Written and directed by Tridib Bhattacharya, co-written by Prabhav Kamojjhala, it’s the most important day of Arjun’s (Bhattacharya) life, his goals, his dreams, his ambitions – they all depend on the decision he is about to receive. He cannot imagine a future where things do not go to plan, or so he thinks.
The intense pressure that is put upon teenagers to get into Ivy League or equivalent universities is something that has been vastly covered in American film and television, it’s a beloved trope of coming of age content. With a huge list of media that has come before it, to make a film like this carries the extra challenge of needing to have something new to say to stand out from the crowd but unfortunately, it simply doesn’t. The filmmakers chose to keep things vague, no specific schools, the location isn’t entirely defined and there are only hints at what he might want to study. While it’s an interesting way to try and make it more accessible and relatable, to fit any number of people, it simultaneously restricts it from feeling like a more personal story or giving you a tangible reason to invest in his character.
Therein lies the main issue with the film, it struggles to commit to its story, you can see what it’s going for but it’s much too casual with underdeveloped emotion to really hammer home its story. The writing keeps things pretty simple, the dialogue is fairly standard and it follows a typical pattern from anxiety to disappointment. There are a few inconsistencies, for instance using two years as a long time to be set on attending a certain university, which is actually not that much time at all considering many have their hearts set on schools from as young as 13. There are also a few moments where the editing hasn’t paid close enough attention to detail and small mistakes are left in, like accidental knocks on the microphone. The direction and cinematography are similarly simple, the choice of shots in several instances could have been improved to add more personality to the film.
Will It Be Okay? gave itself a difficult task of tackling a story that’s been done so many times already and sadly, it wasn’t up to the challenge. It keeps things too simple and vague to give you a decent reason to sympathise and invest in Arjun’s story which makes it feel rather aimless. The style is very basic and unfortunately, there isn’t a larger message or moral to achieve what it’s aiming for.
FilmCarnage.com 