went in blind only knowing it came with some pretty heavy graphic content and theme warnings.
as for the content and themes in question, yeah it's about as heavy as you can imagine. unfortunately, it feels way more like it's trying to shock more than it's trying to tell an interesting or respectful story about the consequences of the actions depicted. too often filmmakers use heavy handedness as a replacement for skill when it comes to portraying terrible acts, and…
cute idea for a story about a tragic romance, but sadly there's basically no actual chemistry or character development outside of whole songs being performed while one of the leads looks at the other longingly.
this felt more like a vessel for the songs than an actual fully developed plot.
as for what we do get, it feels especially contrived. an undiscovered "genius" busker gets randomly approached by a beautiful and talented woman who is immediately enamored by him and becomes his muse/partner leading to his dream being realized but what does it matter bc he couldn't get the girl in the end? meehhhh whatever!
like the character of elisabeth, this movie doesn't know when to quit and ultimately suffers in the end for not being able to respect its own balance.
40 minutes too long and way WAY too much disrespect for the audience's intelligence to "get it."
there are some really good ideas here and some really affecting scenes that would have made this a great allegory for the dangers of ambition and unquenchable thirst for fame and attention, but it overstays its…
bombastic, intense, beautifully shot, hard to watch, matter of fact, and... yes... seemingly "sideless" but that's the point.
i don't think anyone with a functioning brain can see this as anything but anti war, but there are plenty of people who seem to claim it's not anti war *enough* bc none of the characters look at the camera and go "see, kids, these are the actual bad guys" so they know whether it's politically safe to endorse or not.
