Small Things Like These2024

Guy who’s seen every Scorsese movie: “I’m getting big Scorsese vibes from this.” Honey, I Shrunk the Watchlist 1 of 35 - watch the movie that was added first 👁️👁️ So a friend recommended this movie to me two years ago when it came out, and it was one of their favorites of the year. And it’s quietly sat at the bottom of my watchlist waiting for me to finally give it a chance. I figured since I finally finished my Scorsese marathon, I can get a couple of these knocked out.  So I had absolutely zero expectations going into this, which I guess was good. But even though I saw the runtime beforehand, this still felt incredibly brief. On the whole, the movie is very simple and matter-of-fact.  Basically, a coal deliveryman enters a convent, and a girl approaches him and begs him to help her get away. He leaves and goes on with his life still thinking about what happened. Later on, another delivery to the convent finds the same girl locked in the coal shed. He takes her inside, where he is fed a story about how she was playing a game or some such nonsense. He is essentially bribed to keep quiet. Other people, including his wife, tell him to keep quiet. He later goes back to the convent and finds the girl locked in the coal shed again. He takes her and carries her home, and the movie ends.  Now, other stuff happens, which is mostly backstory to justify his reasons for helping this girl. But like, I don’t know. I would have helped her the first time I found her in the shed. Because it’s clear something bad is happening? I understand societal pressure, and maybe this is realistic, but come on. It’s not rocket science.  The shame is I really liked the movie. From the moment he finds the girl the first time onward, the movie got actually interesting; it’s just a shame it ends so abruptly. It just seems odd for a movie that is so realistic to not be interested in any of the aftermath. But maybe that would be too dramatic. I just think the first half could have been cut down to add a little more to the end. Just overall feels unbalanced.  It’s not a bad movie, and for what it is, it’s quite decent, but I think it’s a little lopsided. So not my favorite, but I still think it’s worth watching.