White Frog Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDxa1fdSybQ
Rated- Not Rated
Genre- Drama/Comedy
Warnings- Mentions of homosexuality
After finding this movie on Netflix, I felt inclined to watch it and give my opinion on it. Therefore, this is my review on the independent film 'White Frog.'
Directed by Quentin Lee, the story revolves around a young teenager named Nick Young (Booboo Stewart) who tragically loses his older brother Charles 'Chaz' (Harry Shum Jr.) in an unexpected accident. However, with the help of his Chaz's friends, Nick is encouraged to be more comfortable in his own skin while learning more about his brother in the process.
This movie is meant to be very heartwarming and emotional and it even won two awards for best actor (Booboo Stewart) and Best narrative feature film, according to Imdb.com. Even so, the preferences of many do not create bias in my heart; I will still be judging it based on my opinion and my opinion only.
So, did 'White Frog' really convey the powerful works of love into their feature or did I think it was a weak film that tried and failed at pulling at the heartstrings?
Something that I want to make note of is since I do not have a lot of knowledge on how people with Aspergers behave, I do not think that it is right of me to critic how Nick's character behaves since he is diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome. I understand that by doing this it will give me little to work with for Nick, but I'd rather not comment at all than comment incorrectly saying that his way of portraying Aspergers isn't correct when I barely know of it myself.
With that being said, I may not know much detail about Aspergers Syndrome, but I can give you the definition for it. Aspergers syndrome is a part of a broad category called autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is what doctors call a "high-functioning" type of ASD, according to wedmd.com. Certain symptoms of someone with Aspergers include having trouble being socially active, having an obsessive focus on a topic or having a tendency to preform the same behaviors.
I can say that with Nick, the movie does present the common symptoms of Aspergers listed through showing the audience Nick's mannerisms. Social awkwardness, one track mindedness and repeated behaviors are all things that Nick does throughout the movie, so I can commend the film for being consistent with his mannerisms.
In addition, Nick's journey to be more open to people did not make him transform into a completely different person in the end. It took a lot of time and courage for Nick be more expressive with people and I'm very pleased that I had a sense that it will still take him some time to do that even after the movie was completed.
Nick's brother Chaz seemed consistent with his behavior as well, coming off as a nice and supportive brother to Nick and doing everything in his power to make him feel included and loved. His inclusion throughout the story was great because the writers found a way to still incorporate the brother without having him control the story. It was still Nick's journey after all and everything we learn about Chaz is picked up mostly by the conversations Nick has with his friends and the see him piece together the story of Chaz was intriguing.
However, Nick and Chaz's parents Oliver and Irene (B.D Wong and Joan Chen) on the other hand had a bland aura to them and while they do begin to develop near the end film, I believe that if there was more focus on the pair before their elder son died, then it would give us a better sense of how they communicated with their children. Before the tragedy, the parents are only featured once and they do not have a conversation with their sons or anyone else. Thus, we don't get a sense of who they are.
Well, people who have watched this film can argue that they can come off dismissive and uncaring, but the short scene used to introduce them is typical with many family households that you can't truly prove that they're good or bad parents.
So, without showing the parents interact with others, there is no comparison to make of their behavior when Chaz ends up dying. We do not know how much of an impact Chaz's death changes the two. With tragedies, the audience should see at least a minute of how the characters interact with one another so when the chaos does ensue, then the audience can be devastated to see how badly this tragedy ruined the characters' spirits.
I can say the same thing for Chaz's friends, they too didn't communicate with Chaz at all. We only see them after his death. Literally, we see most of his 'close friends' only after he dies so again, the feelings of sentiment become lost because we really don't know how good of friends they were.
Oftentimes, one of Chaz's friends would say how much fun they had and so on, but it made me annoyed to hear them say that because it makes me think, 'Show don't tell.' Don't tell us that you all had the time of your lives together, show it through action. Have a group of them talk to Chaz, make one of them call him on the phone at least.
