Vorkuta2025

I’ll defend this till the day I die.

One Rewatch After Another. I couldn’t deny one more rewatch, especially in 70mm, right before this film wins best picture (if it doesn’t then I just embarrassed myself, but it really should). This one just grew on me so much ever since my first watch; I went from “uhhh… okay” to being enthralled by it. I’ve realised now the effect that so many of PTA’s films have on me. His stories, his characters, his worlds; they all make me want to keep coming back to them. I don’t know why but I love seeing Bob fail for the 99th time trying to find his Daughter and then getting back up to try again for the 100th time. I don’t know why, but I love seeing Sensei taking care of his community and being cool, calm and collected amidst all the chaos around him. I don’t know why, but I love seeing Lockjaw’s desperation to join and please the Christmas Adventurers Club as a result of his life-long unresolved insecurities… and I really don’t know why, but I love a constant piece of anxiety-inducing music being played for 40 mins straight over phone-call arguments, raids and parkour. Beyond the comedy, the heart of the film is in Willa’s story. She, much like most of the world, inherits her parents battles - which I guess is the core of the film. She’s in the middle of all this because of the actions of her parents and the French 75 as a whole - she’s taken away from Bob, captured, finds out her mother ratted everyone out, finds out Lockjaw’s her real dad, almost gets sent to her own death, kills a man and by the end of the film - she drives off to change the world with a smile, a level of optimism that no French 75er had in the film. I love the hope that PTA leaves us with at the end, always brings a smile to my face. *“Ocean waves, ocean waves”.*