Read Mixed User Reviews for The Platform

4

ozzsoffyMar 25, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The cube meets Snowpiercer This is a kind of movie that has a bit of philosophy, a bit of drama, and a bit of mysterious, and it do all that with minimum number of characters Snowpiercer… Expand

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6

oguzhanoguzMar 28, 2020

Yaşanan toplumsal süreci bir ayna gibi yansıtma işlevini başarıyla yapmasının dışında muazzam bir yenilik getirmiyor. Platform fikri ve metaforu güzel kullanılmış ve dramaturgik açıdan bakıldığında işlevsellik son derece yüksek. Senaryo ritmiYaşanan toplumsal süreci bir ayna gibi yansıtma işlevini başarıyla yapmasının dışında muazzam bir yenilik getirmiyor. Platform fikri ve metaforu güzel kullanılmış ve dramaturgik açıdan bakıldığında işlevsellik son derece yüksek. Senaryo ritmi de oldukça verimli ancak şimdiye kadar yapılmış bu tarz filmlere bakıldığında onların üzerine çok bir şey koyduğu söylenemez. Yine de kesinlikle izlenmesi gereken bir film.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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6

hnestlyontheslyMar 27, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unlike its predecessors, The Platform is not really interested in high budget cinematography: the sets are simple, unadorned, poorly lit cells steeped in shadow and drab prison garb, which makes the momentary presence of the platform’s feast all the more impressive and visually striking. And though our protagonist’s disgust with the feast and all it represents is a point of annoyance for the survivalists in the audience–Friend kept pausing to complain about how little Ivan Massague’s character Goreng eats–it’s a point of fun for me to be able to think about what a boon it must’ve been for these actors to be able to react honestly to the spread (or lackthereof) as it arrived on set from the ceiling. It’s also a point of genius for the director to be able to portray his protagonist’s abstinent liberalism as a kind of stupidity, an echo of that adage my grandfather used to say, “Democrats want to give away the store.”

So, if The Platform‘s plot isn’t extraordinarily complex or even that original–a Stanley Milgram experiment with food–what makes the film exceptional are the ways that its structure feeds into our anticipation of events in future scenes: the suspense of discovering each new cell’s number and the way that this forms our expectations about will happen; the achronological cut scenes of food being prepared in a restaurant with care and precision; the Easter egg of discovering each of Goreng’s new roommates’ totems and the totems of the other inmates; the way that his roommates hover over his shoulder like malign Jiminy Crickets; the motif of snails; the way that Goreng assimilates the language of his compatriots, “obvio.”

The totems especially feel like they deserve a shoutout, since Goreng’s choice seems so patently reasonable at the start, until we see how innocent and useless his choice was and how revelatory it is of his character. The totems give this extraordinarily crisp descriptor of each inmate from a single visual image: the sense of threat and foreboding when Trimagasi pulls out his As Seen On TV knife; the disarming frivolity of bringing your pet into isolation; the ingenious and risky optimism of a rope.

Which is all to say, The Platform is filled with these brilliant moments of insight about bleeding hearts and craven conservatism and wide-eyed religiosity in the face of cruelty and selfishness. And though the film ultimately aligns itself with a kind of cold utilitarian pragmatism, it’s not at all stuffy or high-brow, but rather explosive and violent and surprising. That political evolution that starts as a simmer and reaches a boil is at the center of this film.

Some questions that I’m still trying to untangle a few days out from this film, that I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with the film for posing are: I understand why the panna cotta is the message, but I don’t understand why anyone in charge of this facility is going to be phased by the appearance of a child. I get that future generations and the cruelty we’re inflicting on our children is supposed to be a greater motivator than the spiteful displeasure of the people, but in the specifics of this film, it doesn’t feel like the allegory fits, or explains why Goreng’s absence on the top floor will make that new message any more impactful or protect the child from danger. On this point, I’m not entirely sure of the significance of the Korean Marilyn Monroe’s search for her imaginary son and the subsequent discovery of a young girl instead. Is her child actually imaginary as Imoguiri claims? We don’t have any reason to believe that Imoguiri would lie to us about this, except that she seems unaware of the size of the facility or the extent of its cruelty. When she kills herself before Goreng can wake up in their second month together, it’s in part so that they don’t have to argue about food or lack thereof, but also because she never imagined there were so many more cells. And, after all, she’s wrong about the fact that there are no children in the facility.

This question about Korean Marilyn Monroe’s motivation cascades into other questions about why she never found her son, or if her son was fictional, why she never found the child, if her strategy for finding him was essentially the same as Goreng’s. And if the answer is simply that she’s murderous and mentally ill, that seems unsatisfying. But more than that particular question about Marilyn, why has no one previously attempted this plan? Why doesn’t Marilyn end up doing this exact thing every time she goes in search of her child? Why are we to believe that she descends the Platform and then stays on a lower level for the remainder of her month?

