24 hours with Gaspar has a lot of moving parts in it. There’s the case of the titular character’s deteriorating heart problem. Agnes, who runs an underground fight club, wants to eat the rich and support his friend. There is a woman called Bu Tati who thinks her husband is dead, but he is very much alive, and he has been betrayed by a man called Wan Ali. Bu Tati’s son, Yadi, has been wronged by Wan Ali, so he wants revenge. Gaspar’s ex, Kik, and her present boyfriend, Njet, want to get away from the vapid landscape and build a life together. Fuel is a huge issue. Money is scarce. A plague has ramped up the illegal (or maybe it’s legal in a dystopia with hardly any morals or law) organ harvesting business. However, what keeps the film ticking is Gaspar’s quest to find his long-lost childhood friend, Kirana, and his obsession with a black box that Wan Ali possesses. So, let’s talk about it.

Gaspar described himself as an orphan who fell from the sky and was raised by an old man called Babaji. He used to tell him the stories of the villagers who lived on the foothills of the Govardhan mountain and how their lives were influenced by Indra and Krishna. Apparently, the villagers used to pray to Indra for rain, but that caused Indra to become arrogant. In order to teach Indra a lesson, Krishna told the villagers to stop praying to Indra and helped them move to Govardhan Hill because it was the source of all the rainwater. That obviously angered Indra, and he made it rain for seven days and seven nights. So, Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill and used it to shield the villagers from the torrential rain. On the fifth day, a farmer named Achal found a black box that had the power to grant any wish that one wanted. Babaji asked Gaspar what he would do if he found a black box like that, and he said that he’d ask for a friend. That’s where Kirana came into the picture.

Kirana lived in a posh house with her father, Wan Ali, and she befriended Gaspar. They talked about the detective stories Gaspar loved; they wandered around the neighborhood, watching dead bodies being dragged out of houses; and they even welcomed Kik into their group. One day, Gaspar had to go away to get his heart checked (which was on the right side of his body), and when he came back, Kirana was gone. From that day on, Gaspar seemingly dedicated every waking day of his life to searching for Kirana. The running theory was that Kirana was sold away to solve Wan Ali’s financial issues. Now, Gaspar believed that the black box in Wan Ali’s possession, which he had acquired from Bachtiar S. Abdillah (Bu Tati’s husband) after he learned that it gave its owner whatever they wanted, held the clue to Kirana’s whereabouts. So, Gaspar’s goal was to not only bankrupt Wan Ali but also to get hold of this black box and hopefully find Kirana. While 24 Hours with Gaspar was realistic for the most part, it became a little abstract when it came to the contents of the black box.

Essentially, at the end of 24 Hours with Gaspar, the titular character chopped off Wan Ali’s finger and used it to open a warehouse that was filled with children and the organs that had been harvested from the people Wan Ali and his “company” had killed. When he got to the black box and opened it, he saw a miniaturized version of Kirana sitting in it, looking up at Gaspar in a melancholic way. Bachtiar S. Abdillah said that the box had the ability to store one’s “most precious treasure.” So, if you look at it through the lens of magical realism, maybe Wan Ali asked the black box to imprison Kirana in it so that she would be protected from the world that was abducting girls her age and harvesting their organs. The black box fulfilled Wan Ali’s wish and trapped Kirana in it for 23 long years. However, given how we don’t see Gaspar taking out this miniaturized version of Kirana from the box or hear him ask the black box to reverse the curse that it had put on Kirana, I suppose I have to opt for the realistic option: Kirana is dead.

24 hours with Gaspar’s commentary was centered around the notion that if there’s no hope left in the world, people tend to lie to themselves to keep moving forward. Once they begin to believe the lie they are telling themselves, it doesn’t matter if any form of success is waiting for them at the end of their journey. It’s the hollow belief that keeps them alive. Gaspar’s will to live probably died the day Kirana went missing. Deep down, he knew that the despicable Wan Ali had killed his own daughter and sold her body parts, and the black box was merely a thing that fueled his superstitions like a lucky charm. But Gaspar convinced himself that Kirana was alive and that the black box had the key to solving the mystery surrounding her disappearance. When he actually opened the box, maybe what he really saw was an old picture of Kirana, or maybe there was nothing in it. Gaspar was clearly overwhelmed by what he saw, and it triggered his memories of spending time with Kirana, but it’s totally possible that the empty insides of the box made him realize that his quest had been a futile one all along.

That said, instead of simply accepting the truth about the meaningless nature of his journey, Gaspar decided to act on it and freed the girls who were imprisoned by Wan Ali. He was too young to do anything for Kirana. By the time he was old enough to make a difference, the opportunity to save Kirana was gone. But Gaspar realized that he could ensure that girls like his childhood friend wouldn’t have to go through the same ordeal, and he used his last moments to give them a second chance at life. Even though that sounds noble and all, that conclusion has a hint of bitterness to it because, at the end of the day, those girls are walking out into a dystopia. Yes, they have a chance to forge their own future. However, there’s a good chance that some other gang that partakes in organ harvesting will abduct them to another prison, thereby restarting their cycle of misery. Hence, in a roundabout way, 24 Hours with Gaspar sends the message that humans shouldn’t allow things to get so bad that the prospect of a solution becomes a distant reality. We shouldn’t lie to ourselves or resort to mythological stories to deal with the times. We should act in the moment so that kids like Gaspar and Kirana can have a normal and healthy childhood.

The dystopian cyberpunk Indonesian thriller 24 Hours with Gaspar is a blend of reality, dream, and myth. The ruling class continues to oppress the poor, the world is a gloomy mess, people wear breathing masks, and the National Guard has taken over the entire country. The National Security Agency controls all information, and National Guards are stationed at every corner to ensure that everyone obeys directives and regulations. They had access to the data of every individual, making it easier to control them. Through a television broadcast, we learn about the six mass graves recently discovered, where 251 bodies were found. Civil society was responsible for the discovery, suggesting that the State would have preferred to hide it. This was indicative of perhaps a mass murder conducted by the State. Authoritarian rule prevails, but the growing dissatisfaction among the general public is palpable.

Spoiler Alert

Who was Gaspar searching for?

Gaspar was an orphan, and his only guardian was Babaji, an old man who had adopted him. The stories Babaji told him as a little boy continued to fascinate him even as a grown adult. Gaspar believed he was no ordinary boy; with his heart on the right side, he had reason to believe he was special. Gaspar was convinced that he fell from the sky, and Babaji raised him as his own. He was a father figure to Gaspar, and his stories made the little boy believe in fairytales and myths. He trusted Babaji when he told him that there was a magical black box, much like Aladdin’s lamp, that was found on the Govardhan hills. Gaspar was a lonely boy, and he thought that if he ever chanced upon the box, he would wish for a friend.

Gaspar did find a friend eventually—her name was Kirana. She lived with her father, Wan Ali, in a neighboring house. Gaspar enjoyed her company, and even though he was just a boy, she had faith in his dream of becoming a detective. Gaspar remembered Kirana asking him to promise to find her if she ever went missing. He did not pay heed to the request then, but as he grew up, he regretted not keeping his promise. Kirana was gone one morning when Gaspar returned home from the hospital. He then assumed that her family had relocated, but eventually, he started to doubt it. When Gaspar found out that his heart condition was critical and he would only survive for 24 hours, he made it his life’s motive to find his friend, Kirana. Gaspar had found out from his informants that Wan Ali had sold Kirana, and when she fell sick, she was brought to Hartati Dibyo Clinic. The clinic turned out to be a property handed over to Ali by someone prominent. Gaspar met his sister-in-law, Bu Tati; she lived in the clinic after her husband committed suicide and left her in debt. She was thankful to Wan Ali for looking after her during a time of crisis. He could not gather much information about Kirana, but he learned more about the gold jewelry store Ali owned.

Why was Kirana taken away?

Gaspar doubted that Kirana was one of the many who were sold for organ transplants. In 2025, during Plague 36, those close to the government were vaccinated. The vaccine protected them from the plague, but it had extreme side effects. Gaspar discovered the effect of the vaccine when he closely studied a sample of a man involved in the human trafficking business. The vaccine resulted in organ failures and as a result, the demand for organs increased. His informant had collected the sample, and the National Guard had their eyes on him, and they eventually killed him. According to the information Gaspar had, the man, whose sample the informant collected, maintained close relations with government agencies and ran an organ trafficking network. Gaspar doubted that the man helped National Security clear their image after the failed vaccination drive.

Was Gaspar’s robbery plan a success?

Gaspar gathered a group of people he thought could help him rob Wan Ali’s jewelry store. He was convinced that Ali had the black box he had heard of as a child. After digging deep into Bu Tati’s past, Gaspar found out that her husband, Bachtiar. S. Abdillah, had not committed suicide but was killed by Wan Ali. Bachtiar was a prosperous man, and he helped Ali when he went bankrupt. Bachtiar and Ali started an antique business together. He made the mistake of showing Ali his prized possession, a black box. Ali was suffering from a financial crisis at the time, and when Bachtiar told him how the box had changed the course of his life and brought him immense wealth, he decided to steal it from him. After stealing the box, Wan Ali killed Bachtiar and dumped his body in the river. He took away all of Bachtiar’s fortune and lied to Bu Tati about her husband leaving her a huge debt. When Bu Tati found out about how Wan Ali had fooled her, she made up her mind to help Gaspar rob his shop. Gaspar also won the trust of her son, Yadi, who worked at Ali’s jewelry store. When Yadi found out that Ali was sleeping with his wife, he was furious, and he decided to help Gaspar with his plan. Gaspar also managed to convince his childhood friend/ex-girlfriend, Kik, and her boyfriend, Njet, to join him in the robbery. They were living in poverty, and with their resources drying up, they needed a way to make money. Agnes, a believer in bringing justice to the common people, also joined the quest, and her romantic inclination towards Gaspar became evident in the course of 24 Hours with Gaspar.

