Saltburn
A well told story of a man's obsession(s) and his seeming disassociation from reality. The movie starts fairly slow and just builds the character of Oliver as a intelligent, awkward, loner who quickly develops a fixation on Felix; a man who is everything he lacks. The obsession and the development of their friendship all seem inline with what you'd expect from a socially awkward teenager, until things start escalating exponentially. You feel the tension well before they enter the Saltburn estate, something is off about Oliver and you begin to see him lean heavily into this new persona. He's diligent, conniving, manipulative, and incredibly observant.
The way the movie pitches you into moments of extreme discomfort is great, combined with the clever dialogue and the way the dialogue really drives and hints at everything that unfolds in the movie is amazing. How the mother of Oliver mentioned him always wanting to be an only child, Oliver talking about having to make his mother vomit to save her life, and I'm sure there are many more pivotal moments that I can't remember right now.
The uniqueness of each character is great too, and they're all so extremely entrenched in their primary characteristics. Elspeth for example - gossip, snide, judgemental, vain; Elspeth also has some of the best lines in the movie with excellent delivery, probably my favourite character. Each character is likeable in their own way, and each performance is fantastically delivered. There a few scenes outside of the sexual deviance that really stuck in my mind, just beautiful moment. Oliver laying on his back next to the lake with Saltburn showing in the reflection of the water, the family on the bridge, when the curtains are drawn on the family lunch, and many more.
Saltburn isn't a movie for everyone, it'll easily rub some people the wrong way in a variety of ways. The overtly sexual scenes, but more so the slow build of the movie and it's lack of flash, most people seem to need to be drawn into a movie immediately or lose interest. This movie isn't that, it's a slow burn, it builds on all the elements it develops early and rises to a near fever pitch by the end. I really do think this is a must watch movie, but I also know a lot of people won't like it.