Those who are fine Film Difficulty Ranking: 4
If you like your films bleak and unfriendly, check out this shady film which stalks a phone scammer. There’s no bright colours, lighting, or friendly characters to make you feel at home. Those Who Are Fine is for those wanting to step into the lonely life of the phone scammer and the people they affect.
From: Switzerland, Europe
Watch: Trailer
Next: Wild Tales, Involuntary, Post Mortem
Why Watch Those Who Are Fine?
- Watch a phone scammer at work
- Experience a bleak contemporary dystopia
- If you don’t like sympathising with your characters
- For a meta opening
The Breakdown
Those Who Are Fine starts with a group of people sitting in a park. One of them starts telling the others about a story they heard from a friend about a phone scammer. They heard that the phone scammer would call vulnerable grandparents posing as their out of touch granddaughter in need of urgent cash. They would organise a place to meet for the grandparent to hand over the money, and an hour before the meeting they would ring the grandparent again to say that their friend would be meeting them instead of them, to collect the money. A perfect scam.
After hearing the story, one of the other people in the group says the story sounds like a film they had seen: cue the disguised opening of Those Who Are Fine. It’s a strangely meta opening.
However, the weirdness doesn’t stop there. The film never really focuses on the phone scammer, or any other character. It’s never really clear when we are following the scammer, or people talking about the scammer. There are scenes in which cops casually talk to each other about phone scammers, and there are also scenes in which different cops are stalking the criminal. The real life crime seems to blur into the general conversation. It’s like a strange dystopia where the scammer and the art of scamming has permeated every aspect of society.
The Bleak dystopian nightmare
Whilst the world in Those Who Are Fine is probably similar what you might expect to see in contemporary Switzerland, the feeling of the film is out of place. It feels like a bleak world which you never want to be a part of.
Firstly, the colour palette is bleak, and the lighting is dim. There’s never enough light or enough bright colours to indicate any warmth or life.
Secondly, the shots of people are always off. People are always placed in the bottom third of the screen, and usually far away from the camera, as if shot with a zoom lens. It feels like we are spying on them rather than listening and sympathising with them. The camera never creates any intimacy between the audience and the people on screen.
As a result of the lack of colour and lighting, and the awkward positioning of the people on screen, the Switzerland in Those Who Are Fine feels like a bleak dystopian nightmare. In this city, there’s no life or happiness. It’s just a shady place where trust and love are not welcome. It’s like we’ve stepped into the shady, lonely, bleak life of the phone scammer.
What to Watch Next?
If you’re up for another bleak film, check out Post Mortem from Chile, following a couple living amidst the Pinochet dictatorship.
Or if you’re up for two darkly funny comedies based around a group of unrelated stories, check out Wild Tales from Argentina and Involuntary from Sweden.
','' ); } ?>