There's something seriously off about "Finding Agnes" that it never really resolves throughout its runtime. There's this sense that the film was missing that "x-factor" and most scenes just didn't connect with us in an emotional level. For a drama film, that is quite a horrendous turnout. While some may find some semblance of purpose for the journey of our characters as a reason to watch it, the various technical and basic issues we encountered isn't forgivable in our opinion.
When his mom suddenly abandoned him 25 years ago, Brix Rivero (Jelson Bay) never found out the reasons why and this has affected him deeply ever since. But against all odds, Brix found a way to be successful by himself. During one of his meetings, his mother suddenly shows up telling him that she wants to explain everything to Brix but as luck would have it, she suddenly dies and never gets to tell her side of the story. Leaving a will to her son with several requests, Brix promises to accomplish his mother's last wishes. Due to this, Brix must go to Morocco and meet with his mother's adopted daughter Cathy (Sue Ramirez). Both will go on an emotional journey to get to know the mother Brix never knew and the life she lived away from him.
Given its likable lead actors, we wanted "Finding Agnes" to succeed especially with Jelson Bay taking on a role that's outside his comfort zone. But the biggest issue for "Finding Agnes" was actually that - the film was simply miscast. Unfortunately, Jelson Bay's performance was lackluster and disappointing. He just couldn't provide a convincing and dramatic performance as the rich but sad Brix Rivero. There were actually times that we were not sure if he was trying to be deliberately funny or not. But the wooden acting and awkward results was just off-putting in most scenes. Sue Ramirez provided some form of anchor for the lead actors but it wasn't enough to tip the balance. Another problem for "Finding Agnes" was its writing or lack thereof. The narrative was generic at best with its key climactic scenes being too predictable. The film doesn't really break any molds or even attempted to do anything new or fresh. This is going to be a self-discovery journey that will be all-too-familiar even though its setting in Morocco is new and naturally beautiful. Sadly, the film had the potential to be so much more but it failed to do anything at all to even stand out. Banking on its beautiful setting, the film could have spent more time working on its script, casting, and story.
Rating: 1 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- Morocco was beautiful to look at
- at a basic level, the story provided some lessons albeit its all too common already
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- sadly, Jelson Bay wasn't able to provide a great dramatic performance
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