“in the beginning there was only the moon. but she was lonely. her desire for a lover became the dawn, the sun, the god of light. and in the shadows, lives that other thing. forgotten. away from the light their bastard child awakes from it’s slumber.”
the horrors of being amish 😔
i don’t mean to be so dismissive of the film i just think it’s all over the place and it’s a bit frustrating. the film at several different points tries to explore familial abuse, religious trauma, sexual repression and it never really does any of them well. there’s also too many antagonists in the film and it muddies the waters even more.
i also struggled to identify whose relationship to who is what (does that make sense?) for example, i initially thought that david was magpie’s son, only to learn after researching the film after that he’s actually the stepson. i’m sure i missed it being explained but it gave the whole film an incestuous undertone that i didn’t really like. reading the director’s comments, it’s clear that he as well has some regrets about how their relationship was formed, so it’s nice to see he’s at least cognizant of the fact.
also unexplored was the relationship between david and sam. it’s hinted at once, and then never again, that sam has romantic and complex feelings for david. i think that was something that could’ve been explored better rather than divvy up the plot between so many other subplots that kind of sucked. in fact, to me, sam’s character was the most sympathetic and interesting. he’s clearly stuck in this complicated place where his deep love for his religion is at odds with his true feelings.
i thought the character design sucked. there’s no sugar coating it. it was leas iconic as aimed for and more boring than anything else. i don’t even understand what the overall point of it was.
overall a fine film but not one i want to watch again, and i’m a big believer in folk horror.
“in the beginning there was only the moon. but she was lonely. her desire for a lover became the dawn, the sun, the god of light. and in the shadows, lives that other thing. forgotten. away from the light their bastard child awakes from it’s slumber.”
the horrors of being amish 😔
i don’t mean to be so dismissive of the film i just think it’s all over the place and it’s a bit frustrating. the film at several different points tries to explore familial abuse, religious trauma, sexual repression and it never really does any of them well. there’s also too many antagonists in the film and it muddies the waters even more.
i also struggled to identify whose relationship to who is what (does that make sense?) for example, i initially thought that david was magpie’s son, only to learn after researching the film after that he’s actually the stepson. i’m sure i missed it being explained but it gave the whole film an incestuous undertone that i didn’t really like. reading the director’s comments, it’s clear that he as well has some regrets about how their relationship was formed, so it’s nice to see he’s at least cognizant of the fact.
also unexplored was the relationship between david and sam. it’s hinted at once, and then never again, that sam has romantic and complex feelings for david. i think that was something that could’ve been explored better rather than divvy up the plot between so many other subplots that kind of sucked. in fact, to me, sam’s character was the most sympathetic and interesting. he’s clearly stuck in this complicated place where his deep love for his religion is at odds with his true feelings.
i thought the character design sucked. there’s no sugar coating it. it was leas iconic as aimed for and more boring than anything else. i don’t even understand what the overall point of it was.
overall a fine film but not one i want to watch again, and i’m a big believer in folk horror.