Gaspar and his team planned on breaking into the store when Wan Ali would not be present. But to their surprise, Ali was hiding with his men behind closed doors. Maybe he had anticipated an attack, and he chose to wait for it patiently. This was not what they had expected, and they stood there cluelessly for a minute. Gaspar tried to come up with a plan, but he realized that there was no other option left except for running for their lives. The robbery was unsuccessful, and to make matters worse, the car Kik, Njet, Bu Tati, and Yadi were escaping in fell into the river. Gaspar did not have enough time in hand to come up with an alternate plan for another day. He knew he had to act immediately, and Agnes was ready to help him.

What was in the black box?

Agnes, masquerading as Gaspar, rode his bike and grabbed the attention of Wan Ali’s men. They chased her, and she brought them to her ghetto, where hundreds of common people waited to avenge the ruling class. Meanwhile, Gaspar returned to the store and had a one-on-one fight with Wan Ali. Gaspar overpowered him, and Wan Ali was left lying on the floor, helpless. Gaspar asked him to disclose where Kirana was, but he refused to answer him. Gaspar grabbed hold of a scissor and chopped off Ali’s thumb. He had previously followed Ali to his warehouse and watched him carry the black box there. Gaspar was convinced that the secret was hidden in the warehouse.

At the end of the film, Gaspar entered Ali’s warehouse and was devastated upon seeing the faces of the little girls trapped there. The girls were locked up in cages, and in the next room, Gaspar found organs kept in boxes in the freezer. Wan Ali was involved in the human trafficking business, and he was working for the State. Wan Ali sold his daughter to protect himself during his financial crisis. Gaspar entered the final room, and he saw the black box right in front of him. This is where the magical element of 24 Hours with Gaspar is introduced. When Gaspar opened the box, he found Kirana seated inside. He had been yearning to catch a glimpse of his long-lost friend, and the magical box showed him what he craved. Gaspar wanted to be reunited with his friend before he lost his life, and the box made his wish come true. We can assume that Kirana lost her life, and her organs were used by the National Guard to protect their reputation. She lived in a confined space and suffered until her last breath. She hoped for Gaspar to find her, but he was too young to connect the dots. Gaspar was late, but it was his effort that resulted in the freedom of the little girls.

What happened to Gaspar and his crew?

During 24 Hours with Gaspar‘s ending, we find out that Gaspar’s crew survived. Bu Tati, Yadi, Kik, Njet, and Agnes made their way back to Wan Ali’s store. Ali was unresponsive when they entered the store; perhaps he would eventually die of bleeding. The gang finally got their hands on the gold that they had been waiting for. Bu Tati and Yadi had resolved their differences and would finally not have to depend on Wan Ali to survive. Kik and Njet were in love, and they dreamed of a future together. The gold would help them stay out of poverty and live a decent life. Agnes lost the man she loved, and we can assume that she would use the gold she got from the store to help the poor.

Gaspar met with an accident while riding his bike. His body rolled over to the river bank, and he was found by destitute people living in the area. They took away his shoes, clothes, and anything that could be of some value to them. Even in his tragic condition, a handful of people saw hope—hope to fix their lives in some way and not give up for another day. Gaspar helped his crew take home money and gold and live a respectable life. In a world with limited resources and poverty taking the lives of thousands, Gaspar was perhaps pleased to be a ray of hope in the lives of strangers and friends. As a little boy, all he wanted was a friend, and even though he had lost her, in the end, he stuck to his promise and solved the mystery behind her disappearance. His purpose in life was fulfilled, and in the last few minutes before the accident, he experienced a sense of peace. He reminisced about spending hours with Kirana as a child. It is not clear if Gaspar died in the accident, but knowing the condition of his heart, he does not have much time left. He talked about hope and second chances in life, and the only way he could experience all of it was through a miracle, and who knows, maybe Kirana’s spirit will make the miracle possible (the centipede crossing his face is indicative of the friends uniting in some form). Gaspar was still breathing, and maybe he would be spared some time to experience love (Agnes) and happiness.

Director Dean Israelite explores the idea of home and belonging in the heartfelt coming-of-age drama Little Wing. Thirteen-year-old Kaitlyn McKay’s world turned upside down when her parents announced their divorce. It was not an unforeseen decision, but the aftermath of such a significant change left her devastated. A feminist at heart who was desperately searching for inspiration, Kaitlyn thought it was ridiculously pretentious when her peers claimed to be inspired by famous dead white men. From the very beginning, we get a sense that Kaitlyn was unafraid of speaking her mind. She did not care about playing it safe or getting a good score, and she was proud of admitting to the fact that she looked up to Britney Spears and Kathleen Hanna. 

Spoiler Alert

What did Kaitlyn do with the Granger?

The divorce was inevitable, and when her parents announced it, Kaitlyn decided to take advantage of the emotional scenario and beg them for an iPhone. It was a small compensation that she hoped to be rewarded with for the damage the divorce would cause. But, of course, her demand was not entertained, and she ended up with two pigeons in a cage. 

Kaitlyn’s mother, Maddie, was a detective in the police department, and one evening, she invited her boss, Ben Lasher, and his wife, Libby Lasher, for dinner. Kaitlyn was hiding her excitement when Ben got up to bring her a gift. She prayed with all her heart for a phone but was handed a pair of racing pigeons. Ben belonged to the small community of pigeon enthusiasts, and he hoped for Kaitlyn to find company in the little creatures. Needless to say, Kaitlyn was disappointed.

When Kaitlyn found out that Maddie was planning on selling their house because she did not have the money to pay the mortgage, she was heartbroken. Little Wing repeatedly compares Kaitlyn with pigeons and their desire to always return home. Kaitlyn refused to be plucked out of her home, and to protect her space of comfort, she was ready to risk it all. Kaitlyn’s best friend, Adam, was psyched when he saw the pigeons. He read up on them all night and shared every little interesting detail he found online. While Kaitlyn chose to ignore it all, the mention of a $120 grand caught her attention. Apparently, there was a white-helmet racing pigeon, Granger, owned by pigeon enthusiast Jaan Vari, worth over Kaitlyn’s house. She immediately made up her mind to steal the pigeon, sell it to the highest bidder, and use the money to keep their house. Adam was not as adventurous as Kaitlyn, but she promised him a French kiss, and it was enough to fuel his interest. After locating Jaan Vari’s house, the teen pigeon thieves left on their bikes and managed to enter Vari’s pigeon loft. Out of tens of pigeons, Kaitlyn spotted the glorious Granger and packed it in her pillowcase. Kaitlyn managed to climb down the fire escape, but by the time Adam realized his goggles had gone missing, Jaan Vari chased him. The next morning, Adam returned to school with a broken arm and a firm decision to never get involved in any of Kaitlyn’s mischievous plans.

The next line of business for Kaitlyn was making contact with the Russian pigeon mafia, and she sought assistance from the only Russian she knew, her classmate Kiril Koslov. The negotiation scene is hilarious, with grown adult mob men making a deal with a teenager who did not shy away from threatening them. Kaitlyn returned home with 25,000 dollars in her bag. It was not enough to save her home, but it was a stepping stone.

How did Jaan Vari and Kaitlyn become friends?

Kaitlyn knew she was in trouble when Jaan Vari knocked on her door. She assumed he would file a case against her and she would be imprisoned, but Jaan instead chose to keep the entire robbery private. He did not wish to get Maddie involved in her daughter’s mess, and he was hopeful about getting Granger back without causing any trouble. He lost faith when Kaitlyn lied about his beloved bird being with Adam. Jaan wanted Granger back at all costs, and Kaitlyn promised to get his bird back. Of course, it was an impossible challenge, and Kaitlyn alone could not break into the Russian mafia cage. 

Kaitlyn gathered up her courage and decided to admit the truth. She was strangely no longer afraid of facing the consequences of her actions. She was so disappointed with her life that she had lost her will to keep on fighting. Her parents’ divorce, losing her home, and her best friend leaving her —all of it had tremendously impacted the 13-year-old. Kaitlyn wanted to give up on her life—she was not the perfect girl in class, neither were her grades good, her personal life was crumbling down, and it was all just too much for her to deal with. Jaan’s anger dissipated when he figured out what Kaitlyn was going through. He was not sympathetic; instead, he encouraged her to look at the brighter side of things. He had been in the Vietnam War, and he had a clear idea of what tragedy can do to a person, but he also believed that finding moments of joy even in such demanding situations is what life is all about. The heartfelt conversation helped Jaan understand the whimsical teenager better, and in a strange turn of events, they eventually became quite good friends. It was Jaan who helped Kaitlyn realize the importance of friendship in life. He helped her understand the nitty-gritty of pigeon racing, and to Maddie’s surprise, her daughter took a serious interest in the sport. Kaitlyn was fascinated by the birds she initially ignored. She could relate to their will to always return home.

