Sophia

***i found something in the store*** first half of this movie was perfection. score was amazing, cinematography was beautiful. however, after Kat disappeared i think it all went downhill. the narrative was also strong until this point. From my admittedly limited perspective the backrooms and liminal spaces in general have been scary and elicited extreme discomfort in people because they are real places (i.e. the original backrooms image being of a furniture store under renovation). These real places are empty and hollow when we only associate them with life and texture. i feel after the halfway point in the movie they turn it into a sort of alternate reality almost like the upside down (terrible by the way) and the copying of real people and real things takes away from the fact that this is real! - i also do consider this is based on a narrative and “lore” crafted by parsons years ago which i am completely unfamiliar with which likely works to my detriment in terms of “getting it” but i personally think the movie fails for me and became supernatural almost and i found it difficult to enjoy.

***it’s not a romance. it’s a love story*** such a fantastic experience. Insane performance from navarrette and an incredible feature directorial debut from barker. such a painful metaphor for rape/abuse - Bear’s decision to take away a woman’s autonomy and ruin her life directly mirroring what happens to a victim of abuse even down to craving love and care from the very person who ruined her. (i know that was down to the wish and was the “entity” and not her but i think the similarity was clear) furthermore, him asking her to “be nikki” and her screaming that she can’t was heartbreaking and so was her begging to just be killed. She was forced to live as a projection of love created by some fucking loser with no idea about love who was selfish and a LOSER!!!! He continuously showed that he was obsessed with nikki and when that came back at him he only wanted to cancel the wish after learning he couldn't alter it so better benefit him - he never cared about her he cared about what he wanted from her and clearly was willing to take that at any chance he got. glad he killed himself. prick. also dislike both of their friends Sarah immediately took the opportunity to try and sleep with Bear, and Ian just stirred the pot and lied to Bear also? albeit neither of them deserved to die but they enabled a lot of what was going on. if Ian was transparent with Bear instead of selfishly “protecting his feelings” maybe the wish would never have been made in the first place. the soundtrack was also top notch and the car scene had me flying into the air.

just such a bizarre experience? score was very cool!!

***Life is the reason.** * visually so stunning and beautifully scored - i cried for most of the final half an hour of this movie. getting to see the friendship between grace and rocky and seeing him go back was sooooo. also so silly calling it adrien i had a shit eating grin on my face the whole time. also the parallel between eva saying he has 3 hours and rocky saying he has as long as he wants to make his decision. beautiful film yeah wow