November 2, 2023
FILM: FINGERNAILS
DIRECTED BY: CHRISTOS NIKOU
STARRING: JESSIE BUCKLEY, RIZ AHMED, JEREMY ALLEN WHITE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
What if you could determine if you should stay with the person you are currently involved with by taking a test requiring that you, wait for it… have a fingernail pulled out to get the results… Would you do it? I know, it seems extreme but that’s the premise of the new film Fingernails from director Christos Nikou (Apples.) As horrifying as this sounds the film isn’t a scary thriller by any means. Rather it is an intelligently written and well-acted work that echoes a sentiment expressed by previous great 21st Century films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Her, and Ex Machina: Just because science has reached a point that it can do something to affect the human race, should it? Are scientific advances always a good thing?
Fingernails stars Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter, Women Talking) as Anna, a woman who has gone through the test with Ryan, played by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear). It is determined that they have a 100%, or perfect, match proclaiming their love is indeed true. The problem is that Anna senses something is wrong. She’s not feeling it with Ryan (I know, White is one of the hot actors of the moment so it might be hard for some to buy…) So, she decides to pursue a job at the Love Institute which has developed the tests. There, she meets one of its best testers, Amir, played by Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Nightcrawler.) She starts feeling an attraction towards him which runs counter to the test’s theory that we only have one perfect match in life.
This is a pretty fascinating concept and one that isn’t too far-fetched if you consider that we use the DNA of saliva to determine our ancestry and we use apps to determine if we should date someone or not. It’s interesting how convinced we’ve become as a culture that these tools hold all the answers. What if they’re wrong? Should we be so reliant on some of these scientific “breakthroughs?” Do they exist to help us or are its makers just trying to make billions? (Let’s always keep in mind: these aren’t social service agencies but businesses!)
Of course, the film also reminds us of how romantic love is expressed to us all over popular culture. There are references to films like Titanic, Ghost, and just about everything Hugh Grant became famous for. There are also songs in the soundtrack which tell us what falling in love is supposed to feel like such as Yaz’s Only You and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s Head to Toe. Do these forms of entertainment hold the answers to love or are they just as manufactured as a science test? Have we moved away from basic human chemistry and towards all of these sources as the true tests of love? Are we forever trying to take the risk out of finding love?
So, yes, this is a pretty philosophical film. It doesn’t provide a lot of details about why this Love Institute was created. Luke Wilson plays that founder and while his motives might be of interest to us (as they were with Tom Wilkinson’s character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) I don’t think the “evil” scientist is really the focus here. Rather it is science in general which is often called upon to solve our concerns and yet it can be far from perfect. The film does suggest that our fingernails can be the key to understanding our health, but do they provide all the answers?
The film even takes a stab at the Bible when it mentions the story of Adam and Eve trying out an apple. Many believe it provides a rationale for all of the evil in the world. Anna suggests though that we might want to we move on from such certitudes when “we know the story isn’t true.” Perhaps she is moving on from what the Love Institute is professing to be true.
While the film does seem to leave out some of the details surrounding characters such as the aforementioned Luke Wilson as Duncan and the woefully underutilized Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) as Amir’s stand-in “girlfriend,” this is still a film worth seeing for its unique exploration of love and science. In the end, do we need science to tell us who we love? Isn’t love just love?
Fingernails begins streaming on AppleTV+ this week.
FILM: FINGERNAILS
DIRECTED BY: CHRISTOS NIKOU
STARRING: JESSIE BUCKLEY, RIZ AHMED, JEREMY ALLEN WHITE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
What if you could determine if you should stay with the person you are currently involved with by taking a test requiring that you, wait for it… have a fingernail pulled out to get the results… Would you do it? I know, it seems extreme but that’s the premise of the new film Fingernails from director Christos Nikou (Apples.) As horrifying as this sounds the film isn’t a scary thriller by any means. Rather it is an intelligently written and well-acted work that echoes a sentiment expressed by previous great 21st Century films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Her, and Ex Machina: Just because science has reached a point that it can do something to affect the human race, should it? Are scientific advances always a good thing?
Fingernails stars Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter, Women Talking) as Anna, a woman who has gone through the test with Ryan, played by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear). It is determined that they have a 100%, or perfect, match proclaiming their love is indeed true. The problem is that Anna senses something is wrong. She’s not feeling it with Ryan (I know, White is one of the hot actors of the moment so it might be hard for some to buy…) So, she decides to pursue a job at the Love Institute which has developed the tests. There, she meets one of its best testers, Amir, played by Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Nightcrawler.) She starts feeling an attraction towards him which runs counter to the test’s theory that we only have one perfect match in life.
This is a pretty fascinating concept and one that isn’t too far-fetched if you consider that we use the DNA of saliva to determine our ancestry and we use apps to determine if we should date someone or not. It’s interesting how convinced we’ve become as a culture that these tools hold all the answers. What if they’re wrong? Should we be so reliant on some of these scientific “breakthroughs?” Do they exist to help us or are its makers just trying to make billions? (Let’s always keep in mind: these aren’t social service agencies but businesses!)
Of course, the film also reminds us of how romantic love is expressed to us all over popular culture. There are references to films like Titanic, Ghost, and just about everything Hugh Grant became famous for. There are also songs in the soundtrack which tell us what falling in love is supposed to feel like such as Yaz’s Only You and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s Head to Toe. Do these forms of entertainment hold the answers to love or are they just as manufactured as a science test? Have we moved away from basic human chemistry and towards all of these sources as the true tests of love? Are we forever trying to take the risk out of finding love?
So, yes, this is a pretty philosophical film. It doesn’t provide a lot of details about why this Love Institute was created. Luke Wilson plays that founder and while his motives might be of interest to us (as they were with Tom Wilkinson’s character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) I don’t think the “evil” scientist is really the focus here. Rather it is science in general which is often called upon to solve our concerns and yet it can be far from perfect. The film does suggest that our fingernails can be the key to understanding our health, but do they provide all the answers?
The film even takes a stab at the Bible when it mentions the story of Adam and Eve trying out an apple. Many believe it provides a rationale for all of the evil in the world. Anna suggests though that we might want to we move on from such certitudes when “we know the story isn’t true.” Perhaps she is moving on from what the Love Institute is professing to be true.
While the film does seem to leave out some of the details surrounding characters such as the aforementioned Luke Wilson as Duncan and the woefully underutilized Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) as Amir’s stand-in “girlfriend,” this is still a film worth seeing for its unique exploration of love and science. In the end, do we need science to tell us who we love? Isn’t love just love?
Fingernails begins streaming on AppleTV+ this week.