Tensions abound in Pamela (2020), which we caught on Amazon Prime but is listed in IMDb as a February 2020 release. This is a tight family-tensions thriller, set over a single dinner. As mother Pamela, daughter Vanessa, and son Matt order and ignore dinner and down far too many cocktails, the latter two reveal they know there’s a big, nasty family secret involving their late father and themselves. As they seek answers, each prods the other, but Pamela is the chief target of their thrusts, their hunger for answers to the questions brought up by their shared childhoods. Who is their father, after all, and why did he do as he did? And why is she defending him?
As we learn that no one’s perfect, we also discover how those imperfections interact with each other, and how that affects the characters, even those that aren’t there to defend themselves – and why deep, dark secrets can sometimes be problems with no good answers.
There’s no question this is well-acted, but the script might have benefited from another draft, especially as some pointed barbs might have brought out a bit more tension, a few more questions to chase around on the table with one’s fork. And I’m curious as to whether they tried to film this without that unnamed furry animal clinging to Matt’s face, and finally decided he looked better with it than without it. It was … distracting.
But this kept the attention of my Arts Editor and myself, and not out of morbid curiosity. Each actor knows what they’re trying to accomplish, and they do it well. As I recall, the movie poster was decorated with various film festival awards, and it earned them.
You won’t laugh much, but you’ll be drawn in.
