Sunday, February 7, 2021

12 Hour Shift (2020) Final Girls Berlin 2021

With 12 HOURS SHIFT playing Final Girls Berlin, here is my review from when the film World Premiered at Tribeca last year.

Nurse Mandy has just started a double shift at the hospital.  Addicted to various substances she is also part of an organ theft ring.  When her idiot cousin messes up a delivery things become complicated as they are forced to find a replacement. Things get even more complicated when a really bad convict is brought in to the hospital....

How you react to this film will depend on how you take the abrasive, stupid and annoying people in Mandy's orbit. It seems everyone in this film exists to not only annoy Mandy but the audience as well. Every one is affected in some sort of quirk  and they display it in the loudest possible way. What is worse is events don't happen  so much as they happen "funny", it's as if the filmmakers decided to spice things up and be funny instead of being just a thriller.

It bothers me that this film goes out of it's way to be ugly. The violence is ugly, the situations speak of nastiness, and the people by being cartoons are ugly representations of humanity. This isn't a hospital but a cesspit. Life here is just painful and uncomfortable. It would be fine  but there is no reason for it other than to spice things up and give the film an added edge which the basic situation doesn't need.

It kind of kills me that this film is such a mess. The basic plot, had it been played straight or even played for the natural black humor in the situations would have been killer. This is not something that needed to be pumped up. I also don't know why everyone plays things so affected. I don't know why you have Angela Bettis play it straight (she gives an excellent performance) and then fill the rest of the film with the contents of the clown car. It makes no sense.

Truth be told I found this film painful and I walked out at one point to use the bathroom and I didn't care that the film was still going. I actually kind of hoped it would end so I wouldn't have to see it anymore.

You can skip this one.

No comments:

Post a Comment