I liked this quite a bit, and yet…
It strangely made terrible and thin characters for two actors that I love, Ruffalo and Collette. I was down for the goofy tone of the film but these two as villains felt super under developed and it undermined so much of what was working for me. It was especially strange to see after Ruffalo was so incredible in Poor Things as a comedic buffoon. There was nuance and complexity to him in…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
As much as I appreciate the commitment to realistic lighting for the period, it would have been nice to see a bit more of what was happening (maybe the transfer was too dark?).
I recall seeing this as a young lad and having special feelings about Madeleine Stowe. She’s still got it. In fact she essentially carries the entire love story. When the two characters acknowledge their affection for each other her single looks directly down the lens and she…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Whoa!
Damn!
Holy shit!
I’m generally not one for body horror or overly direct messages in films, but this does something else. While it takes a maximalist approach with its messaging (and often feels like the script was written with a sledgehammer) it matches that with cleverly maximalist filmmaking. There is restraint in the most unexpected places, such as long sequences without dialogue that visually tell us everything we need in thoughtful coverage that includes extreme wide angles and extreme…
It’s super weird to see a Charlie Kaufman movie directed by someone who seems like they don’t quite speak his language. Despite references to David Foster Wallace, a Herzog cameo, a night spirit who puts people to sleep by suffocating them with his magic pillow, a protagonist who suffers from extreme anxiety, and even a narrative structure the folds in upon itself, the tone never seems to quite align with the subject matter. It feels like someone got hired to…
