Director Mikhail Red’s Dead Kids is the first Filipino film to be a Netflix Original. That’s quite a feat mind you but one that isn’t so surprising. First of all, the characters are relatable. You can plug in Korean actors in replacement of the main cast and it would still feel socially relevant and accessible.
Heck, you can replace the characters with NFL players and, no, it would seem stupid. Korean actors are okay. Inspired by true events, the story feeds off the archetypal high school mise-en-scène. There’s the quintessential bully played by Markus Peterson, the bullied do-goody scholar Kelvin Miranda, the materialistic mastermind, Vance Larena, the intimate jokester, Khalil Ramos, and the Chinese deadhead, Jan Silverio. The four teens hatching a twisted game of kidnap for ransom on a bully who probably deserves it but went south faster than you could say, inexperienced dorks.
The cinematography and soundtrack are reminiscent of the iconic heist film remake Ocean’s Eleven where tones of red and orange pretty much surround the entirety of the movie giving it a dream-like feel superimposed with dark tones of that unavoidable surmise that would eventually befall the main characters. But again, unlike Ocean’s Eleven, it’s a kidnap-for-ransom heist gone wrong.
Should you skip it or watch it?
That depends.
While I have read a couple of reviews that say the movie plot failed to materialize into a Quentin Tarantino-type stature, as a Filipino, I just couldn’t be more proud. It’s one of those things that either you get it or you don’t. The screenplay can be as good as any Hollywood movie and far more superior than any of your average Pinoy flicks shown within the last decade. A lot of parts were written in English so there’s no loss in translation here either. Mikhail Red is a master storyteller. His previous films Eerie and Birdshot have received good reviews and are both streaming on Netflix. As an overall thriller, regardless of the fact that I can be culturally biased, this film works. It is an engaging act of strong character development and exceptional cinematography delivering a strong message on contemporary times.
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