Did the Granger return home?

Jaan and Kaitlyn were determined to bring Granger back home. Kaitlyn believed it was the least she could do after all the trouble Jaan had to live through. She was about to sneak out of her house through the window in her room when her brother stopped her. Matt was severely impacted by the divorce, and it was the first time in a long while that Kaitlyn heard him speak. The plan to steal a pigeon from a Russian mafia appealed to him, and the brother and sister left their house in the middle of the night. The trio lost hope when they reached the mafia’s warehouse and realized that they could not break in since the cage was made of steel. But Matt refused to give up. It had been a long time since he had taken up a challenge, and he was determined to see it through.

Matt had no control over the things that had recently happened in his life, but breaking into the warehouse was something that he could do on his own. He saw a way into the loft through the window, and he risked getting his bones fractured to make it there. At that moment, Matt was immensely proud of himself for not giving up. The climb was symbolic in the sense that, amidst the hardship, he had to remain focused on his goal and take a leap of faith towards success and happiness. Jaan, Kaitlyn, and Matt broke into the loft and found Granger. Kaitlyn left the money she was handed by the mob, and Matt realized how afraid his sister was to lose the house.

As they were about to leave, the Russian pigeon mafia stopped them. Jaan had confidence in Granger and asked Kaitlyn to leave the door of the cage open for it to fly away. Jaan believed that Granger would safely make it back to his house, but unfortunately, his prized possession did not return. To Kaitlyn’s surprise, one morning, she found the Granger on her window sill. She was overjoyed to be reunited with it, especially knowing how happy Jaan would be to see his pigeon. She carefully carried Granger to Jaan’s place, and she was surprised to see him emptying his loft.

What was Jaan Vari’s advice to Kaitlyn?

It had been six years since Jaan had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but he refused to leave his pigeon loft and move to his condo in Arizona. His wife, Carole, worried about his health, but his love for his pigeons controlled every aspect of his life.

During Little Wing‘s ending, when Kaitlyn meets Jaan to hand him Granger, she realizes that he is leaving. Jaan’s condition had worsened, and he had to opt for residential treatment. Jaan had gifted his pigeons to fellow enthusiasts, and he saved some for Kaitlyn as well. When he heard that Granger had flown back to Kaitlyn’s place and not his loft, he realized that his beloved pigeon had chosen Kaitlyn. Jaan trusted his teen friend to look after Granger, and in a way, it was his achievement that he helped a young girl fall in love with pigeons and care for them just like he did. Kaitlyn raced her pigeons, Charlie Ticket and Juliet, and she believed there was no joy greater than watching her birds return home to her in free will. The phenomenon continued to fascinate her. Kaitlyn was overjoyed when Maggie informed her that they would not have to move out. After realizing how important it was for his sister to live in the same house, Matt threatened his father to pay the mortgage. Even though they did not share much, Kaitlyn was thankful to her brother for looking out for her.

Little Wing ends with Kaitlyn visiting Jaan at his residential treatment center. They continued to keep in touch and watch birds from the terrace. Kaitlyn had always wanted to know the meaning of life from her old friend, and in the end, Jaan disclosed that life was sweet, even with all its ups and downs. There will always be days when everything seems to be falling apart, but life is precious to hold on to for those little sweet moments of joy and pure bliss. Life is unpredictable and Kaitlyn and Jaan Vari friendship is just an example. Kaitlyn was hopeless when she met the old man, but here she was, laughing and sharing the tales of her pigeons with him. Jaan believed that life always offered tiny specks of happiness to hold on to, and it was worth fighting off the dark, gloomy times.

Drive-Away Dolls is Ethan Coen’s first feature fiction film after his split from brother Joel, and it does somewhat succeed in bringing back the dark comedy appeal so intrinsic to their style. The plot follows two friends, Jamie and Marian, who unknowingly get involved in some shady criminal activity during their long and twisted road trip from Philadelphia to Tallahassee. Along with learning about the secrets hidden inside the car they have just rented, the two women also make discoveries about themselves. Drive-Away Dolls might not be appealing to everyone, and it also does not have the tightest or most interesting plot, but nonetheless, it makes for a good, quirky watch.

Spoiler Alert

Who are the protagonists, Jamie and Marian?

Drive-Away Dolls begins in Philadelphia in 1999, inside a dimly lit bar, sometime late at night. A man sits in one of the private booths, holding onto a briefcase very tightly, evidently very scared of the situation. But he cannot leave the place either, as he seems to be waiting for someone and has already ordered a few rounds of drinks and refills. Finally, once an entire hour has passed, the man, soon introduced as Santos, asks for the check and decides to leave the bar, abandoning the meeting plan that he originally had. Clearing his dues and leaving the place, Santos still holds on to the briefcase very dearly, only to realize that the waiter who had been serving him throughout the evening is now following him around. Fearing for the case and also for his own life, Santos runs into a dark alley, hoping to hide, but to no avail. The waiter catches up and violently stabs him with two corkscrews, while a car drives to the place and more men join in. Ultimately, Santos is killed, and his briefcase, which seems to have been the main target, is stolen.

The protagonists of the film are then introduced, as the two friends, Jamie and Marian, are quite opposite from each other in their personalities. Jamie is a fun-loving young woman who is still on the course of figuring her life out, particularly in the aspect of love, and so she has a string of affairs with multiple women in the city. Jamie’s life and choices are, in fact, more colorful than necessary, and the troubles for her are mostly because of a lover catching her in the act with another. At present, too, Jamie’s current partner, Sukie, learns that she has been intimate with other women in the recent past, and so she naturally ends the relationship, rendering Jamie homeless since she had been living with Sukie. On the other side, Marian also belongs to the same friend group and is also the same age as Jamie, but is way more settled in life in the conventional sense. Marian works a white-collar job at an office, and the last sexual interaction she had was many years ago. While both women are openly lesbian, Jamie has made it the first noticeable aspect of her personality, while Marian hardly fits into the stereotypes. 

Marian decides to go on a trip to Tallahassee, Florida, in order to meet with her aunt Ellis, and upon hearing this plan, Jamie also wants to join. Despite having some minor initial inhibitions, Marian allows Jamie to join in, and the two decide to rent a drive-away service to reach Florida. The service essentially has a set of cars that need to be delivered from one place to another, and any customer can do the work while making use of the vehicle for their own travel for a small fee. The women take the service from a shop in Philadelphia named Curlie’s, where they are given an old Dodge Aries after they mention their destination as Tallahassee. Jamie and Marian plan their route towards Florida, mostly on the advice of the former, who wants to visit a number of lesbian bars along the way, simply to loosen up her friend, whom she believes to be too wound up. However, unbeknownst to their knowledge, Jamie and Marian soon get into deep trouble with a group of criminals over the Dodge Aries car they are driving and, more specifically, the hidden contents inside it.

What is inside the Dodge Aries car?

During their road trip, Jamie and Marian pass through a number of American cities and states, making merriment at lesbian bars and having sessions of casual lovemaking, at least for Jamie, while Marian stays away from any such acts. After some time, they finally reach Florida, and right upon their entry into a city that is predominantly white and straight, making them outsiders in every sense, the women suffer a punctured tire. It is now, during their attempt to fix the flat tire, that Jamie and Marian discover something very unusual hidden inside the trunk of their car. There is no sign of any repair tools, but instead it contains a briefcase and a basket, with smoke coming out of the latter. The women initially think that the basket, or the car itself, might be on fire, but then realize that it is rather cold upon touch. Soon, they make a horrific discovery, as the basket actually contains the severed head of a man, and it has been placed among dry ice in order to preserve it. The man is indeed the same one seen at the beginning of Drive-Away Dolls—Santos. 

While they spot the briefcase at that very time, Jamie and Marian decide not to open it in the middle of the highway, since people might see them and they might get into some serious trouble. Therefore, they carry the briefcase inside a diner on the highway when they take their next stop and open it up to check the contents here. They are initially very reluctant and scared, as they believe that anything associated with a severed human head will also be dangerous and illicit, but the women are quite surprised after opening up the briefcase. Instead of any drugs or valuable items that they might have expected to find inside the case, there are some four or five adult toys neatly placed inside, modeled after male phalluses of various sizes and colors. The protagonists are bemused by this discovery and find it extremely funny, to the point of Jamie even using one of them to pleasure herself in the following nights.

However, the contents of the briefcase are also quite important, as is revealed later. It is this very case that Santos had been protecting with all his life at the beginning of the film. After the man was killed, his head had been decapitated and neatly placed inside a basket containing dry ice. This basket and the briefcase were then safely hidden inside the trunk of a car—a certain Dodge Aries—by the crooks involved in the whole matter. This car, along with its contents, had to be transferred to Tallahassee without raising any suspicion, and this was why it had been put in the drive-away car service. A hardened criminal mobster, known only as Chief, seems to be the leader of this whole affair, although it is certain that he is also receiving orders from someone, possibly a client. 

