By Spencer Ford
Contributing Writer
Netflix’s most recent original film, “I Care a Lot,” has just been released on the streaming service’s US platform and has caused buzz amongst various social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok.
The film stars Rosamund Park as Marla Grayson, a shady legal guardian for the state. Grayson and her girlfriend Fran (Eliza González) have started a scam in which the two will target the elderly and convince a judge that the elderly person is incapable of taking care of themselves and, therefore, must be placed in Grayson’s care.
Grayson then cuts the elderly person’s ties to the real world slowly, as Fran works on selling all of their assets and even their homes, slowly transferring that money into her and Grayson’s pockets. This scheme has seemingly been going on for quite some time now, because in Grayson’s office, she has a wall filled with the headshots of the elderly people ‘in her care.’
However, their plans quickly crumble when they place Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) into assisted living. Peterson, who was supposed to be an easy and very rich target, soon makes Grayson and Frans’s lives very difficult. As it turns out, Jennifer Peterson isn’t even her real name. And though the movie never reveals her true name, more of Peterson’s spiderweb unravels as the film goes on.
It is when Grayson meets Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage) that she realizes the true nature of what she got herself involved in. Lunyov is Peterson’s son, and she and her son are a part of the Russian mob.
The film itself was filled with plenty of twists and turns, but the audience is met with even more twists towards the very end of the film. The final moments of the film are narrated by Grayson via an interview she is doing on TV. The screen flashes with various magazine covers featuring Grayson, showing that she and Lunyov were successful in their business.
A man appears and starts yelling at Grayson, calling her a “B*tch.” The man then shoots Grayson dead, yelling that because of her, his mother died and he was unable to see her and be there for her since Grayson prohibited anyone from visiting anyone in her care.
As the film starts to go black, we see Grayson’s white suit turn crimson red as Fran sobs.
Overall, I enjoyed this film. It was one of those movies where there were truly no good guys, with the type of characters you love to hate and hate to love. Seeing the empire Grayson created was disturbing, and that the filmmakers decided to kill her off at the end was a bold, but effective move. She doesn’t get to have a happy ending.
Watch “I Care a Lot” on Netflix.