“have you ever seen a dead body?”
“only me own.”
from the very start, this movie sets it up self to be a highly melancholic, feel-bad drama that just continues to escalate on it’s existentialistic terror, and on how the protagonist with intense mental health problems, most likely from past traumas, discusses intellectual debates, while roaming through post-thatcher urban decay london. the other male, who’s a lot more cartoonishly evil, also just some deep portrayals of narcissism, and just massive cruelty to others, especially women, around him. this serves as a fantastic on both of these flawed, deeply unlikeable characters as it allows the viewer to transcend themselves into a completely hopeless, deeply depressing head space. it’s hard to feel true empathy for either characters, as they both clearly lack most human emotion or empathy. you feel more bad for the side-characters, as these deranged men don’t really understand morality as a whole, as they just rape whoever they want without any repercussions. but yeah, a thing i loved is that everyone in this film is either morally grey, or just evil in every sense. it uses many philosophical arguments, mainly all revolving around the idea of all humanity being evil, and life just lacking any true meaning. it uses gritty surrealism, with mainly grey skies, and taboo topics such as mass homelessness, and societal alienation due to failed governments. it lacks the hollywood polish or any answers, plus really any cliched beginning middle end, instead just being a quick jump into these working class people’s lives, living in a part of london filled with the impoverished, and somber. some parts of dialogue do sometimes feel a little dragged on, and johnny is totally not a character i’d ever want to root for, but i can tell they spent a lot of time perfecting the script, as it’s filled with intelligent, apocalyptic debates on various different intense topics. despite its harsh subject matter of nihilism and sexual transgression, it balances it nicely with really dark styles of humour, that is consumed by wit, and one of the films biggest assets. thewlis also obviously is the best part of the movie, being one of the best performances i’ve seen on screen, as this cynical, articulate character, and perfectly captures his hatred for ethics, and life. it’s truly one of the bleakest films i’ve ever seen, and is a true artistic vision that shows no compromise. it’s a fearless, character driven existential nightmare that really explores the darkest depths of humanity, with a character study on two male protagonists who have highly cynical and nihilistic views on life, so basically just the joker, but better.
“have you ever seen a dead body?”
“only me own.”
from the very start, this movie sets it up self to be a highly melancholic, feel-bad drama that just continues to escalate on it’s existentialistic terror, and on how the protagonist with intense mental health problems, most likely from past traumas, discusses intellectual debates, while roaming through post-thatcher urban decay london. the other male, who’s a lot more cartoonishly evil, also just some deep portrayals of narcissism, and just massive cruelty to others, especially women, around him. this serves as a fantastic on both of these flawed, deeply unlikeable characters as it allows the viewer to transcend themselves into a completely hopeless, deeply depressing head space. it’s hard to feel true empathy for either characters, as they both clearly lack most human emotion or empathy. you feel more bad for the side-characters, as these deranged men don’t really understand morality as a whole, as they just rape whoever they want without any repercussions. but yeah, a thing i loved is that everyone in this film is either morally grey, or just evil in every sense. it uses many philosophical arguments, mainly all revolving around the idea of all humanity being evil, and life just lacking any true meaning. it uses gritty surrealism, with mainly grey skies, and taboo topics such as mass homelessness, and societal alienation due to failed governments. it lacks the hollywood polish or any answers, plus really any cliched beginning middle end, instead just being a quick jump into these working class people’s lives, living in a part of london filled with the impoverished, and somber. some parts of dialogue do sometimes feel a little dragged on, and johnny is totally not a character i’d ever want to root for, but i can tell they spent a lot of time perfecting the script, as it’s filled with intelligent, apocalyptic debates on various different intense topics. despite its harsh subject matter of nihilism and sexual transgression, it balances it nicely with really dark styles of humour, that is consumed by wit, and one of the films biggest assets. thewlis also obviously is the best part of the movie, being one of the best performances i’ve seen on screen, as this cynical, articulate character, and perfectly captures his hatred for ethics, and life. it’s truly one of the bleakest films i’ve ever seen, and is a true artistic vision that shows no compromise. it’s a fearless, character driven existential nightmare that really explores the darkest depths of humanity, with a character study on two male protagonists who have highly cynical and nihilistic views on life, so basically just the joker, but better.
