In Vanda's Room

Il sent la saleté et t’étouffe avec, nous forçant à nous mettre à leur place qui est inhumaine, interminable et chiante. 
Il s’y passe tout et rien à la fois, preuve que leur vie est jugée insignifiante aux yeux de la société.
Costa ne filme pas de loin, il nous plonge dans leur quotidien sans filtre.

Il sent la saleté et t’étouffe avec, nous forçant à nous mettre à leur place qui est inhumaine, interminable et chiante. 
Il s’y passe tout et rien à la fois, preuve que leur vie est jugée insignifiante aux yeux de la société.
Costa ne filme pas de loin, il nous plonge dans leur quotidien sans filtre.

"And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." We've othered drug addicts and the homeless into a proverbial civilized abyss but we have no idea what to do with the corralled others we've isolated.

Modern humans, like other generational entities, have successfully othered supremely marginal societies to the point of their stripped humanity. The attitudes toward the modern domestic US homeless clarifies how little we've moved with respect to our tolerance of the eternal nonconformist. This movie simply puts us in the same room as these folks for 3 hours. That alone, but here coupled with formal ingenuity forces us to accept people like Vanda as humans. Flippants dismiss long takes and slow cinema out of its "ease," but this movie kinda makes a farce of that criticism as it underlies the importance of uninterruption and humanistic authenticity. Like the greatest cinema, spotlighting the marginalized is a balancing act of respect and transparency. Costa gets it right. The intimacy with this neighbourhood forces our empathy in an irrefutable way.

"And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." We've othered drug addicts and the homeless into a proverbial civilized abyss but we have no idea what to do with the corralled others we've isolated.

Modern humans, like other generational entities, have successfully othered supremely marginal societies to the point of their stripped humanity. The attitudes toward the modern domestic US homeless clarifies how little we've moved with respect to our tolerance of the eternal nonconformist. This movie simply puts us in the same room as these folks for 3 hours. That alone, but here coupled with formal ingenuity forces us to accept people like Vanda as humans. Flippants dismiss long takes and slow cinema out of its "ease," but this movie kinda makes a farce of that criticism as it underlies the importance of uninterruption and humanistic authenticity. Like the greatest cinema, spotlighting the marginalized is a balancing act of respect and transparency. Costa gets it right. The intimacy with this neighbourhood forces our empathy in an irrefutable way.

really struggled with this one. every now and then, there was some really profound things being said in the dialogue and some really nice shots. but i just don’t think it’s my type of movie, overall

really struggled with this one. every now and then, there was some really profound things being said in the dialogue and some really nice shots. but i just don’t think it’s my type of movie, overall

sometimes when the tagline is "unflinching" it really means unedited.

I know i'm supposed to feel something- and maybe that's my fault. That I feel nothing. Nietzsche wrote that "In the consciousness of the truth he has perceived, man now sees everywhere only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence and loathing seizes him," but I don't even feel ennui. That is just how their existence is, in a building that is slowly falling apart in symbiosis with it's inhabitants.

sometimes when the tagline is "unflinching" it really means unedited.

I know i'm supposed to feel something- and maybe that's my fault. That I feel nothing. Nietzsche wrote that "In the consciousness of the truth he has perceived, man now sees everywhere only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence and loathing seizes him," but I don't even feel ennui. That is just how their existence is, in a building that is slowly falling apart in symbiosis with it's inhabitants.