According to Chief’ plan, the Dodge Aries would be put up for drive-away service, and then two of his own men, Arliss and Flint, would collect it from Curlie’s shop and then take it to Florida. The man had called up Curlie to inform him of this matter as well, and incidentally, Jamie and Marian had walked into the store at that very moment. Since the women asked for a car to the exact city mentioned by Chief over the phone, Tallahassee in Florida, Curlie assumed the women to be the ones who were supposed to take the car away, and so he assigned them the Dodge Aries. Therefore, when Arliss and Flint reach Curlie’s shop a few minutes later, they learn that the car has already been driven away with their precious cargo still inside, and this gets Curlie tortured and killed as well.

Who was Santos, and why was he killed?

The reason behind the murder of Santos is actually very intricately linked with the specific phallic adult toys inside the briefcase that he was trying to protect so carefully. The whole matter began with a conservative right-wing senator from the state of Florida, named Senator Channel, who hired the services of Chief and his two goons in order to retrieve the suitcase and the toys inside. When Channel was a young man in college, he would often get involved in smoking marijuana and sessions of casual intimacy with friends and acquaintances, much like any normal person. But during one such instance, Channel met a young woman who called herself Tiffany Plaster Caster, and had a very peculiar experience. Tiffany wanted to make a plaster cast of his aroused organ, and Channel agreed to it, finding nothing wrong with it.

However, that very cast has been turned into an adult toy now, and it is currently one of the contents of the briefcase as well, along with the other toys also being similar plaster casts. Senator Channel is an embodiment of family values and traditional conservative beliefs in society, along with being an important politician. Therefore, if news of this plaster cast of his reproductive organ being used as a toy by people, and the colorful story behind its existence gets out, then it would lead to a huge political scandal. Channel had investigated the matter, possibly with the help of Chief, Arliss, and Flint, and had found out that an art collector by the name of Santos currently owned some of the works of Tiffany Plaster Caster, including the one he was targeting.

It was because of this reason that the goons arranged a fake meeting between Santos and another art collector at the dingy bar in Philadelphia and then got the man killed when he refused to give up the briefcase. It seems like Senator Channel did not only want his plaster cast back but also wanted to punish Santos for owning it, wanting to ensure that he was dead. It was because of this reason, as proof of the murder, that Santos’ head was also being transported to Florida along with the briefcase full of the adult toys.

What do the hallucinatory scenes mean?

There are quite a few short hallucinatory sequences interspersed over the duration of Drive-Away Dolls, with psychedelic visual styles of bright colors melting into one another and trippy designs and scenes appearing on the screen. The only common factor in these scenes is the appearance of a young woman, played by Miley Cyrus, who talks to someone behind the camera, trying to convince them of something. These scenes are actually a sort of representation of the practice of Tiffany Plaster Caster, who is the woman appearing in them, as she would ask people to give her a chance to make plaster casts of their reproductive organs while under the influence of marijuana and other drugs. Incidentally, Tiffany’s character is actually based on a very real woman named Cynthia Plaster Caster, who did the very same thing to celebrities and made a name for herself for owning plaster casts of over 50 celebrity phalluses and later of female breasts as well.

What happens to Senator Channel?

Arliss and Flint eventually find the protagonists and take them captive, although the most important toy, the plaster cast of Senator Channel, is left behind at the hotel. Jamie and Marian are taken to meet with Chief, where they are interrogated for some time, but the situation turns when Flint suddenly has enough of his partner, Arliss, making a mockery of his ways, and impulsively shoots the man dead. Chief tries to confront Flint, and the latter shoots once again before fleeing the scene, leading to the whole criminal gang suddenly being off the back of the protagonists. Jamie and Marian make use of this chance to earn themselves some money and decide to blackmail Senator Channel with the adult toy of his resemblance.

The women call up the senator repeatedly, convincing him that they actually have the item he has been looking for, and demand a million dollars in exchange for it. The two sides eventually meet at a lesbian bar, where Channel hands over the ransom money and is given the entire briefcase, containing all the plaster-cast adult toys. However, he is also a very vengeful man, as was clear from the murder of Santos, and so Senator Channel wants to punish the women as well. Right after their meeting at the bar, the man masks up and attempts to shoot Jamie and Marian dead. However, by this time, Jamie had also involved Sukie in this strange case, since the latter worked in the police department back in Philadelphia. Sukie was informed about the murder of Santos and the possible killing of Curlie as well, but her careless investigation made her believe that Jamie was pulling some prank on her.

Frustrated and angry at her ex-lover, Sukie had taken a flight to Florida to figure out what was going on, and right when Senator Channel attacks the protagonists, she is at the place and uses her reflexes to shoot down the man first. Although Channel is not killed by the incident, the commotion leads to the briefcase full of adult toys breaking down in public, which ultimately leads to a huge political scandal, ruining his career and personal life as well.

What happens to Jamie and Marian?

Throughout the duration of Drive-Away Dolls, Jamie’s romantic interest in Marian was revealed, which the latter eventually reciprocated as well. Therefore, by the end, the two friends have actually turned into lovers, and they decide to stay together for the unforeseeable future. They drive to Tallahassee and meet Marian’s aunt Ellis, whom they also inform that they want to get married to each other. Although the conservative-minded Ellis is shocked and traumatized by the proposition, Marian is quite relieved to finally admit her desires in the open, and this is a major development in her character.

During Drive-Away Dolls‘ ending, Jamie reveals that she had, in fact, made two plaster cast copies of Senator Channel’s phallus with the intention of pleasuring each other with them. However, the very last scene shows them driving towards Massachusetts, where lesbian marriage is legal, while a staff member at the hotel tries to tell them that they have left behind a paper bag. Jamie and Marian fail to take notice, and the bag is revealed to contain the two adult toys, perhaps signifying that they will indeed forget about this small and absurd experience in the broader scheme of life spent together.

Anweshippin Kandethum, directed by Darwin Kuriakose, is the story of an honest police officer named Anand who just refused to give in to a system that did not align with his ideologies. He was the kind of man who didn’t hesitate to go against his superiors if he knew that they were coming in the way of justice. Anand’s life turned upside down when he got a murder case, and though he was able to crack it, an unfortunate incident, where there was no fault of his, made his seniors suspend him from service. So, without further ado, let’s look into the story and ending of Anweshippin Kandethum and see if Anand was able to solve the cases that were given to him.

Spoiler Alert

What happened during the Lovely Mathan case? 

At the beginning of Anweshippin Kandethum, a man sitting in the police station told his friend that if ever in life he thought of going against the law, then he should remember the face of the sub-inspector named Anand Narayanan, as then he wouldn’t dare to do any crime. Anand was an honest police officer, and often, he had to pay a huge price for his honesty. Anand knew that if he agreed with the orders of his superiors, then life would be very easy for him, but his conscience never allowed him to do that. There was a girl named Lovely who had gone missing, and her parents had filed an FIR at the local police station. Anand was put in charge of the investigation, and together with his team, he started looking into the matter. Anand got to know that there were two guys coming from an influential family who had teased Lovely just hours before she disappeared. Anand interrogated the guys, and he immediately realized that, though they bothered Lovely, they had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Anand wanted to go and interrogate the local parish, but his superiors told him not to do so. The girl belonged to the Kuliose subcaste, and that was why people of the Packemeose group came to protest when they got to know that the police were going to enter the church premises. The case came under the spotlight, and the police were under a lot of pressure to deliver. Their reputation was at stake, and so Anand’s seniors told him to incriminate anybody and put them behind bars just to prove their credibility and show that justice was served. Meanwhile, Lovely’s dead body was found in a well near the church, and a man named Sahadevan became the prime suspect as the body was wrapped in his “lungi.”. The postman identified that he had seen Sahadevan in that attire, and so the police started questioning him. Sahadevan said that though he had a criminal history, this time around, he hadn’t done anything. Anand was removed from the case by his superiors, but he kept investigating the matter on an unofficial basis. 

Who killed Lovely Mathan? And why? 

Anand knew that the people of the Packemeose community wouldn’t let him enter the church premises. So he hired a man and asked him to enter Father Thomas’ house in the middle of the night and steal something from there. The plan was that once the father was robbed, Anand could enter his house under the pretext of investigating the theft, and he could procure evidence from there for Lovely’s case. Anand knew that if the protestors came to know that the police were helping the father, then they would also not interfere in the matter. Anand’s plan worked, and the forensics department was able to procure evidence from the father’s house. Anand figured out that it was not Father Thomas but his nephew who had murdered Lovely. Deacon Nathaniel Johnson, aka Dany, had an affair with Lovely’s sister, Blessy. One day, Lovely caught both of them together, and she said that she would go and tell their father what Blessy was up to. Dany got paranoid, and he forcefully took Lovely inside the house and covered her mouth with his hands while constantly asking her to keep her voice down. Dany didn’t realize that he held her face so tightly that she wasn’t able to breathe. Dany and Blessy didn’t want to kill Lovely, but after the accident they realized that they would have to dispose of the body, as otherwise they would be caught by the police. Anand submitted the forensics report to his senior, and finally, Dany was arrested. 

Why was Anand suspended from his job? 

