I’m the only one I know who thought it was just okay. McDonough described it as a “fable” which is fitting, and thus I thought it could have been a 20-minute film. The screenwriting felt like he was trying to make In Bruges 2. The back-and-forth banter always seemed to go 2 exchanges too long. And I thought Barry Keoghan’s village idiot character was in poor taste. I know I’m not being very generous here, but these are the things that stood out to me.
This movie is surely an allegory for the period of which it takes place, yes? Following the troubles through the character relationships of the stubborn, the maimed and the child. It’s a beautiful movie that left me with deep impressions about the world and humanity.
Some absolutely bleak shit, everyone in my family hates it for just how batshit insane the lengths these people go to are over being stubborn bastards.
I just feel so sad for the sister and that poor kid. All he wanted was a friend and she was the only one who had ever reached out to him, but he couldn’t understand platonic friendship between different genders and tried to extend into a romance, and when he failed he spiralled, and now she’s going to live the rest of her life haunted by the emotions that his suicide will bring out in her, because he wasn’t just some incel who couldn’t take no, he was a nice but misguided kid who let the loneliness consume him.
And then there’s these other two fuckasses off to the side who think talking things out like fucking adults is for pussies and spin it into a full blown blood feud with arson and attempted murder and sawing off your own fingers just to flip them off at each other even harder.
Not to mention that he was being physically abused by his father, then further emasculated after the public accusation that his father was molesting him (if that part is actually true or not, we are left to guess). He was hurt and humiliated, saw one opportunity for an actual romantic connection, got rejected, and fell into despair.
The only surprise is that you found it surprisingly good - it got great reviews and picked up a number of awards. I saw it on release and thoroughly enjoyed it. If anyone out there is unsure whether to watch it, then give it a go.
Well I knew it probably was going to be good. But even then I was surprised by the sheer writing power the movie holds. It felt like one of the most mature and intelligent movies I’ve seen in years.
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