Unsure of how I felt about this when it seemed to be mostly misery porn at the start but the way Fern’s character is teased out throughout is really beautiful and enigmatic. Also probably the best way I’ve seen time passing portrayed editing wise, it’s really hard to make you FEEL long stretches of days and months elapsing and Zhao did it without a single dissolve.

Love Robert Pattison in weirdo mode, expected to cringe at Mark Ruffalo in trump mode but it totally works. Maybe I’m less bothered by super blunt satire because I feel like this movie just embraces its bluntness and goofiness. Biggest downsides is I could feel the studio notes in some of the voiceovers and there’s a lot to track at the end. But this is a lot more tight, funny, and heartfelt than I expected from some of the reactions.

Bran Nue Dae is hardly a perfect film. The main character is a doofus and his love story feels cheap, Tom Budge's German accent is technically a hate crime and Rachel Perkins makes some weird choices with certain scenes, but I couldn't help finishing the movie feeling infectiously joyful. It's not afraid to be silly, it's not afraid to be crude, and I guarantee that that 90 minutes will fly by.