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Hold Up!

🎬 I'm NOT your casual movie reviewer!

I don't do plot overviews or safe, spoiler-free summaries. For that stuff, there's Wikipedia.

What I DO: I share my raw, unfiltered experience and thoughts on movies and TV shows. That means MAJOR SPOILERS could hit you in the very first line of any review.

I talk about films the way you'd chat with a friend who's already seen them. No dancing around plot points. No vague hints. Just honest, spoiler-filled conversation.

You've been warned. Now let's have a real talk about movies! 🍿

On Falling (2024)

A medium shot of Joana Santos as Aurora in "On Falling." She stands in what looks like a warehouse or office, wearing a thick, grey-brown ribbed turtleneck sweater with a yellow lanyard around her neck. She has dark hair with bangs, tied back, and is looking off-camera with a weary, slightly tense expression. The background is blurred, showing industrial blue shelving and neutral-toned walls.

Plot Summary: A Portuguese immigrant struggles to maintain her dignity while working in a dehumanizing warehouse job in Scotland, where algorithmic management and productivity targets slowly chip away at her humanity.

Director: Laura Carreira
Screenplay: Laura Carreira
Producer: Jack Thomas-O'Brien
Cinematography: Karl KΓΌrten
Editor: Helle Le Fevre
Music: Ines Adriana
Production Companies: Sixteen Films, Bro Cinema

Starring:
Joana Santos as Aurora
InΓͺs Vaz as Vera
Piotr Sikora as Kris
Neil Leiper as Ben
Leah MacRae as Anne
 A header image for a movie review from "Freddy's Movie Review." On the left is a blue-tinted photo of the blog's author, Freddy, smiling while wearing sunglasses and giving a thumbs-up. The text "freddy's movie review" is on the right.
***SPOILER ALERT***

A Punch to the Gut I Wasn't Expecting


Let me start this with a Portuguese expression: "que nΓ³ no estΓ΄mago." What a punch in the stomach. I am completely blown away by On Falling. This is the most relevant movie I've seen in maybe five years. It's a British-Portuguese co-production shot in Scotland, and it's just a stark, quiet, and elegant critique of the dystopic lives so many of us are living in this gig economy. The film follows Aurora (Joana Santos), and I gotta tell you, I've been in her situation. I've known so many people living just like this. I've been in similar humiliating, dehumanizing situations—like when your 'bonus' for slave work is a single chocolate bar, or you have to do f*ing drug tests just because it's 'company policy.' That sh makes my blood boil. It's why this movie gave me real stress and so much anger, but also this genuine compassion for Aurora. That feeling was even stronger because she's Portuguese, and it just felt like I was watching a personal friend of mine in a truly back-breaking, mind-breaking situation. This only works because the direction and acting are amazing. The dialogues are 100% natural, which is rare. I'm far from an expert on Portuguese cinema; I've seen so many bad movies I've avoided it for years. So when my wife told me the director (Laura Carreira) was Portuguese, I literally said, "Ooooh noooo, boring time again." Man, how wrong was I.

Watch this canteen scene below; it's one of the few moments of real human warmth before the system crushes it.

The Real Villain Isn't a Person


This is the best drama I've seen this year, and I'm keeping Laura Carreira on my radar from now on. She is so young! If she keeps this up, (se Deus quiser), she could do so much for our national cinema. Joana Santos also deserves massive credit. I was truly heartbroken in that job interview scene; she perfectly shows how this system alienates us from ourselves. In a normal, conventional drama, all this suffering would be because of some clear villain, like a cruel b****** of a manager. But On Falling makes a smarter, more radical choice. The managers are just "hapless boy-men," and other authority figures are just "doing their job." As Carreira said, the co-workers aren't the antagonists. The true antagonist is the system itself: the algorithm-driven economy, the compassionless labor politics, the whole economic force that runs our lives. The cruelty isn't personal, it's structural. This elevates the film from a simple workplace drama to a profound systemic critique. Carreira is clearly inspired by masters like Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers, and the film was even produced by Loach's own company.

Below is that job interview scene I mentioned. It's absolutely heartbreaking.

I Love This Movie (And I Wish I Didn't)


To make sure this all felt real, Carreira actually did extensive research, interviewing current and former warehouse pickers. Those interviews gave the film its texture. At its core, this movie is a chilling exposΓ© of what our unfettered consumerism is doing. The warehouse, ironically called a "fulfilment centre," is a place of profound dehumanization, a place that strips the workers of their humanity and sanity. The ending... damn. It was so simple, but the song choice was so powerful that I just broke down and cried. I completely love this movie, and I think I wish I didn't. We have to do something about this slavery. It is inhumane that in a world with so much abundance, so much food and useless junk wasted every day, people are trapped like packages on a conveyor belt as illustrated in one of the movie scenes, while a few others have all the money and freedom. Of course I recommend this movie. 100%.

Check out this scene where workers are forced to hear how great the company is (and get free cupcakes) while being asked to donate to charity. The nerve.

Freddy's Final Rating

95

A devastating and essential critique of our modern work culture

🎡 The Powerful Ending Song

The devastating final song that perfectly captures the film's message about economic inequality and the struggle to survive in a system that treats humans as disposable.

Lankum - "What Will We Do When We Have No Money?"

🎬 You Might Also Enjoy:

All We Imagine as Light (2024)
Another festival-acclaimed film that follows the lives of marginalized people in a society that often overlooks them.

Drama Movies List
Explore more thoughtful drama films in my curated collection of drama cinema.

Mind Blowing Movies
A selection of films that will challenge your perspective and expand your cinematic horizons.

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