I did my best with this one, I really did. Review on Ebert.
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How did I know your review, among so many, would be the one that destroyed me?
So, so good.
Thanks Melissa! It’s a real acting feast, this movie.
This was beautiful. And had its moments of humor. Adam’s mom being shocked at his physique but commenting that she preferred hairy-chested men. Nice recovery. Mom’s disappointment that her mother wasn’t as upset at her death as Dad’s mother was. That was almost sibling rivalry. It went along with Adam’s later story about imaging the family going to Disneyland. Constant bickering, but with no need to apologize or reconcile because you were always together.
I also had some trouble with the ending. But I’ve mulled it over a bit and I wonder if the entire thing was a ghost story à la Tár. More than just Mom and Dad being ghosts. No one else in the building. Harry seeing Adam’s parents. Harry dying with the same bottle of liquor he brought to Adam’s the first night. I may be trying to fit an interpretation on this to blunt how tragic it would be otherwise. That way Adam provides comfort and closure for ghosts, rather than only being able to have relationships with the dead. He would have a lonely mission rather than just a lonely life. Even this interpretation leaves me unsatisfied because it makes the movie The Sixth Sense with a gay adult instead of a kid. So as I said, I had trouble with the ending.
I thought the movie was eloquent on loneliness. Harry’s comment that when he came out to his parents it gave an excuse as to why he felt different and disconnected from the family – but being gay wasn’t the reason for the disconnection. That had wisdom in it.
And as you said, the acting was wonderful. I gotta rewatch Fleabag, and the episodes of Sherlock where Andrew Scott is Moriarty. I need to see more Clare Foy than just this and First Man. I suspect you’ve seen Wolf Hall. Did you like her in that? Jamie Bell, I loved him as Bernie Taupin in Rocketman. Got any recommendations for more of him? And I loved Paul Mescal in Aftersun. Just an excellent ensemble.
I also saw Poor Things. I loved it so much. Had a chance to see it yet?
Hi! sorry it took me a second to get to this –
Honestly, I feel like the romance with Harry was unreal. Not that it didn’t make sense but that – for whatever supernatural reason – Adam was in an in-between state, where the boundaries between life and death were porous. In visiting his parents, he was also “visited” by … Harry. I’m not sure if this holds together – but it did occur to me as I was watching it. I don’t think the whole thing was a dream, necessarily – but … Adam’s loneliness kind of projected out, until the kind of relationship he yearned for – intimacy, caring, tenderness, all that – materialized. I don’t know, I’ll have to think more about it!
Claire Foy is great in Wolf Hall. It was my introduction to her and I was truly impressed. she was also in The Crown, which I haven’t seen – and she was in Women Talking which I think was fairly dumb, but she was the best thing in it.
Jamie Bell shows up in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. anyone who was in that movie shows they are interested in things other than “building a career”. lol And who he was in Nymphomaniac is so totally different from who he was in All of Us Strangers – and, frankly, anything else he has done. He’s not a “type”. at all. I mean, he could be – he’s handsome, and can be sexy – but … he’s really beyond the concerns of actors who are worried what people think of them. I was really impressed with how he embodied a middle aged man of another generation – and did so with compassion and empathy. I totally believed he – who is younger than andrew scott – was the “elder”.
Have you seen Normal People? That was my real introduction to Paul Mescal. He really hasn’t done all that much yet – so I’m excited to see what else he does. He’s just getting started!!
To be clear – Jamie Bell is in Nymphomaniac Volume II (not Volume I). He plays a pretty big role but because the movie is what it is it can’t really be called a “role”. It’s more like he’s a device. But he’s riveting!
Yes, Jamie Bell was great as the father. Recognizing that someone like his son would have brought up some true ugliness in himself when he was a boy. And being ashamed of that while alive, too conflicted to comfort his young son.
You’ve taught me to pay attention to actors listening and Clare Foy was really listening to Jamie Bell when he was speaking. She didn’t know what he would say and was hanging on his every word.
Completely different topic. Any sadness on the end of the Belichick era? You tend to talk baseball more than the other sports. I’m bummed here in Seattle at Pete Carroll leaving.
Oh, just saw the trailer for Andrew Scott in the Netflix series Ripley. Definitely something to look forward to.
As for football. Eminem has been lots of fun on IG, “Dan, put me in.” With the Pistons sucking like a Dyson and the Tigers expected to achieve mediocrity again – it’s been an epic dry spell for Detroit. Go Lions!