It was a huge victory for the police department, and Anand’s seniors, who put all sorts of obstacles in his way earlier, now took all the credit for the case. Danny was being taken to court when, all of a sudden, he pushed the officers and escaped from there. Anand and his teammates, Sena, Kabeer, and Suku, chased Danny, but before they could catch him, he came in front of a train intentionally and took his own life. The media criticized the police, and as a result, all four police officers were suspended. Anand solved the entire case singlehandedly, and instead of getting praised, he ended up getting suspended. Anand knew that what happened to him was not fair, but he couldn’t go against the official order. Anand’s senior, the DYSP of the area, called him to his room one day, and he said that he had requested the state authorities revoke Anand’s suspension since he knew how able he was. The DYSP told him that he had a case for him through which he could prove to the government that he was an able officer. That’s when the DYSP told Anand about the Sridevi murder case that had happened in a place called Cheruvally a few years ago. Even though a special investigation team was created specifically to look into the case, nobody had been able to find the murderer. The DYSP told Anand that there was no pressure on him to solve the case, and if he wasn’t able to find the truth, he was required to submit a report, after which the case would be officially closed. 

Was Anand able to find Sridevi’s murderer? 

On May 20, Sridevi was murdered, and her dead body was found in a rubber plantation that was owned by a man named Parangodan. Together with Parangodan, Revamma’s (Sridevi’s mother) partner, Podiyan was also on the list of suspects. But after a thorough investigation, the authorities couldn’t find any incriminating evidence against both of them. The investigation was ultimately stopped, and nobody came to know who exactly killed Sridevi. A local cop of the area named Raveendran Nair made all the arrangements for Anand and his team to stay, and he told them that the local panchayat was against the investigation. Back in the day, the local people were tortured by the SIT, and that’s why they had a lot of enmity against the law enforcement authorities. Anand found out that Sridevi was pregnant when she was murdered, and that’s how he came to the conclusion that she probably had a lover living somewhere who could be behind everything.

In Anweshippin Kandethum, Anand got to know that someone from Haryana used to write letters to Sridevi, and on further research, he came to know that the son of a well-respected theater artist named Sadanand stayed there. Anand called Sadanand to the police station, and he showed him the letters to see if he could identify the writing and tell if it was his son’s or not. Sadanand cooperated with Anand, and he also made them talk to his son. Vishnu, Sadanand’s son, told Anand that he recognized the handwriting because it was from one of his very close friends. That’s when Sudip’s name popped up, and Anand, through the postman, got to know what had actually happened back in the day.

Anweshippin Kandethum‘s ending made a shocking revelation when Anand found out that Sudip’s father was none other than Raveendran Nair. Nair had gotten to know about his son’s affair, and he was totally against the relationship since Sridevi was from a lower caste. Nair murdered Sridevi, and he misled the SIT back in the day. The postman also met with an accident, and he was in a coma for a long time, which was why Nair knew that there was nobody who could testify against him. After Nair got to know that Anand had found out the truth, he made the decision to end his own life. He was ashamed of what he had done, so without telling anyone, he went and hung himself from a tree. Once again, an accused had taken his life before Anand could take him to court. Anand had done something that all the others before him weren’t able to do. He knew that probably, once again, he wouldn’t get any credit, but he was happy with the fact that the truth came out in the open. Anand knew that what he had done was right, and even if the world perceived him wrongly, he would keep walking on the righteous path.

Damsel, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, gives a disclaimer at the very beginning that what we are about to watch is not a fairy tale where the prince charming comes to save the helpless princess. Here, our protagonist was a fierce young woman who refused to surrender to her circumstances and made sure that she fought with all her heart and turned the odds in her favor. Apart from the princess, there was a beast that sought vengeance and wreaked havoc on the entire island of Aurea since time immemorial. The princess at first thought that it was merely a folktale, but then she realized how wrong she was when she had to look into the eyes of that deadly creature that breathed fire. So, let’s find out why the dragon wanted revenge, what had happened to it in the past, and if Elodie was able to save herself from it. 

Spoiler Alert

What did the king of Aurea do with the dragon? 

Back in the day, when Prince Henry’s forefathers arrived on the island of Aurea, they realized that there was a predator lurking in the shadows, and they would have to kill it in order to live there. So they followed the dragon, and they found out that it had given birth to three offspring. The king and his men killed the poor babies, and that enraged the dragon. At that moment, the king not only decided his own fate but also of the generations to follow. At that juncture in Damsel, he had no clue what the consequences of his actions could be. The dragon knew that its entire species would perish after that, and his existence would be removed from the face of the earth. The dragon wanted to destroy the king and make him repent for his actions. He wanted to burn him alive in its fire, but just when she was about to kill the king, something snapped inside her, and she decided that she wouldn’t go ahead with his plan. The dragon knew that by only taking the king’s life, her soul wouldn’t be satiated, and so she thought of a way by which she could wreak havoc on the family for generations to come. 

What deal did the dragon make with the king? 

The dragon was about to kill the king but the latter pleaded and cried to spare his life. The king said that he was ready to do anything in exchange for mercy. A fire was burning in the dragon’s eyes; her blood was boiling, and she was resisting her impulse because she wanted to take revenge in the most brutal manner. So she told the king that if, from every generation, he was ready to sacrifice three daughters, then his life would be spared. The king readily agreed, not knowing what he had signed for. Or maybe he was selfish enough to just think about his own life. But the king’s successors were even more shrewd, and we saw how Queen Isabelle had found a way to give the dragon what she wanted and to also save their own girls while throwing poor souls like Elodie in the pit of fire. Elodie had no clue what she had signed up for when she decided to get married to Henry. Probably, Henry didn’t want Elodie to die, but he was too timid to speak against his mother. Queen Isabelle knew that the dragon could smell royal blood, and so just before throwing the girls in the pit, she made sure that she slit the victim’s hand and mixed their blood with either Henry’s or her own blood. Queen Isabelle was an extremely unsympathetic person, and she had no qualms about what she did. The dragon, on the other hand, had no clue that it was not the girls of the royal lineage that were being thrown down the pit. The beast smelled blood and, after that, killed the poor girls, as she believed that she was taking revenge for the death of her babies. 

How did Princess Elodie save herself? 

Elodie was thrown down the cave, but somehow, she managed to survive until her father came looking for her. Elodie saw her father get killed in front of her own eyes. The dragon knew no mercy, and she killed the old man because she wanted Elodie to come out of hiding. Elodie managed to escape the first time, using the rope with which her father and other soldiers had come down. But as soon as Elodie thought that she had escaped danger, she realized that her sister had been thrown into a pit by Queen Isabelle. Elodie once again went back to the dragon cave, and she realized that she had no option but to face her fears head-on. Elodie tried telling the dragon that she had been duped by the queen, but the dragon didn’t believe a word she said. At the end of Damsel, Elodie, like a true warrior, stood in front of what seemed no less than a personification of death, and she put her sword inside the flying predator. The dragon writhed in pain, and she would have succumbed to her injuries had Elodie not put those magical larvae on her body. The larvae had healing powers, and as soon as they were put on the dragon’s body, her wounds started healing. That’s when the dragon also realized that she had been living a lie and that the queen was mercilessly killing all the young girls who had nothing to do with what had happened back in the day. 

Will the dragon stay with Princess Elodie? 

In Damsel, once the dragon came to know the truth, she flew out of her cave and wreaked havoc on the entire kingdom of Aurea. Queen Isabelle was burned alive, and Elodie stood there looking at her eye to eye and seeing her writhe in pain. In the end, Elodie decided to go back to her kingdom, and we saw that the dragon accompanied her. The dragon is most probably going to be with Elodie now, and in the years to come, she will become her biggest strength. To have a beast like that changed the power dynamics, and now the neighboring states that had exploited Elodie’s kingdom for years wouldn’t dare to do so. The presence of the dragon will definitely bring good fortune, and under the leadership of Elodie, who was ably supported by her stepmother and little sister, the kingdom will thrive.

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Damsel is the story of a young lady who was pushed towards her own doom but still refused to surrender to her circumstances. It’s a story of how the young princess fought against the odds and made sure that she overcame death when nobody had any hope that she could do so. So, let’s find out what sort of conflict Elodie finds herself in and how she faces the challenges and overcomes all the barriers.

Spoiler Alert

What made Lady Bayford warn Elodie? 

Lord Bayford knew that there was a scarcity of resources in his kingdom, and he needed to do something to save his own people. People were dying of hunger, the crime rate was at an all-time high, there was utter chaos on the streets, and Lord Bayford hoped for a miracle to happen. One day, a red priestess came to Lord Bayford with a message from the Queen of Aurea. She informed Lord Bayford that the Queen of Aurea wanted to get her son, Henry, married to Elodie. Both Lord and Lady Bayford couldn’t believe that they had gotten an offer for marriage from one of the wealthiest kingdoms. They immediately asked both Elodie and Floria to pack their bags, and they left for the kingdom of Aurea to meet Queen Isabelle. Lady Bayford was Elodie’s stepmother, but she loved her as her own daughter. Lady Bayford was very excited, and she was hopeful that she could strike a chord with Isabelle as now they were a part of the same family. Queen Isabelle had a conversation with Lord Bayford, and after that, suddenly, he became all grim, and it was like he was feeling extremely guilty for some unknown reason. He didn’t tell anybody what the conversation was with the Queen, but Lady Bayford knew that something wasn’t right. Lady Bayford tried having a conversation with Queen Isabelle, and the latter replied very rudely to her and told her that she didn’t want to mingle with her. Queen Isabelle made it very clear that she looked at the matrimonial alliance as a deal where the Bayfords got money in exchange for giving their daughter to Henry. Lady Bayford knew that they were getting a lot of money, but still, she wanted to maintain the sanctity of marriage, and she felt that she ought to have a friendly relationship with the people she was sending her daughter to. Lady Bayford came rushing to Elodie’s room that day, and she told her she was having second thoughts about the marriage. Elodie never felt emotionally attached to her stepmother (at least till that point in time, Damsel), but the earnestness with which she spoke at that moment moved Elodie. Elodie knew that Lady Bayford’s instincts were not wrong, but before she could do anything, she got married to Henry, and she was left to face her own doom.

