kathryn’s review published on Letterboxd:
watched on a bluray from netflix and it started with trailers for the lighthouse, the farewell, and uncut gems, all of which are movies i saw in theaters last year...i miss theaters..i want to go to the moooooovies.
well anyway all of those ^ movies look spectacular and this one also sticks with the a24 formula of looking spectacular and even through all my issues with it and all of the issues with it i have since read about it really was just like 2.5 hours of gorgeous shots. one i really loved was with tyler and alexis at the beach at night making out and alexa demie has this neon orange nail polish on and its so stark against the darkness of the rest of the frame its just so cool. love movies that look like this. that said i dont think this movie gets across what it is trying to get across in a way that i am inclined to respect and i also think that shults gets like halfway to a point and then redirects OR he gets halfway to a point and then the movie ends. if he wanted to make this "autobiographical" story i think he couldve done it much better if it was confined to the first half and if he didnt swap out the race of his family for another one and call it a day. like the story starts well enough i even thought it was very good but then some things happen that we dont see enough justification for via characterization and that furthermore reinforce all kinds of harmful stereotypes about black men and its really like oh boy you didnt notice this? this wasnt something you thought about? yikes! and then the forgiveness part was totally off kilter for me cause i was confused about where it was going for like half an hour like what is lucas hedges doing here you know. and i dont see why his story is what takes over and also why i care whether he forgives his abusive father or not. like its not an analogous situation.
but well anyway. im not equipped to be smart about critiquing this so my tldr is its a movie with problems but it is very pretty...you may very well feel like a baby once again getting excited at colors while watching this...i know i did
kathryn liked these reviews
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_cdcd3ba2-7927-47ff-a825-86b2f4a148fc" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-cdcd3ba2-7927-47ff-a825-86b2f4a148fc'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-cdcd3ba2-7927-47ff-a825-86b2f4a148fc'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-cdcd3ba2-7927-47ff-a825-86b2f4a148fc'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_11a2afee-f5d3-4627-8ea8-a4337817ff07" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-11a2afee-f5d3-4627-8ea8-a4337817ff07'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-11a2afee-f5d3-4627-8ea8-a4337817ff07'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-11a2afee-f5d3-4627-8ea8-a4337817ff07'));
