i really enjoyed your analysis -- even if i liked the movie a lot more than you did! FINALLY some proof pedro pascal can do interesting things on screen.
i actually found ward's character really well done. the scene where phoenix bequeaths him with a promotion out of nowhere, his reaction, the conversation about his father. plus the moment where he quietly points out that the floyd murder is everywhere. the white characters' narcissism doesn't let them see him as a full human being -- but i understood this guy completely. even the discomfort where they're all joking about ted garcia's campaign ad, using him as a barometer for what makes diversity fake vs. real.
not to mention it's hilarious he's a crypto/grindset bro who just so happens to be messing with teenage girls on the side. that kind of told me everything about him. maybe it's because i am black but i feel like i know this guy lol.
his role in the false flag attack -- where he's rendered physically immobilized and unable to communicate -- as a version of what his role was in the police department.
and then the last moment, where he and cross face off for one last time, both in the roles they coveted, with the veneer of friendship gone and the same antagonistic relationship we saw between cross and garcia at the start.
again i really liked the movie so i feel like i could do this with a half dozen of the characters, but was really impressed with ward
Couldn't agree more with so much of what you said. To me this movie had so much "topic" vomit, "Here's this crazy 2020 thing!" but at times when Aster's perspective shined through on alienation, community, and technology, the movie was pretty spectacular. That comes and goes but it comes just enough for me to enjoy it. I also completely agree that this movie is being sold as a movie that's going to piss you off either way, and I just found it a pretty down-the-middle, "if only we all were just a bit nicer to each other." But we can't be, so we end up going around town, turrets blazing till we're left all alone.
I felt similarly, here's what I wrote after seeing it: Alright so Eddington. Holy fuck is this movie bleak and dark. And also at times the funniest shit Ari Aster has put on screen. It feels like an amalgamation of his previous three movies in a lot of ways. The twisted vision of a world where everyone is out to get a troubled protagonist and potential unreliable narrator of Beau Is Afraid. The weird crafts and very distinct characterization of even the most minor side characters of Hereditary with tons of early details that are easy to miss and seem to me will be much more apparent on repeat viewings. And then like Midsommar, you see how fucked up everything is going to become from early on in the movie and a lot of the twists are predictable but there are still utterly shocking moments and parts where it leaps ahead of even what you thought was in store. If you like Aster’s work, this is a movie for you. If any of his films left you unsure of whether or not you like his stuff, definitely stay away from this one.
great review!! the movie’s epilogue does move it up a full star for me. was so worried it was going to end at the firefight.
i really enjoyed your analysis -- even if i liked the movie a lot more than you did! FINALLY some proof pedro pascal can do interesting things on screen.
i actually found ward's character really well done. the scene where phoenix bequeaths him with a promotion out of nowhere, his reaction, the conversation about his father. plus the moment where he quietly points out that the floyd murder is everywhere. the white characters' narcissism doesn't let them see him as a full human being -- but i understood this guy completely. even the discomfort where they're all joking about ted garcia's campaign ad, using him as a barometer for what makes diversity fake vs. real.
not to mention it's hilarious he's a crypto/grindset bro who just so happens to be messing with teenage girls on the side. that kind of told me everything about him. maybe it's because i am black but i feel like i know this guy lol.
his role in the false flag attack -- where he's rendered physically immobilized and unable to communicate -- as a version of what his role was in the police department.
and then the last moment, where he and cross face off for one last time, both in the roles they coveted, with the veneer of friendship gone and the same antagonistic relationship we saw between cross and garcia at the start.
again i really liked the movie so i feel like i could do this with a half dozen of the characters, but was really impressed with ward
Couldn't agree more with so much of what you said. To me this movie had so much "topic" vomit, "Here's this crazy 2020 thing!" but at times when Aster's perspective shined through on alienation, community, and technology, the movie was pretty spectacular. That comes and goes but it comes just enough for me to enjoy it. I also completely agree that this movie is being sold as a movie that's going to piss you off either way, and I just found it a pretty down-the-middle, "if only we all were just a bit nicer to each other." But we can't be, so we end up going around town, turrets blazing till we're left all alone.
I felt similarly, here's what I wrote after seeing it: Alright so Eddington. Holy fuck is this movie bleak and dark. And also at times the funniest shit Ari Aster has put on screen. It feels like an amalgamation of his previous three movies in a lot of ways. The twisted vision of a world where everyone is out to get a troubled protagonist and potential unreliable narrator of Beau Is Afraid. The weird crafts and very distinct characterization of even the most minor side characters of Hereditary with tons of early details that are easy to miss and seem to me will be much more apparent on repeat viewings. And then like Midsommar, you see how fucked up everything is going to become from early on in the movie and a lot of the twists are predictable but there are still utterly shocking moments and parts where it leaps ahead of even what you thought was in store. If you like Aster’s work, this is a movie for you. If any of his films left you unsure of whether or not you like his stuff, definitely stay away from this one.