What did Elodie find inside the cave? 

It all came crashing down upon the poor damsel when she realized what Queen Isabelle’s real intentions were. Their plan was to sacrifice Elodie and two more girls after that so that the Aurea kingdom could thrive. There was a dragon hiding behind the darkness of the cave which had been wronged by Henry’s forefathers back in the day when they had arrived on the island for the first time. The dragon had given birth to three babies, and the king mercilessly killed all of them. The dragon burned the soldiers alive, and he made a deal with the king wherein the latter had to sacrifice three daughters from every generation if they wanted to stop the dragon from wreaking havoc. Queen Isabelle had found a way to fool the dragon. She got these young girls from far-off lands and then mixed royal blood with theirs so that the dragon could assume that the girls were the real daughters and not the brides-to-be. Elodie was horrified when she was pushed into the cave, but she was still not ready to surrender. She found out the secrets hidden in that deep, dark abyss. She got to know that before her, many poor women were thrown into the pit. She saw their names written on the wall, and that’s when a sudden surge of energy made Elodie decide that she was not going to meet a similar fate. The dragon went after her, and Elodie kept hiding in the narrow tunnels, and somehow, she managed to keep herself alive. The girl kept hitting one dead-end after another, but she didn’t give up, and she knew that she would come out of the cave no matter what. 

Was Elodie able to save her sister? 

Elodie’s father came looking for her, as on his way back, he felt guilty about pushing his own daughter to her doom. He felt like an unworthy man, and moreover, the fact that his little damsel trusted him more than anybody else haunted him. Lord Bayford sacrificed his own life so that his girl could escape from that god-forsaken cave. Elodie was able to save her life and come out of the cave, but there was a twist in the proceedings that changed everything. Queen Isabelle had gotten to know that Elodie had escaped, so she forcibly took Floria with her, performed the ritual, and pushed her into the cave. When Elodie learned about it, she didn’t even think for a moment, and she told Lady Bayford that she was going back to bring her sister. Elodie’s resilience and courage could be judged by the fact that even after she knew the kind of danger she was putting her life in, she was ready to make the sacrifice for her sister. At the end of Damsel, like a true warrior, Elodie stood in front of the dragon, and she was able to achieve the impossible. Elodie saved her sister, and she took her out of the cave. 

Why didn’t Elodie kill the dragon? 

The dragon got severely injured, and it was about to die when Elodie put the magically illuminated larvae on its body. Elodie realized that the dragon was not wrong on its part, as anybody would have wanted revenge in that scenario. She told the dragon that, though she understood its pain, it had been fooled by the Queen, as they were not the daughters of the family. Elodie had followed everybody’s orders up until that time, but now she wanted to do things according to her own will. She decided that she was not going to kill the dragon but would use it to fulfill her own agenda. Elodie wanted Queen Isabelle to pay for her sins, and she knew that now she could do that since she had a powerful ally alongside her. The shadow of death was cast upon the royal family as the ferocious beast loomed in the sky. The dragon burned Queen Isabelle alive and then accompanied Elodie back to her kingdom. I believe the three ladies i.e., Elodie, Floria, and Lady Bayford, were more than capable of leading their people, facing conflicts, and procuring resources, and there’s no denying that the kingdom was going to thrive in the times to come. 

Starring Zac Efron, John Cena, and Andrew Santino, Ricky Stanicky is centered around a lie that three childhood best friends came up with when they were young. They blamed Ricky Stanicky for all their naughty ideas and managed to always get out of trouble. Even as adults, Stanicky continued to be an important, non-existent figure in their lives. When they were young, Dean, JT Levine, and Wes planned on pranking their neighbor on Halloween, but it backfired, and they found themselves in a bit of a pickle. Dean came up with the idea to blame the entire fire incident on an imaginary person named Ricky Stanicky. He left evidence to distract the police from finding the actual culprits. The three best friends continued to use false Ricky stories. They lied about Ricky’s cancer to leave Susan’s baby shower and attend a concert. All these years, they managed to get away with the lies, but when JT missed the birth of his child, the families took an interest in finding out more about this mysterious entity.

 Spoiler Alert

Why was Rod hired by Dean and his friends?

The boys headed to Atlantic City for a good time while lying to their partners about their best friend Ricky Stanicky being sick. They created Ricky’s social media account to make his existence all the more believable. It was at a bar in Atlantic City that they met adult entertainer/impersonator Rock Hard Rod. He performed at a local casino and offered Dean, JT, and Wes tickets to his show for half the price in return for free alcohol and food. JT was vocal about not wanting Rod to tag along with them, and the impersonator took the hint. Dean apologized on behalf of his friends, and Rod handed him his contact details in case he ever needed a trained actor for a gig.

The minute Dean turned on his phone, he realized that Susan was about to give birth. JT wanted to be there with Susan during birth, but fate had a different plan, and the baby arrived six weeks early. The situation had gotten tense at the hospital, and Wes was about to confess the truth. But Dean stopped him and lied about Ricky not having cancer and that their best friend had pranked them to celebrate his fifth anniversary of being cancer-free. The families had started to doubt the Ricky Stanicky story, and to confirm that the man in question was indeed real, JT’s mother-in-law, Leona, asked the three best friends to invite Ricky to the bris. Dean realized that they had no choice but to accept the invitation. To put all the doubts to rest, they needed to present someone as Ricky Stanicky, and Dean was reminded of the alcoholic impersonator he met at Atlantic City. Dean contacted Rod, and he immediately agreed to the gig. Rod’s shows were not sensational, and he was in search of a big break. With Ricky Stanicky, he had the opportunity to try something new and to be a different person altogether. He familiarized himself with the Bible—the book of lies related to Ricky that the boys came up with.

Rod wanted to perfect his role, and he decided to sober himself up before the big day. After a rocky start, Rod smoothly transformed himself into the Ricky Stanicky that the three friends always talked about. To their surprise, Rod had studied the character thoroughly and had done his research on every person present at the party. Even though Leona tried to deter his confidence, Rod had his answers ready. In a short span of time, Rod managed to impress Dean and JT’s boss, Ted, simply by smooth talking. Rod ended up circumcising JT’s newborn and saving the day for his family. After the party ended, Dean, JT, and Wes paid Rod extra for his dedication to the job. The friends thought it was a little strange that he refused to be acknowledged as Rod and wanted to be called Ricky Stanicky even after the party was over. 

Why did Dean want Rod to leave?

The next morning, when Dean and JT met Ted, they learned that he had hired Ricky Stanicky, aka Rod. After his impressive input at the party regarding his business, Ted thought it would only make sense to hire him. Dean and JT did not expect Rod to return after the gig, but Ted was extremely convinced about Ricky’s potential. When Dean and JT confronted Rod, he seemed completely delusional. He refused to return to his previous life and hoped that his ‘friends’ would look out for him. Dean warned Rod that things would end badly if he chose to live the life of Ricky Stanicky. The lies that they managed to escape from once would be impossible to get past now, but Rod refused to take his advice. Along with a job Rod had no clue about, Dean’s girlfriend, Erin, a journalist, planned on interviewing him for his philanthropic endeavors. Dean wanted to stop Erin, fearing that her career would be ruined if the world figured out that Ricky Stanicky was a lie, but to do so, he had to confess the entire truth, and he was not yet ready to do so. Dean and JT’s plan was to get Ricky fired, and they assumed it would be an easy task, considering he had no clue about his job.

The next day, during the meeting, Dean and JT intentionally tried to put Ricky on the spot, but no matter what they did, Ricky’s silly responses seemed to excite their boss. According to him, Ricky brought a fresh perspective, and he considered doing more charitable work to better the image of the company. Every plan Dean and JT came up with failed, and when Ricky asked their advice on warning the boss about his strange mannerisms, they nudged him to go ahead and confront Ted. And once again, to their surprise, Ted was glad that Ricky dared to discuss the issue with him, and without a second thought, he announced Ricky was in charge of the merger with World River. Dean was disappointed by the sudden turn of events. He had been working on the merger plan for months, and all of a sudden, an alcoholic impersonator from Atlantic City took it away from him.

How did the truth about Ricky Stanicky come to the surface?

