Sentimental Value

everyone keeps calling this “tender,” but i don’t think it’s tender at all. i think it’s quietly ruthless. watching it for the first time, i kept thinking about how we romanticize the past just to survive the present. the movie just lets objects sit in rooms long enough for you to realize they’re doing all the emotional labor the characters refuse to do. formally, it’s restrained to the point of discomfort. long takes, static frames, conversations that feel like they start five minutes before we arrive and end five minutes after we leave. the performances are SOOOO understated in a way that feels honest, but occasionally so muted that i wanted a crack in the surface, something messier. still, the restraint feels intentional. this is a story about inheritance, not just money or property, but habits, grudges, emotional illiteracy. i finished the movie feeling a little exposed, like maybe the things i keep in boxes aren’t sacred either.