about.

There are a lot of nods, whether intentional or not, to Fifty Shades of Grey, and these nods were the only thing about the movie that actually made sense, and seemed to work with whatever film the filmmakers were trying to make.

As mentioned, not only is the plot unrealistic, but the dialogue is also really unrealistic, cheesy and over-the-top. It's almost laughable, if the film wasn't taking itself seriously.

The most off-putting thing about the film, for me, is that Massimo and Laura are the least interesting characters in a film filled with boring characters. And even if the plot was bad, the relationship between them could have been really interesting.

Speaking of their relationship, the sex, which needs to be mentioned again. My main problem with it is that it wasn't being used to move the plot forward at all, and it seemed to be the only thing that the writers cared about - thus making it the only thing that the audience cared about. 

The only other frequent thing that happened in the movie were the multiple pretty-woman shopping montages, most of which I ended up skipping. It felt like they were used to show how much money Massimo had, but there were so many! Way too many to actually add anything to the story.

And then the weirdest thing of all - this movie, entitled 365 days, where we're given the deadline of a year, ends after only two months! What is going on? Why does it feel so much longer than it is? Why couldn't it have taken place over the year?

And the ending, which was the most surprising part, is an awful ending. But it fit with the rest of the film, so I guess that makes sense. But literally any other ending would have been better.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this at all, unless you want to watch it to see what all the fuss was about, like I did. But definitely don't go into this film thinking that it's better than reviews suggest - it isn't.

3/10

Lou