Dean lashed out at Rod after Ted’s announcement; he did not expect his life to change so drastically, and he struggled to keep his emotions in check. Dean asked Rod to quit and reminded him how Ricky Stanicky was a lie they came up with. Rod pulled out an ID to prove that he had legally adopted the identity of Ricky (Richard Barbara Stanicky). Rod requested that Dean think about the last couple of days from his side to understand where he was coming from. He was an alcoholic who had no job and no friends. His life was a disaster, and the gig helped him become a better person. He became sober, got a well-paying job, and had people he could call his friends. While Dean empathized with his situation, he did not think that lying was the right solution. Rod had no choice but to confess that he had people looking for him and that he would not survive if he returned to Atlantic City. He had no idea why people were looking for him, but he assumed that they were one of the many he owed money to. Becoming Ricky Stanicky was his way out of the mess.

Dean admitted that he was the one who messed up his perfect life. Erin would have never stopped him if he told her the truth, yet his childhood habit of lying to get away from tough situations stayed with him. Lying had become a part of who he was, and the life that he had carefully built started to fall apart because of his compulsive need to lie. Dean’s father was an alcoholic who used to rough him up time and again, and that was why, from a young age, he started lying to his friends because the truth was hard to confront. Dean finally gathered up the courage to come clean to Erin, only to realize that already she knew the truth. 

Erin was alarmed when Dean mentioned that Ricky had to travel to Nairobi to fight Ebola; she knew it was a lie, and she confronted Ricky about it. He showed her the Bible that Dean, JT, and Wes had come up with, and she could not figure out why Dean had been lying to her. Erin doubted Dean’s love for her, and she decided she needed some time to be on her own. On the day of the screening of the MFMBC Heroes segment, Ricky went missing, and Dean decided to confess the truth to everyone present at the watch party. He admitted that Ricky Stanicky was a lie he and his friends came up with, and that was why the MFMBC had decided to cancel his segment. He apologized to everyone he had hurt in the process, particularly the people from World River who had come for the merger. Dean assured them that Summerhayes Financial was a trustworthy company, and his actions must never impact their partnership. After Dean’s little speech, Ted fired him from the company.

Why was Rod Rimestead declared a hero?

During Ricky Stanicky‘s ending, Rod, aka Richard Barbara Stanicky, was interviewed for the MFMBC Heroes segment. Ted was embarrassed, and he assumed that it would only bring negative attention to his company. The host of the show, Stan Grant, revealed to the public how an adult impersonator from Atlantic City, Rodney Rimestead, managed to bag an executive position at a finance company. In the interview, Rod confessed that he led a miserable life, and it took only three people to completely change it. Surprisingly, Rod spoke positively about them and suggested that it was they who encouraged him to become a better version of himself. Ricky Stanicky was his opportunity to move on and become the man he always wanted to be. In the interview, he stated that the Bible written by the three friends guided him to live a good life. Becoming Ricky helped him get sober and eventually land a job at Summerhayes Financial. Ricky believed that Ted had a good heart, and without him, feel-good investing would not have been possible. Ricky did not think he was the hero; according to him, the three men he met at the bar were the heroes of his story. Even though Ricky’s story began with fraud, it eventually turned out to be a tale of redemption and rebirth. Ricky was crowned an everyday hero because of his belief that anyone can become the person they want to be.

Ricky Stanicky ends with everyone cheering for Ricky. His story was strangely inspiring, and the people from World River were impressed that Ted believed in the man’s potential even before he proved himself. Ricky’s story helped them understand the company better, and they were glad that their mindsets matched. Dean spoke in favor of Ted, and Ted realized that he had made a mistake by firing Dean. Ultimately, he accepted Dean back into his company, and finally, the merger deal was finalized. Dean did not expect Ricky’s story to make it to television, and Erin explained that she took a real interest in his story when she learned that he was hired by Summerhayes Financial. The story eventually got picked up by MFMBC, and that was how Ricky made it to the screen. Dean and Erin patched up and the threat that Rod was running away from turned out to be harmless. Billy Idol had sent Rod a notice for impersonating him onstage, and his men threatened to take him to court if he dared to perform his songs again. The film ends with the three best friends accepting Rod as the real Ricky Stanicky. The chance encounter turned out to be a blessing for everyone, and the new addition to the group worked out just fine. 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll Extreme is the latest part of the long-running Filipino anthology franchise streaming on Netflix. It consists of three short films—Glitch, directed by Richard V. Somes; Mukbang, directed by Jerrold Tarog; and Rage, directed by Joey De Guzman. The common factor is the horror element in each of the films. Glitch revolves around a demon that has its own sneaky way of entering and tormenting a family. Mukbang is a humorous horror film with a lot of gore. It is centered around a group of influencers and their hellish experience at an old mansion. Rage delivers zombie madness and the bloody massacre that follows. Overall, the Netflix anthology, Shake, Rattle, and Roll Extreme is neither recommendable nor memorable, but it can be a fun, no-brainer watch if you are a horror fan.

Spoiler Alert

Glitch: Who slayed the demon?

The demon in Glitch targeted little kids through a cartoon show. The innocent show about a friendly goat always caught the attention of children, and it influenced them to summon the demon. We are introduced to a single mother and her family living in a posh neighborhood in Manila. The mother, a designer, was mostly busy taking care of her business. Patrick, her elder son, was born out of her first marriage. After her husband cheated on her, she moved out with Patrick. She eventually got married a second time, and Lyka was born. Unfortunately, her husband died, and she was left to look after her two kids all by herself. The nanny, Hasmine, helped Ingrid look after her family. Patrick could never accept Lyka as his own sister and would often refer to her as the ‘demon’. Lyka missed her father, especially when she felt targeted by everyone around her. After Patrick made fun of her for destroying her tablet, she went to her room, crying, and begged her father to take her with him. All of a sudden, a children’s show named ‘Gary the Goat’ started to play on the phone, and Lyka took a serious interest in it. Gary promised always to love his viewers, and that was the kind of affection Lyka was searching for. When Gary instructed his audience to repeat a spell, Lyka did so. She was surprised to see the plush Gary the goat toy appear in her room after repeating the spell.

Hasmine noticed Lyka’s new toy, but she did not think much about it. She was religious, and every time the light flickered, she wondered if there was a demon around her. Hasmine realized that Christmas not only marked the birth of Jesus but also that of Baal, the servant of darkness. But she had faith that the angel figurines blessed by the church would protect her and the Salvador family from any harm. At night, when Hasmine heard a loud giggling noise from Lyka’s room, she decided to check on her. She was surprised to see the shadow of the devil in the room. Later, she discovered the mutilated body of the pet dog, and she wondered if her worst nightmare had come true. She tried to warn Ingrid about the demon she had seen, but it was all too ridiculous for Ingrid to believe. Ingrid realized that Patrick had gone missing, and she decided to find him, leaving Hasmine in charge of Lyka and the house.

When Hasmine was alone, the demon strangled her to death. Lyka realized that her friend, Gary, was a demon who manipulated her to find his way into her house. When Ingrid returned home with Patrick, she was surprised to see the decapitated body of Hasmine. Ingrid was ready to sacrifice her life to protect her family from the demon. She realized that since the angel figurines were blessed by the church, the swords they carried had a magical power in them. At the end of Glitch, Lyka handed her mother the sword of the angel, which she used to slay the demon. The body of the demon turned into dust. Ingrid proved what it took to be a mother as she stood undeterred in front of the demon. She succeeded in protecting her family from the worst possible threat. 

Mukbang: Does the Kindred take over the influencer community?

Social media influencers Adelle, Ashley, MS. Vee, and Kino Javier were invited to the collab mansion by influencers Robin and Raye. They opened their house to the influencers in the hopes of increasing their follower counts, or at least that was what they wanted their guests to believe. The influencers used every corner of the mansion to generate content. The chef, Kino Javier, was busy making delectable dishes for the team. Ashley spent hours creating dance videos, and Adelle joined her to learn some moves. MS Vee stayed cooped up in her room, calling her boyfriend and hoping for him to make it to the mansion.

Adelle and Ashley’s assistants, Hannah and Beyonce, were the first ones to be targeted by the Kindred. Beyonce was lured into a secret room by Robin, who was also one of the Kindred. The spirit killed Beyonce, and upon consuming his heart, it transformed into a Beyonce lookalike. The same happened with Hannah. Their strange behavior did strike as odd to the rest of the group, but no one really paid good attention to it. Hannah and Beyonce devoured the meaty spread cooked by Chef Kino, while the rest of the influencers had a fun time. Robin and Mr. Isko planned on killing the influencers once they were intoxicated, but things did not go according to their plan. When a Kindred tried to pull out Adelle’s heart, he faced a barrier. Adelle screamed and warned everyone else about the threat. Adelle and Ashley live-streamed the entire episode; Chef Kino used his knife skills to decapitate a few of the strange-looking creatures in black; and Vee and Nel argued over how they became a fake couple who were no longer in love while fighting off the Kindred. At the end of Mukbang, Vee and Lionel discover the workstation where Mr. Isko stored the bodies of his guests. Nel sacrificed his life to protect Vee when the Kindred attacked them. Everyone except the chef and Vee were killed by the Kindred and had transfigured.

