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Ye - Livin' A Movie
Definitely a lights-on watch. 
I thought the concept was really interesting and well executed, it was a very tight film and I liked that. I probably would've liked to not see God but that's by the by. Kind of kills the lovecraftian feel of it, but overall very good :)
I did not care for the brutalist. 
It does very much insist upon itself as any great film does but it has nothing to say. It has a lot of ideas and never fleshes them out. It doesn't really matter that Laszlo is jewish, or an immigrant, or raped or anything. I do not care for any of the characters. But it's not boring because its technically good. Like the performances are good, the cinematography and score are great, I loved the "aesthetic" of the film. It felt like it was a film of aesthetics and just aesthetics. It's hard to even decipher the thesis of the film. It never focuses on anything, it just sets up themes and never develops them. Like the conflict of his jewishness and the project he's forced to work on, the experience of the foreigner in America, the disconnect between those who have been through hardship and those who have not. It did nothing with ant of it. It had nothing to say about anything. It didn't even have anything to say about the architecture, Laszlo just tells the audience what it means and it's never shown. I didn't care for a single character, which is surprising as we spend so much time with them, especially Laszlo. Adrien Brody was good. Not oscar-winning good but it was pretty good. Which I felt generally across the board. These were decent performances, but nothing career-defining.
Overall, I felt that this was a pretentious film. I hate that word but this is. By the definition. It presents itself as a very artistic and moving film, while having none of the things that make a film like that work. It was superficial.
Woah. I've never seen much David Lynch and now I'm sad he's gone bc this film is immense.
The direction really stood out to me in a way not many films do, it was almost choking at times, such a tense, unknowing and oppressive atmosphere. I think the main point of the film was examining masculinity and sexuality in patriarchy. Frank and Jeremy are 2 sides of the same coin, which I thought even before Frank outright said it. Both Frank and Jeremy exploit women emotionally for sexual pleasure. Frank is more forward, directly creating the situations that require women to submit while Jeremy merely exploits the situation he finds the women in. This can very simply be seen in the beer. When Sandy says she doesn't drink Heineken Jeremy is appalled and inquires as to why. Frank instead gets rather angry when Jeremy doesn't drink Blue Ribbon. The same reaction, but in different magnitudes. It's always a wanting to conform to them, their desires and their tastes. Also I really liked the music it had a kind of eerie vibe that I liked. Very cool. Under the nice happy face of society is a brutal and ugly system of patriarchy. I did think it got a little bit male gazey and while I do think that is the point male gaze is male gaze whenever it's done. It was done well-ish mind you. There was one shot that stood out where Dorothy is getting undressed and she occupies so little of the screen but the film knows you're looking at her, it's so constricting and it goes on just long enough for you to feel uncomfortable with yourself. I didn't particularly care for the ending, however. It felt almost like a forced happy ending. Think Blade Runner theatrical cut. Idk after Frank was dead it was just happy lalala happily ever after which I thought really clashed with the tone of the film. The world is corrupt. But maybe that is the message that the world can be better if we just fight for it. Perhaps I am being overly cynical but I still feel like it clashed. Overall, I very much enjoyed my time with this film.
I very much enjoyed this film.
I know very little about hungarian history so I went in blind-ish. I did very much appreciate the forward nature of its anti-authoritarian commentary and the use of Eva and Livia's relationship as an analogue for a sort of covert rebellion. I did think the film suffered from pacing issues, however. The timescale of the film is fuzzy, it could be a year it could be a month. Also I felt it did wrap up very quickly and could've benefitted from an extra 10 or so minutes. I thought the dramatic irony established in the first scene mirrored romeo and juliet in a way. 2 starcrossed lovers barred by the social and political environment they inhabit. The film isnt particuarly anti-communist more so anti-the mode of socialism that existed in hungary and the eastern bloc, and I do think it accomplishes this critique well, even if it is a bit heavy-handed. I do like how explicit the romance is between Eva and Livia, it was honestly my favourite part of the film, although I did feel like there wasnt much in the way of a build up of tension before it got more intimate, it just got intimate very quickly. But overall a film I very much enjoyed and would watch again.
Absolutely fucking harrowing experience
I am still shaken by this film and I think it's gonna stay with me for a long time. It is one of the single most terrifying films I have ever watched in a way which very few are. I, being trans, obviously have the experience to really 'get' what this film's about, which allows for it to hit so much harder. Tbh I cried for like 20 minutes after T-T. Someone just walked past me while writing and I had the VULTURES 1 cover open uncensored and everything! AAAAA! anyways I digress. On one hand, I wonder what the cis experience with this film is, but I also don't gaf because this film isn't for them. Its a film wholly about being transgender in the most explicit way possible without it being outright stated. It's baked into the very visual identity of the film. It's a incredibly vibrant mix of blues and pinks, and it's overall just a very beautiful film.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
the final 20 or so minutes of the film is genuinely some of the most horrifying minutes ever put to film imo. at least from a trans perspective. the birthday scene where owen screams out, begging for his mother is so painful. to live your whole life as another person. my deepest and most terrifying nightmare. i think that justice smith, as far as a cis person can portray the trans experience, does an outstanding job. a constant uncomfortableness and out-of-placeness that permeates so much of trans existence. i dont think you could ask for a better performance. i think owen's tragedy is one of the most depressing and impactful ive seen, probably because it relates so heavily to my own fears and the 'bad ending' of the trans experience. i called that it would be a john 50 story at the bar but just becuase you predict where a story will go does not mean the impact will be at all lessened. if anything it makes it a march towards the inevitable, a long drawn out hopeless tragedy. I do hope that owen becomes isobella, but I know that's not how it went. I find it difficult writing this as this film has had such a harrowing and disturbing impact on me that i dont even think i could do it justice with words. know that if you are trans, this is a very difficult but very important watch.
