The movie Unconditional was about experiences Papa Joe went through, I think, in the begging of the movie and for the majority of the film we were focused on Sam Crawford which turns out to be one of his old best friends. The Start of the movie shows us how Sam lives and what she does for a living, they also show us how her marriage is a big part of her life, and how he was taken away. The movie seems to be the events the take place after this tragedy which is why I find it hard to understand why this movie was supposed to be focused on Joe. Sam and Joe end up bumping into each other while Sam was helping a few kids in need, it turns out these are Joes kids that he helps teach and take care of. This is what joe does for a living, but soon we also realize that he has very serious medical problems that constantly need attending to which make taking care of the kids difficult for him.
The opening scene is cartoon like, sketch of pictures in the way a kid's book would look like. This was Sam's job; she was a author for children's books. And a very good one at that, she is very talented at her craft. Her drawings are bright and beautiful, definitely the types of drawings that would attract children. Her books were lively with proper word choice for colourful stories. Her husband was her best friend and she loved him very much, so when he was killed she took it very hard and her drawings and books got the front of it. When we meet Joe we see that he has some sort of medical problem with his kidneys, this can be very serious and for him it turns out to be. We soon see that he does not have and office job or any other typical job anyone would have; he would help take care of local kids who needed it.
In the movie I enjoyed how fate brought Joe and Sam back although the reasoning as to why is sad, it seemed very fitting for what the story was telling. The movie was very good at transitioning from once scene to the next fluidly, there were never moments of 'but wait this isn't done', or if there was it was for a reason that would be later explained. I think the most fulfilling part of the movie is when Sam confronts the guy who she believes to be the killer and got closure for herself that was much needed. Then continued on to finally finish the book she had be putting off for so long.
While I was watching the movie I thought the story and what we were supposed to be focused on was Sam and her story of her husband and how she moved on and got as much closure as she could. When really the movie was supposed to be about Joe and the experiences he went through, although I felt they did really show much of what he goes through even though they had showed us his medical problems and how much attention they needed. The most they focused on Joe was the him and the kids he took care of. The movie just seemed to me like another basic movie that would be showed in your high school English class.
For the roles that everyone was trying to play I think they all did a really good job, Sam played her role as the recovering widow. Joe and the kids actually seemed to have some sort of connection even though it was scripted. Joe himself played the role as a father figure and the disabled really well, each time his condition acted up he played the role of pain well. I think the two main kids told their story and got the point across as to what happened to them and why they act the way they do. Anthony played a really good tough act but his kindness seemed almost too cheesy.
Overall the movie wasn't bad but the focus was unclear to me. With what I thought the focus was, It was interesting and kept you wondering what she was going to find next. You weren't entirely sure who it was you could only assume with what you knew. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about the kids' part because they didn't make much of an impact on the movie and how it played out except for the simple fact of that's what Joe did in his free time. I did not enjoy seeing Joe and Denise together at the end because I felt as if the movie was trying to lead you up to Sam and Joe being together after how much they have been through and how long they knew each other. This movie is not something I would go out of my way to pick and sit down and watch but it's not a bad movie and if it were to come on the TV I would probably just let it play and watch it.
Review of Unconditional
