This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
this is a tough one. i was initially engrossed and wowed by the costuming/set design. beyond aesthetics, things get iffy. yes, it's grotesque and disturbing. at what point is this no longer a meaningful device.. and, at that, to say what? i am left wondering and am left confused. there is also some unnerving ableism/infantilism.
bella's entire arch is teeming with irony with the whole notion of autonomy at the core. in some existentialist way... is this some strange microcosm…
i love nearly everything about this movie except for the man who was snoring in the theater behind me like babe stfu. dude next to me in the theater made some funny joke like "they'll wake him up in the morning" - that was the mood of watching this.. annoyed but also it made me laugh
a sapphic classic. i love that this came out in the 80s, just makes it that much more powerful.
subtleties!!! the music, the subtle campiness, the dialogue!!! iconic moments throughout. i lost it at the hotel scene when the camera just barely shifts right to bring cay into frame in the midst of viv's internalized homophobic spiraling... cmon. so unserious yet serious.
fun dichotomy between the characters that you can see ebb and flow as the story line progresses (maybe…
love the concept of filming over the course of a decade+ although this missed for me. maybe it deserves a rewatch to pick up on all of the little nuances after seeing the full ish trajectory of the character’s evolution to adulthood.
this overall felt mundane / monotonous. this could also be intentional… definitely see some parallels here from the direction / simplicity seen in before sunrise triology. the latter had more magic and profundity.
