An exhausting movie

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  • February 6, 2018 at 6:12 pm #80808
    wv
    Participant

    I saw an…exhausting..film. Just fucking exhausting. I’m too exhausted to even say anything about it. Or even name it.

    If You wanna be exhausted too, google Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Harris and director Darren Aronofsky’s latest movie.

    critic blurbs from rotten tomatoes
    ————–

    “When you eventually see this you may hate it, but you can’t say it isn’t brilliant.”
    ———

    “An ambitious, audacious failure…
    ———–

    “..is a battery of your mind and soul. It’s a film that’s easy to respect and hard to like.”
    ———–
    “At times horrifying, at times riveting, at times baffling, and at times like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
    ———-

    “Whether you love it or hate it, it will leave you shaken and inspired…”

    ———–
    “The film is ugly, disturbing, and not for everyone — it’s also fascinating, thought-provoking, and rich with religious allegories.”
    ————-

    “Here is Darren Aronofsky’s most powerful film to date, and the same goes for Jennifer Lawrence.”
    ———-
    “It’s a real widening gyre of a movie, set adrift by the vicissitudes of both theological and cinematic history, with no human center to hold it down…”

    —

    ” hesitate to label it the “Worst movie of the year” when “Worst movie of the century” fits it even better…”

    —-

    “If you gave an extremely bright fifteen-year-old a bag of unfamiliar herbs to smoke, and forty million dollars or so to play with, [this movie] would be the result.”
    —-

    ” begins rather slowly, but by the end it’s a swirly, surreal, shockingly disgusting head trip that is pelting you with allegories and freakiness.”
    ——

    “is a film that will not leave anyone indifferent, whether it leaves a good or bad impression, which is one of the most marvelous elements of cinema.”

    ———–
    “suggests white patriarchy cannot be bargained with, it cannot be appeased, we cannot share space with it, and we cannot tactically choose the “right” battles-women need to take either back the house or burn it down.”

    February 6, 2018 at 6:36 pm #80810
    wv
    Participant

    PS — Aronofsky said reading “The Giving Tree” was a prerequisite for watching the movie. Fwiw.

    w
    v

    February 7, 2018 at 6:54 am #80836
    nittany ram
    Moderator

    I saw it when it was in theaters. I’d say this critic sums it up for me…

    “..is a battery of your mind and soul. It’s a film that’s easy to respect and hard to like.”

    February 7, 2018 at 8:18 am #80838
    PA Ram
    Participant

    “Exhausting” is the perfect word to sum up this film.

    You actually feel exhausted watching it. It may be one of the most unusual experiences I’ve had watching a film.

    Here’s a review of it I posted on ROD back in December:

    PA Ram, Dec 25, 2017
    mother!

    pi/10

    I know. pi out of 10? WTF?

    Well–that’s kinda what this film feels like. WTF!

    Perhaps one of the most bizarre films I’ve ever seen. And yet–somehow I sort of enjoyed it.

    The film is some sort of metaphorical tale involving a poet played by Javier Bardeem and his wife Jennifer Lawrence who live in a home that seems isolated from–the rest of the world–reality itself? Strange things happen–odd visitors arrive, led by ed Harris and Michelle Pfiffer(clearly enjoying their roles) as a husband and wife who are more than what they seem. The film gets more and more bizarre. It’s actually pretty exhausting by the end. The tight camera shots follow Jennifer Lawrence as she moves about her house becoming more desperate by the moment as her world unravels and it feels almost like one long tracking shot(but it isn’t). This worked though to put the audience into her desperate state of mind.

    There are obvious biblical references, including a Cain and Abel moment and a Christ-like figure.

    Darren Aronofsky who made other bizarre films like “Noah” and Black Swan” and “Requiem for a Dream” seems to be racing his mind to throw all of his ideas into the film. It’s a lot. I don’t think he wants you thinking too deeply about any of this. I think he just wants you to FEEL the film.

    15 people will probably take away 15 different things.

    It’s like a Beatles song that people try to interpret. And you’ll never know if there was any point at all.

    But I found myself laughing at its absurdity, in a fun way.

    I don’t want to give too much away.

    But the ending? Or at least–near the very end–the film basically says: You think we can’t go further? How about this?

    And something happens that kind of freezes you mentally. Should you laugh? Should you be angry? Should you be horrified?

    The ending wraps up eventually as a sort of non-ending. It wraps it together in its bizarre way but I can’t say anything without spoiling it.

    Overall–yes–I enjoyed the film. And I’m not even sure why.

    By the way–another weird film of his was called, “Pi”.

    And that wraps this back to the beginning of the review. Sort of.

    "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick

    February 7, 2018 at 8:45 am #80839
    wv
    Participant

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