Death of Nintendo

Director - Raya Martin (The Great Cinema Party, Smaller and Smaller Circles)

Starring - Noel Comia Jr. (Rainbow's Sunset, Parasite Island), Agot Isidro (Magikland, Love at First Stream), and Moi Marcampo (Since I Found You, Moon of Desire)

Release Date - 2020

Genre - Comedy

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) 

Rating (out of 5):

     The Vinegar Syndrome partner labels has caused a stir among genre fans and collectors.  Vin Syn's monthly releases does add up quickly and when you add the ever growing partner labels to them you find yourself in financial turmoil.  However, I love that they are bringing films to our attention that we would often overlook.  Case in point, 2020's Death of Nintendo from Altered Innocence.  This comedy from the Philippines is one I would have looked over if Vin Syn had not brought it to our attention.  As soon as I could pre-order it I did.  

     The film follows a group of boys who are all raised by their mothers in early 90s Philippines.  They like competing in video games, sports, and any other aspect they can.  However, they also have to deal with bullies, peer pressure, and growing up.

       Death of Nintendo had a lot of promise but it was one that I didn't care for at all.  I have a soft spot for coming of age dramas and comedies but DoN just couldn't pull it all together for me.  I liked the idea behind the film but the film the way it is just wasn't for me.  The acting in this one is fairly well done.  The young cast shows experience well beyond their years and the supporting cast is fantastic as well.  With that being said, the characters are painfully generic which didn't give the cast much to work with.  They are not given personalities that stand out which is one of my biggest complaints about the film.  The characters are so painfully generic that you find yourself often confused as to who is who.  This is not necessarily the cast's fault but the acting is so grounded and straight forward that you often struggle to comprehend who is portraying which character.  The story for this one is so uneventful.  Following a group of juveniles in the early 90s as they struggle to find themselves without fathers during the same time-frame that I actually grew up sounded like a film made just for me.  Sadly, the film is overflowing with small talk, cringy dialogue, dry scenes that do very little to forward the barely existing stories.  I do enjoy coming of age films but this one is lacking the anecdotes.  It seems like most of the writing went into making the film feel authentically 90s instead of story.  Finally, no blood or gore in this one.  We have some light humor that does find it's mark but a good deal of the laughs fall flat.  Overall, Death of Nintendo doesn't really fulfill it's goal of becoming a nostalgia filled coming of age comedy that it set out to be.  The story is lacking and most of the humor doesn't really work.  I love the premise but the execution just doesn't work.  This is one I would skip.