I got dragged out by a film buff friend of mine with the only summary of "this is your brand of weird" and you know what it absolutely was

it was a little pandering, but pandering specifically to me so it was less offensive

but it was also pandering without relying on assumptions of the male gaze

in a film with SO much sexuality and open masturbation, it never feels exploitative

it's a celebration of the body as self-love, and openly sticking a thumb in the eye of the idea of trying to shame people who are openly sexual beings

that's beautiful.

I still need to see that one

I also love the way the art direction played with the idea of futurism spliced into what would otherwise be a period piece, to bait questions from the audience instead of letting them rest on "well that's how things were back then"

is it a back then or is it a look ahead at our current trajectory?

SaroSaron: IT IS QUITE GOOD I think you'll like it a lot

.......this is such a different take than the one i heard from the only other person i know who's seen it lol i'm so curious now

oh! what was their take?

like I can see how people might want to take it to task for being so heavy-handed in the villains

and I do think there might be a reading of it as an anti-abortion statement, but I think you'd have to twist your neck pretty hard to get to that reading

it plays pretty loose with the language of faith vs science, but that all seems intentional also

I never got the sense that the people making the film didn't know exactly what they were doing in every shot

lemme message

👀

i exactly said to my uncle who i saw it with that that there was a lot of sex but it never felt exploitative

I was just rambling out spoilers to Ana but yeah! like!

female sexuality is never the protagonist's problem

the problem comes from other people reacting to it and trying to contain it

and the conflict is in her identifying that and refusing to be contained

yesss

her supporting cast always lets her make her own choices, even when those choices are objectively bad

They're willing to be there for her when she chooses to return

yes, i loved that too

and that part in Athens, I think? when they go outside and see the world for what it is, in that Victorian futurescape natural disaster landscape?

I'm still absolutely gutted

I just had a whole session with a client who is obsessed with the movie and what they've taken from it and man it's just such a rich film

yes that part was gutting

and that speech about how hope exists to be crushed

and I do appreciate Mark Ruffalo committing so hard

mustache-twirlingly evil but without any self-awareness of it

yesss, he was great

he did so much heavy lifting so that when you get to that ending it's just like "yeah that can happen in this world, sure"