Yorgos Lanthimos is my nemesis. I'd say he's going to hell but that's not true; they're inventing a new kind of afterlife for him, something perverted.

I knew this was a series of vignettes but then I forgot when I was watching it and I was so shook when the first story ended after an hour. The first vignette is the strongest--I wish it had been the whole movie. The second vignette was the worst and the third was saved only through Emma Stone and Margaret Qualley's acting. Something annoying I find about Lanthimos' work is that whenever he's telling an intricate story, he debases it with something grotesque. Obviously, this is his style and I applaud him for being a singular voice. But I don't want to watch Emma Stone get raped or Hong Chau be made to get abortions against her will. While I thought Poor Things was grotesque in a way that's exciting, these grotesqueries deflate the narrative. Of course, that may as well be the point, but this style of filmmaking is just not for me. It's one of the reasons I hate The Lobster. I don't feel the need to be impressed by misanthropy which is what I'm politely calling his desire to show humanity at its worst.

There's a subtle thread throughout all these vignettes about the lengths we go through to keep our loved ones happy. Our begging & pleading, our acts of service no matter how obscene: We do it because we are in love, or because there isn't fuck else to do. I was interested in this creeping sense of relationship dread throughout, but Lanthimos isn't interested in letting us come to any easy realizations about people or the world. Once again, the vignettes were a waste of time. I would have much rather seen him attempt to string them altogether, impossible maybe, but I would've have enjoyed watching him try than tuning in to watch 3 Black Mirror episodes with higher production value.

Great acting all throughout: Plemons, Stone, and Qualley taking some big swings and it pays off. The sextape was literally insane, I think it's cool that Emma Stone did that. If you've ever wanted to know what it's like to tongue Willem Defoe, Lanthimos let's you find out. The first two felt like Lanthimos making fun of himself--the last one felt more authentic. Did not like the weird fat shaming stuff at all. Ultimately, I keep trying to like Lanthimos' work because I find what he's trying to do so interesting, but in the end, he's not really interested in me liking his work. He's simply committed to doing it, and maybe that's the way we should all be.