JORDAN’s review published on Letterboxd:
I went in with low expectations as Spielberg has kind of lost me in the past several films. Wow this was amazing. A few parts are maybe a bit too on the nose, or have those kind of lines you see in a trailer...but for the most part this movie is ambiguous, complex, even kind of weird at times.
It doesn't spell things out and it doesn't leave you inspired by the magic of cinema exactly...so many awful things happen to "Sam" revolving around his love of film, and there's so many ominous, odd moments about getting into the arts...
It was wonderful to see Spielberg do a smaller film but one huge in how how personal and important it was to him. Beautifully executed. The performances were great but Michelle Williams seemed to be a bit much, like the whole time she seemed to be Acting with a capital A...but perhaps that was the idea or the personality they were trying to put across...? I don't know.
The part with David Lynch was absolutely incredible and Spielberg is doing something very clever here with that casting. The entire scene Sam is in this heart-pounding, exciting, nerve-wracking situation where he's thinking "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING TO ME!!" and the audience feels the exact same thing due to the mindblowing casting. We are right there with him because both of us can't believe what we're seeing. Brilliant. Left the theater so happy.
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