Who Needs It? 2023 (Touch the Heart Productions / Uncia Films) Review
"Show, don't tell" is a filmmaking principle that emphasizes conveying information through visual storytelling rather than through dialogue or narration. It's about using actions, behavior, and visual elements to reveal character traits, emotions, and plot developments, allowing the audience to infer meaning rather than having it explicitly stated. It aims to engage the watcher by allowing them to experience the story and draw their own conclusions, rather than being passively told facts.
Why do I bring this up? Because in this movie, Marcus Spencer and Eduardo Castrillo decided to experiment with a “Tell, don’t show” approach. You have to enjoy the opening logos where for some reason, Touch The Heart Productions has two different logos shown, and the opening credits which uses exterior drone shots of the bay area. Because after that, we are trapped in ONE location for the rest of the film. The therapist room.
Dr. Keith B Real questions his life choices as he zones out to the conversations.
Now, one location movies can work, but your gotta have a pretty sweet location and concept to work with. Check out Fall, Platform, or Knock at the Cabin for some examples. These “Chamber Piece” movies can make for some pretty fun stuff, but in “Who Needs It?”, it just comes across as lazy filmmaking. The movie has this whole podcast vibe, and it was honestly dreadful to watch.
The film is about three different couples and families, with Dr. Keith B Real asking them about their lives. Now look, I don’t totally hate the concept, I think it could work with a little more creative energy and effort. For example, you start in the therapy room and then use flashbacks to show what they are talking about in practice. At least this way, the characters in the film would ATTUCALLY MOVE instead of being confined to their chairs for the entire runtime. We just get the same shots of the characters talking, and the editor couldn’t even be bothered to use Marcus Spencer’s close up dialogue when he is off screen, making some of his dialogue sound distracting as it’s coming off to the side of the mic. The conversation transitions are just simple title cards that change the topic. We don’t even see the characters enter or exit the room.
The actors in this movie are surprising doing a pretty good job, and it’s a shame they are not in a better movie. Sherill Quinn and Michael Grayson do have some nice chemistry and I could see them working well in a drama or rom com type of movie where they actually would get something to do. Quania Jones and Dawayne Jordan also could work well together But in this movie, they are just confined to lengthy monologues. I guess a lot of the dialogue was improv so the actors do deserve some credit for their work. Marcus D. Spencer role in this film is basically just asking questions and he doesn’t even sound all that interested himself.
Me joining Dr. Keith B Real in snoozing because this therapy sess be pretty boring.
There is even a point when Dr. Keith B Real even checks out, like the audience will, of the conversations happening. Because there is no plot to this movie or really any reason to be invested. None of the therapy sessions connect to each other way in a meaningful way, and at the end of the film you just ask what is the point of all this? You would be better off watching Love Island or reality tv if you wanted a drama fix.
Several films effectively portray therapy and mental health into their narratives, offering valuable insights into the human experience when telling an interesting story. "Good Will Hunting" and "Silver Linings Playbook" for example. With “Who Needs It?”, I don’t know who this is for? This attempt barely qualifies as a movie and it was a challenge for me to finish it. If Marcus Spencer’s goal was to make a movie to torture someone in a locked room or put oneself to sleep, then mission accomplished I guess.
