Some of the distinctive 2025 film releases I’ve seen this yr needs to be Oh, Hello! starring web boyfriend Logan Lerman and The Bear’s Molly Gordon. The unbiased movie from author/director Sophie Brooks follows a pair, Isaac and Iris, as they go on a distant romantic getaway collectively. Nevertheless, whereas they interact in some sexual bondage play, and Lerman’s Isaac will get handcuffed to the mattress, a irritating reality comes out about their relationship and Iris decides to depart him tied up till he tells her what she desires to listen to.
The darkish comedy, additionally co-written by Molly Gordon, works as a relatively sensible tackle relationships at the present time, particularly as Iris learns that what she thought was a promising starting to an extended coupling was really not Isaac’s intention the entire time. One ingredient of the film that basically caught with me is the usage of referencing 1943’s Finest Image winner, Casablanca, all through the movie. WARNING: I’ll be entering into SPOILERS forward.
Early on in Oh, Hello!, Iris and Isaac speak about their favourite films, and Iris mentions loving Casablanca. Right here’s what Sophie Brooks stated about having this element within the film the primary time it’s talked about:
It is a film that Iris has seen within the film that Isaac hasn’t seen. So it is sort of this play on miscommunication. He sort of pretends like he’d seen the film, however he hasn’t seen it. And miscommunication is clearly a giant theme of the film. These two folks performing like they’re being very clear with one another with out really doing that.
I didn’t give it some thought this manner, however as the author/director shared with me throughout our interview, Casablanca helps set up the theme of miscommunication from the film. When it comes to the film, Iris is a giant fan of it, however Isaac solely pretends to have seen it. It type of performs into the pair’s relationship, the place Iris sort of performs together with Isaac as a result of she likes him, however he’s leaving issues unsaid which might be uncomfortable for him.
I felt like the usage of Casablanca helped underline how Iris is conditioned to romanticize relationships that haven’t even had an opportunity to start out and actually be one thing actual. She assumed she and Isaac had one thing they didn’t have, and even after she ties him as much as a mattress, and he tells her that he doesn’t need a relationship on the finish of the movie, she quotes the film, saying “We’ll all the time have ‘Oh, hello!’” As Brooks continued:
Casablanca is such a romantic, sweeping film, but it surely’s additionally not the place the 2 folks find yourself collectively… And I believe that is a phenomenal love story too. Simply because the 2 folks do not find yourself collectively does not imply it isn’t a love story. So, I needed to discover that.
Oh, Hello! and Casablanca actually have an ending considerably in widespread, contemplating they don’t find yourself collectively. However, the truth that Iris sees a scenario the place she was lied to and virtually went to jail because the sort of time and place to recite a line from a heartbreaking film like Casablanca is actually telling.
On the similar time, as Brooks talked about, simply because two characters don’t find yourself collectively on the finish does not imply a film can’t be romantic or be its personal sort of love story. Having Casablanca as a reference actually helped me as a viewer perceive that side of the movie. As a result of sure, whereas not each love story is wholesome or long-standing, if it made you are feeling one thing, it means one thing to you. All of us have these short-lived romances, that weren’t proper for us, however taught us one thing about love and ourselves, and that’s Oh, Hello!