itsafshar

itsafshar Pro

one too-long review at a time

Favorite films

  • Incendies
  • Pan's Labyrinth
  • Spirited Away
  • Synecdoche, New York

Recent activity

All
  • Exotica

    ★★★★½

  • A Woman Under the Influence

    ★★★★

  • I Am Cuba

    ★★★★½

  • Once Upon a Time in the West

    ★★

Recent reviews

More
  • Exotica

    Exotica

    ★★★★½

    Take David Lynch’s smoky surreal atmosphere, turn the Sex dial up a notch and a half, clear out most of the Strange Things That Act As A Representation of the Greater Themes, and add a dash of Park Chan Wook’s love of mending frayed threads, and you’ve got a great foundation for a film. You’ve also got the foundation of Exotica, a hypnotically unnerving drama thriller. 

    There is so much haunting romance in this film, and though erotic imagery is…

  • A Woman Under the Influence

    A Woman Under the Influence

    ★★★★

    This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Popular reviews

More
  • Nosferatu

    Nosferatu

    ★★★★

    Colorful dialogue, sinister atmosphere, (mostly) batshit amazing performances, everything you expect from a Robert Eggers German Gothic fairytale nightmare. 

    Cool editing choices kept the pace unrelenting and the vibes jarring as they should be. I was a little let down by some of the performances (namely Aaron Taylor Johnson), and the lack of deep characterization of our leads outside of Skarsgard, Depp, and Dafoe, but those three are absolutely enough to carry this thing.

    Lots of cool allusions to the silent era, classic B&W horror, and all related referential media. Loved it Eggy boy keep that movussy poppin.

  • Nosferatu

    Nosferatu

    ★★★★

    Rewatch w Da Steenster

    Noticed something interesting in Eggers’ approach to presenting the story of Nosferatu this time around, which I haven’t seen anyone talk about really. (I’ve never had to do this but TW: S.A.)

    I might be way off base here, but I started to read the film as an allegory for surviving childhood abuse. From a young age, our protagonist blacks out her horrifying, predatory, emotionally confusing interactions with Nosferatu, until as an adult, these feelings of dread…