@cipheramnesia: Heard this interview on the radio, and thought: "If she doesn't know about this film already, I bet she'd like to."
Oh I have been nigh unto bombarded with advertisements for this. It looks fun, and I'll likely watch it with my wife because they are a huge Richard E Grant fan, but I'm more excited about other films (some of which are already out but I haven't seen because money) like Oddity, Sinners, The Ugly Stepsister, and a dozen cheap exploitation films that look so terrible that I'm sure one of them has to be good. I try not to pre-judge movies, but Death of a Unicorn already has some stuff that puts me on the "skeptical but I want to have fun so I'm going to lean into whatever it's giving me" frame of mind. Like, the VFX look extremely weird because it's CGI enhanced practical effects - the newest uncanny valley of CGI which seems to work in the right hands but here it only makes the practical work look more openly unreal. The majority of the main characters being white and wealthy also usually gives me some hesitation, in this case because the advertising leans heavily on promoting the satirical elements of the wealthy exploiting something beautiful to be consumed for profit and personal longevity, but also leand on a child parent / child has to save everyone through her innate honesty plot. And to me that gives of the vibes of something that is utilizing the widespread economic inequality and class conflict in the USA less as a foundation for real criticism, and more as a marketing and story gimmick to get people to watch it and engage with it enough that they don't notice when it shifts to being exclusively about the one Important Protagonist saving the day because she's important, while leaving the economic can of worms it opened up for engagement purposes unresolved. Like it can do all that and be a fun, OK movie, and I'm fully ready to get pulled in a whole other direction, I just am reluctant to get as excited about it. Also I suddenly find myself wondering how much of it was cribbed from Attack The Block, where a small group kills a baby creature of unnatural origin but as a result they end up facing a fight to save themselves and their home when the much larger, more menacing, and nearly totally black adults show up in retaliation - while also bringing up themes of underlying class inequality and a fair amount of humor and plot points revolving around drugs. And that's not even getting in on my vibes based feelings about A24, where I notice how much of their quality is attributed to them as a production company rather than for example the people working in and on the film. It's great they can use their clout as a company to promote unusual films. But there's an underlying brand loyalty that speaks to a lack of judgment - as if being a "fan of A24 films" is in some way uniquely separate or entirely dissimilar to being a fan of Disney films. Neither one is beneficial, and the way A24 is talked about has me wondering how much critical thinking is applied to those films. This doesn't take anything away from the many, many good films they've produced, but it adds to my skeptical approach the more I hear A24 talked about like it's an individual artist rather than a for-profit business.
Anyway, it's fine. It's all fine. The unicorn movie will be fine. Evil unicorns funny. Everyone laugh.
Actually, everyone who hasn't seen it needs to go back now, right now, and watch Attack The Block to see just how good a job a low budget movie from 2011 does with CGI assisted effects, and also weaving a class inequality story into an exciting scifi monster movie.
