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‘Monday’ Movie Review: The Anti-Rom-Com Starring Sebastian Stan & Denise Gough

Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough play insufferable Americans who experiment with a relationship after their passionate meeting in Greece

Ritika Kispotta - Sun, 18 Apr 2021 12:57:05 +0100 3811 Views
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Directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos, ‘Monday’ is a drama film from a screenplay Argyris wrote with Rob Hayes. Americans abroad Chloe (Irish actor Denise Gough) and Mickey (Sebastian Stan) are the central couples in Argyris Papadimitropoulos' latest feature ‘Monday’. In the opening scene of the film, they meet at a party, and in no time they are making out. Hours later, they awaken in each other's arms, naked on the beach.


'Monday' barely sets up or evolves the relationship before it starts to dig a pit in it. The film appears intent to explore the hardships of relationships and how tough it can be to leave bad ones — be it for fear of loneliness, wanting emotional support, or an embarrassment of alternative reasons. However, 'Monday' doesn’t do the work to deepen the relationship between the characters, which ultimately hinders the emotional impact of their unraveling. Papadimitropoulos is heavily centered on the superficiality of Chloe and Mickey’s relationship, haphazardly throwing in substantive moments with not much follow-up. Early on, sex scenes and laughter are meant to convey the amount of fun the pair have along, however it's not enough.


Gough, an Irish performing artist better-known for her stage work, has a larger impact. Though Chloe at first seems more composed, one among Mickey’s friends notes that he’s “only happy” once he’s failing and that’s something he and Chloe could have in common. Gough’s performance rapidly chips away at Chloe’s face, and therefore the two regularly place their bond in danger with jealousies, odd twists, straight-up lies, and even legal entanglements. The litany of self-inflicted complications heap up with an exhausting regularity, however, Stan and Gough strive to hold the film — and their couple — balanced.


Monday is more interested in picturesque escapades about Athens than in its characters, and its environment is treated as little more than background noise. It’s honestly a weird choice that Papadimitropoulos would favor to concentrate on American ex-pats living in Greece since both of them have little interaction with the culture of its folks, which frequently takes away from the influence of town. Mickey is unwilling to find out, appreciate, and communicate with the culture and folks around him. This interprets his relationship with Chloe, which makes the film a tedious task to sit through, its potential lost amid a sea of half-formed concepts and little follow-through.


Final Score – [6.6/10]
Reviewed by – Ritika Kispotta
Follow her @KispottaRitika on Twitter (https://twitter.com/KispottaRitika)

 

 

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