i have a lot of thoughts and feelings on this, but the prevailing one is an overwhelming sense of shock. not shock at the contents of the film, but shock at the difference between how it has been sold to me by others and what it actually is. while i can admit that the creators of this film exploit and harp especially on those deemed exotic, no group is spared from their cultural dissection, and the parallels drawn between are greatly illuminating of some grand humanist message. i liked the visual allusions to the biopolitics of man and machines, particularly in the scenes of exercising (very reminiscent of themes and variations by germaine dulac). the last third kind of slogged on, though i enjoyed the final vignette a lot, so i had to take it down from a 5 star film to a MEAGER MEASLY 4.5 star one... may change on a rewatch lol
i have a lot of thoughts and feelings on this, but the prevailing one is an overwhelming sense of shock. not shock at the contents of the film, but shock at the difference between how it has been sold to me by others and what it actually is. while i can admit that the creators of this film exploit and harp especially on those deemed exotic, no group is spared from their cultural dissection, and the parallels drawn between are greatly illuminating of some grand humanist message. i liked the visual allusions to the biopolitics of man and machines, particularly in the scenes of exercising (very reminiscent of themes and variations by germaine dulac). the last third kind of slogged on, though i enjoyed the final vignette a lot, so i had to take it down from a 5 star film to a MEAGER MEASLY 4.5 star one... may change on a rewatch lol