The only friend who did interact with Chaz at all was Randy (Gregg Sulkin) but even that wasn't really a conversation between him and Chaz as it was one between him and Nick. Like I mentioned earlier, Nick is the main character but Chaz is supposed to be a major element to the story, so it doesn't help that aside from Nick nobody else talks to him and shows their connection towards one another.
Still on the topic of Chaz, his death was unexpected but perhaps too unexpected. It hits the audience out of nowhere, they don't see him getting killed or even about to get into trouble and Nick only hears his parents worried about Chaz instead of seeing them panic, so it weakens how heart-breaking his death is supposed to be.
Many of the transitions in this film were very awkward too. It would feel like a scene was cut off out of nowhere and as I watched the movie past the half way point I noticed that this story felt awfully repeated in terms of scenes. The same scenarios would occur in the same order: A scene with the parents, then friends, Nick learns a new face about his brother, Nick and his family argue and repeat. That may not be in the exact order, but I'm sure the point has been given.
The acting performances unsettled me, not because it was scary but because I feel like a lot of it was just bad acting (or at most mediocre) and it didn't help me get fully invested in the film. It was like the actors-specifically from the parents-felt like they were waiting for the time where they can say their lines, like they were pumping themselves up for their cue but when they finally said their lines they just said it in a way that they thought they should have said it, not relating to the character they are portraying. Basically, the actors' performances-again, mostly from the mom and dad-felt hollow and lacked emotion.
I must say the climax of the story did throw me off in a good way though and I wasn't expecting the movie to go that route. I expected something totally different, so I give the writers credit for not making the film predictable. Plus, I really do believe that once the climax came out, the movie became so much better and had some inspiring metaphors about how we should treat ourselves and how we are treated in society.
In the end, 'White Frog' has it's basket of flaws which include the sub-par acting, the questionable scene changes, unnecessary moments, and flimsy focus. Although, its strengths derive from when they finally achieve a clear focus around the climax, the connections to the side characters grow stronger, and the ending was my favorite part of the movie because it brought life to something that I almost lost interest in; thus it brought a disinterested viewer back at attention and that's a big positive.
I can see how this could be an emotional film, but do I think it deserved best feature film? Not really, although I'd have to see the other nominees at the time. I will give 'White Frog' a two out of five stars.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
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When Chaz says, "Be a man, Nick" when they are outside by Randy's car, it sounds like Chaz is instead saying, "Be Aman" The pronunciation is off.
I think it was wrong to not show the parents reacting to the phone call about Chaz, you only hear them and considering that we didn't see them interact with their sons much, this scene does not feel emotional for me.
10 minutes in and Chaz dies. The whole scene where it's Chaz's death and funeral felt so quick. They don't even show Chaz in danger. I know he was hit by a car, but we don't see it aim for Chaz a least.
Is Nick getting therapy for his outburst or just for his condition?
Oh no, cheerleader girlfriend. How are you going to top that Nick? (At this point I was assuming Nick was going to be romantically involved with someone)
I never played the game they are playing, so wouldn't it be nice to just explain it really quick instead of assuming everyone knows how to play?
Product placement for Panda express while the family is eating.
When Nick is around kids his age you can really notice the age comparison and how much older the actor for Nick is.
So...is Doug or Randy supposed to be the love interest for Nick?
This movie does not have a clear focus. Is Nick trying to fit in, learn about Nick's past, what is it?
If you notice Chaz's tombstone it says he was born on 1954 and died on 2012, which would make him 58 years old.
Is there a Nick, Doug and Randy love triangle?
Nice Twist! I swore Randy was falling in love with Nick!
That was a nice bonding moment between Randy and the rest of Chaz's old friends
Why beat Nick up? You're just as irrational as he is!
Nice way to explain what the title of the movie is.
Wait a minute, so this whole time Doug wasn't romantically interested in Nick? Then why show off his hot girlfriend like he was eventually going to leave her? Her scenes served no purpose!
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