Danger S
It's not even bad in an entertaining way, it's just bad.
The protagonist is profoundly, unbelievably stupid. Everyone's dialogue sounds like it was made up by a hermit who could only imagine how humans talk. And the office she works doesn't make any sense.
oh god, and the way she cries is the most ridiculous acting I've ever seen in my life.
Everything about this movie is fucking terrible. People repeat the same lines, but it's not clever, it's just very uncreative.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/18/24
Full Review
Diamond W
Many say this movie is not for everyone and I concur. If you are not hostile to imperfect story-telling though, there are many enjoyable moments here.
For instance, if you like drinking games you can drink every time a character says,
"What the f@ck?!" or "What the f@ck is wrong with you?!", you will get wasted. Everyone wants to know "what is going on" with the hero (or Hera). On the first viewing it was annoying, on the second run through it was like being tickled against my will. Flaws can become endearing.
The symbolism and relationships are extremely blurry, but ultimately satisfying if you have the patience to carefully parse.
Ava Rose Kinard is convincing and enjoyable as she swings from feigning confidence to being gleefully unhinged or desperately confused.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/31/23
Full Review
Rachael W
What On Earth???what a weird pointless film
This is Not a horror , it just had some girl screaming the whole time. do not waste your time on this film honestly.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
08/19/23
Full Review
Michele L
Pollen is a super weird little indie loosely resembling the movies 'Little Shop Of Horrors' and 'Sunlight, Junior'. It had me hooked as soon as I saw the previews. If you aren't an indie person who likes themes twisted to a weird angle, then this isn't for you. If you are an introvert whose fave activity is chilling at home alone with a quirky movie (and a plant baby or two), then this is for you. The main character is either a misfit dork, or a sweet young woman overwhelmed by coworkers criticisms at work who just doesn't quite know how to fit in, depending on your point of view. I had the exact same situation happen to me with a hard@$$ female supervisor as 'Hera' does with her supervisor 'Lori'. Hauled into the Breakout Room and ripped to pieces. We never know if the weird things that are happening in this movie are all in her mind, or if there are some really sinister plants out there bent on taking over the world. If you love plants and have some of your own, you will be intrigued by this movie and enjoy every minute. But don't turn your back on your plant children. One of them might be an evil foster plant bent on world dominion!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
07/31/23
Full Review
Philip F
I tried writing this without spoilers but I was unable to do so while being honest and so SPOILERS AHEAD.
TL:DR
Would I watch it again: no
Would I recommend friends to watch it: I would need to set expectations that this isn't a horror, and obviously a trigger warning, but maybe.
I'm going to start out with what's good about the movie. The movie is written in a way that does show the emotions of what someone goes through after being SA'd. The confusion about what happened to them, how they're perceived by others, and the complexity of a toxic workplace. But sadly the positives end there.
The genre is classed as horror and I've seen it classed as mystery/thriller. It is not. This movie is more a low quality drama with a metaphoric "monster" that's visual, but not physical. I spent probably 80% of the movie thinking the leads relationship to her plant was just because her assaulter gave it to her, like a memento. Not because the character had an unhealthy attachment to a man she just met and the baby he made her "kill" (morning after pill). This really needed to be made clear at the start of the movie. I honestly believe if you cut out every scene with her sister and every scene with the monster the movie would play the same.
The acting. The main actress doesn't feel human even before her assault. She only speaks in a meek soft tone throughout the entire movie. Even when she screams there's no force behind it, to the point I doubt a non-sighted person would know if she was whistling or screaming in some parts. The physical acting comes off as deliberate (not natural). Sometimes it felt that the shown emotions where delayed 20seconds to what was being said (however this could also be bad editing...we'll get to that). When the actress "coughs" up a flower, well, there's no cough, theres no holding of the breath or tensing to create a redness in the face. The flower just drops out her mouth, showing that shes just stuck it in there. The main character, despite going through tragedy, has zero depth.
The sister, I don't know if the sister showed a single expression on her face the entire movie. The closest I got was a raised eyebrow and some unnaturally large eyes but the rest of her face didn't move.
Every person in the movie, except the main character and one coworker who we only see at the start of the movie, has "ansty teen" personalities.
Honestly just poor form all around.
This movie has zero VFX. When you finally get a non-behind-frosted-glass look at the monster you can see clearly woven fabric, the pen stab was clearly being held by the actress (how hard is it to shorten a pen?). The things they needed effects on in post production could've been shot without them if props where better constructed/the set size was bigger.
The editing
MY OH MY! I think there's probably 4 scenes where the camera moves. There are no dynamic angles, its all face on. Due to the size of the set in most scenes the camera has to flick between people but every time it did it felt like the actors weren't responding to their co-stars. There is one part at the end after the antagonist is stabbed, the main actress gets sprayed with blood, then the camera moves back to the antagonist and he is blood free with a smile on his face and gets stabbed again, literally just cut out 1.5 seconds of film and it wouldn't have been noticeable. I've only touched the surface here.
Overall, despite being a trainwreck, there is an important point of view here that most people will "hopefully" never have to endure in their lifetimes.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
07/09/23
Full Review
Brad P
While the metaphor doesn't fully work by the film's end, Pollen still delivers a chilling take on the rape-revenge film wrapped in an indictment of toxic corporate work culture.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
06/28/23
Full Review
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