Sentimental Value

I was really happy and thought it was very deserving when Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Picture just this last year after all the previous snubs, but without my bias.. my goodness this truly should've won Best Picture, Joachim Trier was pulling every emotional string that I had possible. Undoubtedly my favorite needle drop ever, those tears would not stop running down my face.. I also wouldn't have minded a longer run time just to sit in this world a little longer. At first we see this film as a distant and harsh father with a unexpected charm who is very slowly trying to creep back into his daughters lives after many years of absence. The direction is patient on purpose tho, Joachim lets us sit in these long beautiful atmospheres that let the characters silence do all the work for us. Plus the masterclass in handheld camerawork and the usage of color when portraying character motif throughout the entire slow burn only adds to the heartbreak. But as we start to settle into this story, Trier brilliantly explores a very unique, elegant like interrogation of how artists exploit their personal lives and how cinema can act as a shortcut to personal memory. Raising profound questions about the boundaries of creation itself. So Borg finally cooks up another script for a film after 15 years, just coincidentally lining up with the family's timeline, but is it a genuine delayed apology to his daughters or just the ultimate act of emotional unavailability? A true chameleon. Next you have Nora who portrays a beautiful and breathtaking sense of duality, commanding and magnetic on stage yet brittle, anxious, and emotionally locked away the moment she steps into reality. Then we have Ms Kemp, the knife in a gun fight. She is vulnerable and desperate to find the "motive" of her role, entirely unaware of the deep real world generational trauma she is trying to replicate. Finally we have Agnes, a grounded, contempt anchor bringing the entire ship at an hold. She doesn't just avoid or not accept her father, Agnes actively pushes back, always fights to protect her home and child from being swept into the cinema like vacuum her father created. Let me not forget about the house itself, its a massive metaphor from the very beginning with the poetic childhood prologue explaining the foundational crack. As the house is structurally dismantled and turned into a movie set, Joachim mirrors the painful renovation happening within the family's internal relationships tying everything together. The ending isn't neat either, almost like a revelation that brings art and life full circle, words truly cant even come close to describing how you feel once the credits come rolling in. Trier for one last time lets the characters silence do some very amazing things. A devasting film that's very honest, tender, and a raw yet beautiful depiction at how we fail the people we love and how we attempt to rebuild meaning from that broken bond. Some very elite and memorable performances.