Free Essay with the Movie Review: Brokendown Palace

"Brokendown palace," an American drama movie based on a story Witten by David Arata and Adam Fields about two close friends imprisoned for drug smuggling in Thailand. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan and main roles played by Kate Beckinsale and Clare Danes, the official release happened on August 1999 with distribution done by 20th century Fox Company. Despite the setting of most parts of the movie being in Thailand, the actual shooting of the scenes happened in the Philippines. I consider this film to be an "okay" movie due to its underdevelopment and ineffective topic selection, but still, it's worth watching.

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Unlike other movies, in this film the director uses a common storyline structure to convey his opinions (Romney 2014). For example, the film sticks to one story till the end. "Brokendown Palace" depicts a tale of two young female American high school graduates Darlene and Alice who goes to Thailand for a vacation. The two ladies meet and befriend Nick parks, an Australian man who in turn invites them for a business trip to Hong Kong for a couple of days. Trying to be loyal to the newfound friendship, the ladies accept the invitation. However, the authorities at the airport arrest the ladies after seeing a significant amount of heroin in their bag and as a result, sentences them to long-term incarceration at the Thai correctional institution.

The director successfully displays general suspense in the film that leaves the audience for the better part of the movie asking themselves whether the girls knew about the drugs found in their piece of luggage or the drug standoff situation caught them by surprise as they were innocent. While watching the movie for the first time, I got held up in this dilemma of trying to figure out whom among the two ladies had the drugs. I tried guessing but failed, so I kept watching the movies to find out. From this point of view, the director succeeds in creating misery and uncertainty leaving the viewers in suspense about the innocence of the two main characters. Though in my opinion, the movie has few shortcomings that prevent it from being a great film.

The plot of the movie closely relates to another cinema released earlier with an identical storyline. "The Return to Paradise" movie follows a similar storyline as Jonathan's "Brokendown Palace." The director of the earlier movie emphasized and paid a lot of attention to full character deployment, presenting the pressures and inner personal conflict between saving oneself or saving a friend and describing the process of making such kind of tough decision by the main characters. In the film where the relationship of the main characters took a turn for the worst when they started when they start suspecting each other concerning the drugs. The movie lacked emotional and acting flair to develop the central themes such as friendship, trust, hardship, and care for others.

As a result of partially developed themes, the practical aspect of the movie losses meaning especially the section shot in the actual setups such the prison. Regardless of all the challenges, the director uses appropriate film techniques such as a well-matched soundtrack to improve the storytelling in the most dramatic scenes in the movie. Also, the extraordinary performance by Bill Pullman who plays the role of an American advocate staying in Thailand remains unquestioned. Eger to satisfy his financial needs, the Antony shows interest in the case of the two American girls. He later changes his stand after seeing the injustice and unfairness projected towards the ladies (Salt 2004).Given that it is difficult to correctly grade the presentations of the cast members in a film. I believe the director do influence the character development. In the movie, a viewer questions the act of the main character who fails to develop their roles conclusively.

The movie did not meet the expectations of the producers and the cast members who took part in the making of the film. In my opinion, I relate the failure of the movie to the total inadequate development within the movie. I firmly believe that could have received much higher ratings and reviews if the director facilitated a more in-depth development of the main characters. Subsequently, instead of focusing on less and shallow captivating themes like the corruption of the legal system and individual imperfections, better intriguing subjects would have been elaborated. For example, as the movies introduce, the girls are best friends and have known each other throughout high school. The writers handling of the friendship disregards the artistic nature essential in the film. The Friendship together with the willingness to endure pain and hardship as the sacrifice for each other, the movie's effect would have been significant. The film did not receive any award and given a score of 31 percent in the Internet Movie Database.

Notwithstanding the above productive criticism, the extraordinary use of suspense in the movie makes it attractive to the viewers who may want to know the fate of the two actors. This movie fails most of the requirements of a great film, but it can be a better choice for less cinematically cultured viewers in a dull afternoon.

Reference List

Romney, Jonathan. "Green and pleasant land." Film Comment 43.1 (2014)

Salt, Barry. "The shape of 1999: the stylistics of American movies at the end of the century." New Review of Film and Television Studies 2.1 (2004)