Cold War

i genuinely don’t think pawel pawlikowski wants you to empathize with anything in this film. he wants you to feel cold and upset. pondering your existence and how meaningless it is. so many people slammed this film because they “didn’t care about the characters.” that’s part of the point and part of what makes this film so brilliant. it’s beyond captivating if you dispense with all your expectations of a conventional cinematic romance. absolutely beautiful — to me, of course. this brand of cinema is meant to be a task. meant to make you uncomfortable and angry and reactionary. it’s meant to activate you. it’s not meant to please you. it’ll please those who aren’t intimidated by it. everyone else will reject it and say it was “too depressing” and “too slow.” read paul schrader’s book on transcendental style, then revisit this film. this is how it’s supposed to be and it’s done immaculately.  this deserves a yes for my passive-aggressive rating scale