The question of the originality of Goreng’s plan doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s pretty badass and entertaining as hell.… Expand

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4

Stream2BigScreeApr 5, 2020

Welcome back quarantine-mates! I hope you all are staying safe out there and staying home. We'll continue to review some interesting flicks for you. This weekend we have for you Platform. It's from 2019, but it is just now hitting theWelcome back quarantine-mates! I hope you all are staying safe out there and staying home. We'll continue to review some interesting flicks for you. This weekend we have for you Platform. It's from 2019, but it is just now hitting the pinnacle of Netflix lore in March of 2020. The idea behind Platform is that we follow Ivan Massague, as Goreng, as he's stuck in a "vertical prison" with one cell per level, 2 people per cell, and the only food provided to the cells comes down on a platform in the middle of the cell and two minutes per day to feed all of the levels. Let's see how Goreng's experience turns out.

First things first, I papa freaks all the hunnies.... bunnies. Wrong first thing. I digress. First, this movie is in Spanish, originally. I chose to watch with the dubbed English. I understand that creates a difficulty for some people. I suggest, if you watch this, put on the dubbed version and keep it pushing. The voices are annoying and the writing is tragic. If I hear the word "obviously" again in the next couple of days, I'm slapping that person on site! Those of you who watched know exactly what I mean.

Second, the idea of the movie is intriguing. For those horror/thriller cinephiles out there, picture a combination of the Cube series mixed with The Belko Experiment and Saw or Escape Room (minus games). Stating that, I've said too much but maybe I've also peaked your interest. If I take all the great points of those movies, then we'd be on the right track. Platform is not on that track. In the gory and gross categories, Platform can stand a slight chance. Otherwise, this movie lacks depth. Sure, the concept is interesting until you realize you're just watching a different version of the Cube with food (because how did those people in Cube survive without food?!... neither here nor there). It's ironic to say the movie lacks depth when the whole movie harps on how deep/far the platform goes down! The writers were on to something, but it feels like they just gave up half-way through and said, "Yeah this is too stupid even for us. Let's just get Netflix to pay us for content."

Finally, this movie lacks resolution and any real explanation. Even though my description states that it's a prison, Platform never explicitly acknowledges whether it really is a prison. Oh, these idiots are locked in alright but what country started this prison system. Shoot! This might be a more effective deterrent to crime than our actual system, but alas we'll never find out. Social experiment vs. Prison reform? You'll never find out.

Needless to say, thank God this movie came to streaming only. Forget that the movie has subtitles or poor dubbing, Platform has no direction. That’s difficult to say for a movie that literally just goes up and down for an hour and half. For my horror/thriller fans out there… you’ll get your handful of popcorn out of this but everyone else this is a single popped kernel that if you’re desperate and not squeamish I’d say pop in.… Expand

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4

BelzApr 4, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie portrays the social hierarchy well and depicts the cruelty of human nature. They did a great job emphasising the greed of humans. However, I can’t eat properly because of this movie. I’ve lost all my appetite for everything that’s meat. Additionally, the hallucinations felt oddly weird and seemed fake in a sense. The movie would have been better if not for the ending, he could have been shown to go up as well instead of staying at the bottom with his first roommate. Overall, the cannibalism was the worst thing about the movie.… Expand

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6

theredskyMar 31, 2020

The Platform came out of nowhere on Netflix last week and I decided to watch it. I thought it was good. It wasn’t great but it’s better than most films being released on Digital or on Netflix. If you have seen the 2013 film Snowpiercer, thenThe Platform came out of nowhere on Netflix last week and I decided to watch it. I thought it was good. It wasn’t great but it’s better than most films being released on Digital or on Netflix. If you have seen the 2013 film Snowpiercer, then you might detect some similarities between the two. I thought this would be an issue at first but by the end of it, I realized it wasn’t too similar to Snowpiercer. Their themes about class and wealth are similar but each film does their own separate thing with those ideas. The Platform takes the themes of class and wealth and says that everyone has a shot at being at the top while Snowpiercer uses those themes for the poor in the back and wealthy at the front. As the film progresses, the similarities start to disappear and its originality starts to shine. The characters are interesting to watch develop and learn about this prison. The performances, for the most part, were decent. We are only introduced to about 4 other characters that interact with the lead and they all did fine. The lead actor, Iván Massagué, did a great job though. He successfully manages to portray someone who doesn’t understand what he put himself through with this prison. There are certain points where the main character is in severe pain and his reaction to it is very disturbing. That’s also something I like about the film, it’s very disturbing. There is a lot of blood and very gruesome moments that could be hard to watch for some. I highly recommend not eating food during this. The film excels in some of its technical aspects but falls below average in others. The score was good although repetitive and sometimes overbearing and the editing was not great. It was choppy and rushed and took away tension from certain scenes but the cinematography and visuals are great. This prison has multiple levels with a hole just in the middle so the food cart can come down. Whenever characters peer down the hole, it looks very really as if this place actually exists. There are points in the film where we do see dead bodies and they also look horrifyingly real. Overall, The Platform is a brutal story with decent/good performances, great visuals and cinematography even if it can be a little confusing with choppy editing and overbearing music.… Expand