Vee attempted to escape, but Robin, Raye, and Mr. Isko got hold of her. The spirit residing in the body of the old man needed a new body to thrive, and Robin determined that Vee was the perfect target. Vee was killed, and Mr. Isko was transfigured to replace her. The chef was spared because they needed him to cook their meals. The next morning, all the influencers, aka the transfigured bodies, sat at the table in front of the camera and shot a mukbang video. Mukbang comes to an end with Robin and Raye inviting more influencers to collaborate with them. For centuries, the Kindred have been living in hiding and searching for the right bodies to transform into. They have targeted the influencer community, perhaps realizing how easy it is to manipulate and barter with them. The Kindred intend on spreading their kind all over the world, and they seem to be succeeding for now.

Rage: Did Trina make it out of the apocalypse?

A group of friends were driving to Santa Clara when they noticed a small gathering of people. They learned from a worker at the warehouse, Coy, that a few drunk locals died after getting into trouble. Trina noticed a little girl crying by the body, but she did not realize that the reason for the deaths was far more scary than what it seemed to be.

The group of friends decided to camp by the river that night to witness the meteor storm. Trina, Shai, Isaac, Alfie, Moze, and Bong cherished the spectacular view of the meteor shower. They made wishes to the shooting stars, and all Trina wanted was for her friends to always be happy and together. While vlogging the meteor shower, Bong picked up a glowing stone from the river bed. By the time he realized that the stones were fragments of the meteor, he was infected. Bong attacked Shai upon returning to the camp. He had completely transformed into a blood-sucking monster. Shai managed to hit Bong with a stone. Meanwhile, Alfie was attacked by two villagers who had also turned into zombie-like creatures, and Moze came to his rescue. When Shai woke up, she too had transformed, and she attempted to attack Trina. Luckily, Coy was nearby, and he killed both Shai and Bong with his axe. Coy informed Alfie, Moze, and Trina that most of the people living in the town were infected by the meteor. Once infected, the humans transformed into bloodthirsty zombies. Coy had lost all his siblings to the infection, and he advised the group to leave town. By the time they returned to their van, they found tens of people lying dead on the street. The zombie-like creatures attacked the group, but luckily, the community leader came to their rescue. She killed the creatures with her gun and invited Trina and her friends to her house.

The captain offered them water to drink, but Trina headed to the washroom instead. She noticed the doll that she had seen the little girl carry when she entered the town, and she was surprised to see it in the captain’s house. She grew suspicious, and upon opening the cupboard, she was shocked to see the body of the little girl stored there. The captain had her gun ready to shoot Trina if she dared to escape. As it turned out, the captain’s son had turned into a blood-thirsty creature, and as a mother, she decided to provide fresh blood to him whenever he was hungry. She kept him tied up in a room and lured innocent people into her house to satisfy his appetite. Trina managed to overpower the captain and kill both her and her son. By the time she returned to the dining hall, the effects of the drug had worn out and her friends had gained consciousness. They decided to head to Santa Clara, but before that, they planned to get their truck from the warehouse. They agreed to help the captain’s daughter-in-law, Faya, and took her along with them.

In another zombie attack, the group lost Coy. Alfie, Moze, Trina, and Faya headed to the warehouse to escape from the maddening hell. Faya gave birth at the warehouse, while Alfie, Moze, and Trina took care of the zombies hiding within the premises. While fighting a creature, Alfie got infected, and he begged Moze to shoot him dead. Alfie believed it was better to die than to become one of them. Moze soon figured out that someone had to stay behind to fight the zombie; otherwise, Faya and her newborn child would be killed. Moze volunteered to face the next wave of zombies while Trina and Faya left the warehouse in the truck. After covering some distance, Trina realized that Faya had passed away.

Trina was all alone with a newborn to look after, but the baby gave her strength to not give up. When the world seemed to be falling apart, the newborn was a sign of hope. With no fuel left in the truck, Trina decided to walk her way back home with the baby in her arms. We do not know if Trina will make it to the very end because the threat of facing more infected individuals remains. She has been through a lot in a short span of time, but she has shown immense determination in returning home to her mother, and that is enough reason to believe that there is hope for Trina and the baby. Rage ends with a public announcement on the radio informing its listeners that more than 40 countries were affected by the microorganism spread by the meteor, giving birth to the “rage-borne disease.”

When it comes to watching something romantic, of course, the two people involved are the most interesting part of a love story. Without one, the other doesn’t exist, or something dreamy like that. I suppose the most realistic part of My Name Is Loh Kiwan is the natural transactional nature of the central relationship. No, I don’t mean to demean romance and make it about give and take, but I think that’s the best way to describe Marie and Kiwan’s relationship. My Name Is Loh Kiwan is a film about a North Korean defector and his journey to realizing what his dream really is: freedom. But it’s also a love story between Kiwan, a disciplined and seasoned survivor, and Marie, a rebellious young woman with depression. Now, you might tell me this bit about depression is never mentioned in the film; it’s not really an overarching theme of the film, and I will agree. However, it’s a big part of how Kiwan and Marie’s relationship is formed. See, if Marie wasn’t at her lowest in life, she’d never even have glanced at Kiwan. Her first encounter with him is when he’s lying unconscious in a laundromat, and she has to stoop to find his wallet and steal from it. I suppose this could be a sort of description of the beginning of their relationship. Ironically, though, it’s Marie who is at her lowest. Yes, Kiwan is right there with her, but he has nothing to really lose, so I’d say that’s the upper hand. 

Marie is first introduced almost half an hour into the film. We first understand everything that Kiwan has been through and why he needs help, and then suddenly this lifesaver in the form of a thief appears. Marie is not your usual Korean film main lead. Especially not for a romance film. Everything about her would be considered “wrong” in Korean society. She doesn’t know how to hold her tongue when needed; she wears ripped clothes and dark broody makeup that makes her look like a racoon (I mean, I personally love it, but you know what I mean), and she’s got a temper. However, there’s one thing she has in common with other romantic leads: she’s got a terrible relationship with her father. On the other hand, she’s also caught in some strange mafia-like setting in the Belgian underworld, where she competes in target shooting competitions that get illegally bet on. This is a part of the film that I don’t quite understand. I’m sure Marie was looking for an outlet to release her pent-up anger, but this particular line of work seems very forced in this film. At least, she’s really good at the job and also looks fantastic in all-black outfits. 

Marie’s frustration with her father is because of her mother’s death. Her mother was euthanized without a word to her, and she found out much later, thinking her mother died of natural causes. If Marie had known, she would’ve at least tried to talk her mother out of it. I suppose Marie’s anger is not only directed towards her father; it’s, of course, her fate that she absolutely hates. She never really got to spend enough time with her loving mother, and then she basically left home to go do something completely against her parents’ beliefs. She then gets caught up in drugs. Additionally, her work ties her to the man who manages her; basically, he owns her, and she’s indebted to him for as long as he wants her to work. When Marie finds Kiwan loaded with cash, her first instinct is to sever ties with her illegal shooting job. However, she realizes that the wallet has a special meaning for Kiwan that relates to his mother, which is why she risks her life and goes back to the guy to take the wallet back. She’s willing to, for a complete stranger, risk her life simply because it’s the last memory of his mother. 

So, when I say theirs is a symbiotic relationship, I mean Kiwan needs help in Belgium and someone to push him to keep living, whereas Marie needs someone to bring her back on track and also…keep living. I suppose this is the perfect example of “they were each other’s lifelines.” I guess sparks first fly between Kiwan and Marie when he cooks a meal for her. Maybe it’s a reminder of the meal she missed with her mother, which makes her gobble it down like she hasn’t seen food in years. Or maybe it’s because she’s just hungry from the drugs and living on her own in whatever conditions. They really are the complete opposite of each other. Kiwan makes the most of what he has, while Marie ruins everything that she has. 

Their relationship really starts when Kiwan saves Marie from overdosing by taking her drugs instead, to the point where they almost kill him. It is, in a way, a form of blackmail, but it works because Marie secretly cares about the man. This is why she saves him from the police and finds him a job and all of the sappy stuff. Suddenly, seeing each other almost die, they can’t help but express their love for each other and make the most of their togetherness. I guess the common factor that brings them together is the loss of their respective mothers, but it’s also what makes them sensitive to each other’s situation in a way that nobody else could possibly understand. I didn’t make the rules for romance films. Kiwan is able to confess to Marie that his mother died because of his mistake. At this point, they’ve both got nothing to their name, but at least they can love each other wholeheartedly. 

It’s not an emotional movie if there isn’t a separation between the two leads. But, before I discuss the end of the film, I would also like to point out that Marie’s love for Kiwan could also be another form of rebellion. Here’s a man who is quite perfect; he cares for her and respects her, but he’d never be approved of by her father because he’s not deserving of her life. Why is that, you ask? Because of factors that he could never control (ah, that sounds like a Bollywood film, no?). At the end of the film, Marie admits to her father that when her mother’s sickness worsened, she wished for her to pass away in her sleep. Ironically, her mother’s wish for her was that she wouldn’t feel like her death was Marie’s fault; however, that’s exactly what Marie ended up thinking. She then comes to terms with her parents’ decision, because at this point she has to move away from her father and find a new life in a faraway country. My Name Is Loh Kiwan ends with the two lovers reuniting in a free land. I suppose that’s what they were both looking for the most—to be free and together. As a skeptic, I wonder if their relationship would last if there wasn’t a target on their back, but this is a romance film with a hopeful ending, so no, I guess they will be together till the end of time.