Helen Review

Helen Paul is a cute simple girl works in a food store (Chicken Hub), got trapped in the store's Freezer room where all the raw stuff kept. It's a father-daughter Bonding with the first half and in second, it turns into a female version of Trapped with different circumstances.

They invest in the story and developing characters to tells us about Helen and her father, her ambitions rather than jumping on the plot, which is good because they don't want to be that Cruel like Trapped or maybe completely not written in that way. 

The writer wants to show us the other side of the Trapped, like how her father and boyfriend were tensed and searching her whole night desperately, and that's why they took time to establish the characters in the first half.

It is actually unfair to compare both the films because Trapped was very well written with a lot of brainstorming and thinking, implicating major ideas and taking every possible event on the note and their main aim is to tell a story of a lone guy got trapped in a flat and tells other things in small flashbacks. Which looks effectively ethical.

But in Helen, that's not the scene because it's a love story or father-daughter bonding about and surprisingly turns into a dreadful situation. So, maybe they have the intent to create a surviving story but took time to reach there.

Otherwise, they failed immensely, taking half the film to establish the story and characters which aren't required if written and brainstormed well. Because if your main objective is to show the struggle of the lead in devasting circumstances, you begin on point - with the scar, without wasting much time.

She can do way more things that I'm imagining as a viewer and thinking,
Why didn't the writers/director think much?
Why didn't she break that two big fans that freezing the whole room?
Or instead of lightening the cardboards, Why didn't she smoke some cigarettes, might feel warm. I know, she's standing in minus 15-16 degree temperature which is fucking freezing and can't do much but I want the writer to go wild and play destructively more aggressive, the raw approach might provide us rousing experience that we're expecting.

They keep the film, simple, safe and kind of not much stuff she did which we are searching for. I'm thinking about making ear cover with cardboard affixing with wrapping film like she did cover her hands and legs with that Or maybe destroy the whole refrigerators thing, give a bang on fans where meter reads the reading or whatever create chaos, you can't die or sleep under the cardboard.

Writer's out of box thinking is missing. They could be more innovative to make the whole film, the whole concept exciting.

The Idea is exciting but not implemented well ..

These unconventional storytelling is fun unless determined the whole concept in the end like Super Deluxe, which also is not a linear, having multiple tracks with intense narrative, still keeps us on the edge of our seats even the ending was shocking but here the unusual turn in the screenplay told us that director wants to convey way more things through one film, same as I feel after watching Dear Comrade, the film also has two tracks, first half the love story and second, have a harassment one. It looks good on pages but if written well each part deserves it's own feature film then.

Anna Ben with her second film manipulates us with her acting and cute face just like she did in Kumbalangi Nights, where she performed cutely well. The father-daughter emotional bonding was remarkably beautiful and attachable.

The performance and makeup were good but a lot of spoon-feeding in terms of storytelling, answering the unnecessary questions which the audience isn't asking even but after all these flaws, it's a good one time watch ..