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Cathexis's Replies
And apparently the truth of American imperialism triggers you... ?
So weird! You also don't even see Cruise's chest, just the top of his bare shoulders. What is this, Victorian England?
Are you serious? What does smoking have to do with formal education?
Jeffrey Wright's character was a composite of James Baldwin and A. J. Liebling.
These are excellent points, and issues I also struggled with. Fennell's decision to kill Cassie is a bold one, but it's also really dubious and hard to reconcile with the film's overall gestures toward feminist empowerment.
Wikipedia is usually helpful in clearing things up:
"He finally get a call back from the office of Matthias's father, as he had inquired after his missing letter of recommendation; the secretary informs him that it was actually sent to Matthias, who had failed to forward it to him. Maxime realizes Matthias's state of denial and has the letter forwarded to his email directly."
The implication being that he spent so much time playing the game he became obsessed, and it consumed his life. There's even a psychological phenomenon named after the game, which has to do with the cognitive effects of its repetitive nature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect.
"Then it seems they get caught in the South around mid March when the quarantine started, but decided "f*ck it, we'll film anyway with these rednecks/redneck actors in their house."
Huh? Those scenes take place in Washington state...
I really enjoyed it also, but if you've seen any films by Guy Maddin, you should be pretty familiar with the style of the film. It's not exactly the same, but Rankin definitely wears his fellow Winnipegger's influence on his sleeve.
It's breathtaking. Fincher has done some things quite like it.
Long takes are a staple of art house cinema, so this is hardly unusual. Here I think it had the intended effect: making the viewer lean in closer, be more observant, and get into a sensitized, focused state of mind in line with the main characters.
Wow, hallogallo is one f/cking moron. Keep sucking the dick of your orange autocrat leader.
I never thought he'd die because he's the main character, and this is a Hollywood film (and not a Hitchcock one!). Honestly nothing that happened in the movie was surprising, except for maybe Blake's death. The whole course of events felt pretty predictable.
Nope, sorry. My memory isn't that bad.
You're looking for realism where it doesn't exist. This is a movie where an entire family is able to swiftly and successfully deceive another entire family into employing them under pretenses that are never once questioned or investigated. Bong is a genre man, and this film, like most genre films, requires massive suspension of disbelief.
The boy.
Or "Roma" or "Cold War" or "The White Ribbon" or Guy Maddin's films or Béla Tarr's films or any number of contemporary films that choose black and white. There's usually a good reason. "The Lighthouse" in color is pretty unthinkable.
*Spoilers*
I do wonder, though, if Bong perhaps comes down too hard on the Kims. After all, they largely bring their fate upon themselves through their deceit and imprudence. What's the worst we can say about the Parks? That they're complacent, condescending, and naive? Yet nothing they do really equals the immorality of the Kims. The wealthy family even gets kind of let off the hook after the second-act reveal, when the struggle becomes one between the Kims and the other working-class characters. I know many admire how Bong doesn't really take sides, but I think it would have been more impactful if his target was clearer, and was more than just "the system" that has created these conditions (and I don't think he really gives us a nuanced sense of how this system actually operates for that critique to totally land).
Yes, the Kims definitely fit the classical definition, and for the first part of the film we do regard them as the parasite worming its way into the host/home. But if we consider the larger picture, opening up the social and economic context beyond the immediate events of the film, we can also interpret the power elite (private citizens as well as governments) feeding off the labor and livelihoods of the lower classes. I concede this angle isn't as explicitly explored, but the general attitude of the Parks toward the Kims, the constant condescending put-downs about their odor, make it clear that they are using their labor only as a means of advancing themselves, without caring about the Kims as humans.
And I would argue the point about the Parks attempting to "raise and integrate meaningful members into society." Again, it seems the only attention given their children (which is meagre to begin with) is to reproduce their (the family's) success and lineage.
Who said the Kims were the "parasites?" The metaphor could apply just as well to the Parks.