Ryan

“As a white person, I know I need to sit down and listen. Which I am planning on doing right after I make this speech” Film of the year for me so far I think. It definitely feels messy and disjointed at times, but the backdrop of 2020 is really just that: a backdrop. It uses the unease, unrest, and general insanity of that very specific point in time to guide its story, and then once the story has legs it becomes its own thing.  The one constant is the nonstop satirization of the white savior, especially as it pertains to the Black Lives Matter movement and the turbulent protests that took place in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor. Aster is incessantly making fun of the desire of white people to engage in purely performative stunts to appear woke while doing nothing beneficial, and oftentimes being detrimental just for the sake of having attention. The other main motif that’s glaringly obvious is how Aster views, broadly, the internet. This isn’t a novel concept by any means, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it executed so well for the modern age. We have more information at our fingertips in a moment’s notice than our ancestors even just 50 years ago had their entire lives. There’s an obvious, almost paradox, that despite this awesome power of infinite knowledge, we’re seemingly dumber than ever. Absurd conspiracy theories run rampant, and it’s fertile ground for cults and other nonsense. Aster certainly isn’t condoning or agreeing with these actions, but the way it’s presented, it seems as though he’s saying it’s almost an inevitable result of a society becoming increasingly distant and hostile to and from our neighbors, and Covid just magnified this immensely. Speaking of the nut jobs, Emma Stone is grossly underused; it reminds me of late 90s/early 00s movies where directors hadn’t yet figured out that Philip Seymour-Hoffman was the greatest actor ever so he would just show up in a couple scenes in a minor role. But Emma Stone doesn’t occupy that position, she’s wildly considered one of the greatest actors of her generation. It felt like a disservice to have her essentially leave the film after an hour and barely be present when she is there. Those expecting Austin Butler can just watch the trailer, as his appearances in the trailer constitute all his screen time. I loved seeing Deirdre O’Connell in such a prominent role—she was such a standout in Synecdoche New York in her limited scenes, but she manages to steal the scene from the aforementioned Hoffman in the finale. I’ve always wondered why she hasn’t gotten more work, and hopefully this serves as a springboard to bigger and better stuff because she is fully deserving. The last hour-ish of the film kinda turned into No Country for Old Men, but it largely worked for me. In typical Ari Aster fashion, things go off the rails in the finale 30 minutes, and I could see why it would turn people off but I liked it. The end was very bizarre, and it felt like an almost Black Mirror-esque eternal punishment for Joe of having to sleep next to his mother-in-law and her lover, physically unable to do anything about it. All-in-all I loved this movie, and regardless of its contemporary reception, I think ten, twenty, years down the road this will be hailed as a classic and the quintessential movie of the 2020s

Don’t think I could possibly analyze all of this after just one viewing. But I’m certain that it’s genius. There’s more going on in 14 minutes than most feature length films say in 2 hours. The inspiration on Lynch is glaringly obvious 5 seconds in, but I was thinking of his quote from The Return the whole time. We are like the dreamer who dreams and lives inside the dream. But who is the dreamer?

The editing, camera work, and close ups create such an incredibly disorienting and dizzy sensation while watching this. This is especially clear in the “dream sequence” when Arthur is drugged, as well as the bacchanal scene when they’re smashing the grapes. It’s all just so technically marvelous that the actual story almost becomes secondary. Everything after the first act is pretty bleh though story-wise, as I wish it leaned more into the sci-fi element and the ramifications  of people changing identities possibly five, ten times. The final scene is fantastic though, truly haunting and really just terrifying

Not gonna rate this because it’s so antithetical to what I think makes a good movie it would be pointless. But woof. At times it was enjoyable, but for the most part it was just such a chore to watch. This is probably the epitome of what the general public imagines when they think of a foreign film, and Pather Panchali was pretty much the origin of this type of film, so there’s definitely credit for its influence. I just don’t think there’s anything here remotely interesting. But i watched it, i can say i watched it, and hopefully the other two in the trilogy have more to say