Saturday, June 24, 2023

'BlackBerry' A Review

BlackBerry is a corporate biopic about the rise and fall of the titular cell phone.

Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie is the clear stand out performance, give this guy some noms, he plays Balsillie like a shark, dead-eyed and decisive, always moving. It is transcendent to watch. He absolutely owns the screen whenever he appears and is able to bring a shocking amount of nuance and depth to what could have been, on paper, a relatively 2D soulless corporate exec type character. Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis gives the subtler performance, goes through the bigger transformation, and he may not be as compelling as Howerton he is still very compelling shouldering and conveying more of the moral conflicts involved in the narrative. The support cast are all solid, there are some fun cameo/casting decisions, but at the end of the day this is really a two hander from Howerton and Baruchel and they both let it rip.

The film has a drab earth-tone color pallet and the locations are very business-office clinical. This juxtaposed with the era-appropriate needle drop ridden soundtrack, the anxiety-ridden serio-comic tone, the gritty hand-held cinematography, and break-neck pacing come together to make something more surprising and engaging than the description would suggest.

A definitive counter point to Air's more milquetoast approach to the feature treatment of historic products.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

See It.

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