It’s amazing how much time changes the way a movie affects you. How different details can hit harder than when you were younger. Obviously, this movie’s reputation lies mostly with its infamous final minutes (which feels spoiler-y, but if it gets people to see this masterpiece - the ones who can stomach it - then all the better I guess).
However, the thing that I love most about this film is how surprisingly authentic its portrayal is of that time…
It’s hard not to watch this film and separate it from my memories of it. It was the first film with which I went to a midnight screening. That screening wound up being the best movie-going experience I ever had, and I wound up chasing that feeling with every midnight screening I went to afterward. I still remember the cheers from the audience, myself included, when Batman flips the semi (and another quick “fuck yeah!” when he does a motorbike…
Wish I didn’t pass this one up back in ‘09. Was just not a Megan Fox fan for whatever dumb, contrarian, teenage-boy reason, and the bad reviews didn’t help.
But this feels so ahead of its time (even though it’s only from 2009, okay nevermind, scratch that, that’s actually a lot longer ago than my brain is willing to admit).
Amanda Seyfried genuinely deserved some awards for her work here, maybe her best performance ever, and she carries. And Megan Fox…
Haven’t had such a visceral experience watching a film in a while. The cinematography and direction is astounding, placing you almost literally in the characters’ shoes. Barry Jenkins by way of Terrence Malick.
Beautiful, haunting, powerful. Cried at several different points. Has so much to say without saying much at all. I’ll be thinking about this one for a good long while (crazier even to think Ross’ previous film, Hale County, was NOT my cup of tea in the slightest).
Also Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor deserved her second Oscar nomination and probably a win for her performance here. Some of her line readings truly broke me.
God bless Criterion. An absolutely gorgeous transfer.
This being only my second watch, the first being the opening Friday in 2014, this finally surpassed Bottle Rocket as my favorite Wes Anderson and maybe even just entered my top 50 of all-time.
Also every frame of this film is just absolutely gorgeous, layered with such extraordinary det... oh fuck it.
5 stars.
A pleasant and unexpected surprise. A lot to unpack here in terms of toxic masculinity, possessive relationships, trust issues, how jealousy corrupts, etc. and all of it culminating into the (unfortunately still relevant) titular subject: modern romance.
Was mainly surprised by how funny it still was beneath all of these complex layers, and even more so how much humanity Brooks imbued into the lead that just gives it the extra bit of credibility to the already strong writing.
Having never…
