I had no idea what to expect when I started watching this movie. I was in a horror mood and I think asian countries produce some of the best horror movies and I found this and decided to give it a go.
I'm gonna start of by saying I really liked this movie mainly because I'm a big fan of any movie that has psychological elements and that can keep you guessing and this movie has both.
It's not a mindfuck movie but as soon as you think you know what's really going on it takes a turn and then you think "now I know what's actually true!" Nope, wrong again, there's another turn coming.
It's engaging and the acting is great.
It has a few jump scares but the movie doesn't rely on them and they are used quite sparingly. The suspenseful music in some scenes go on for a little too long and become a tad bit annoying but that's not really too big of a deal. The only significant complaint I've got is that the ending was a little too abrupt and I feel like more could have been done with it.
I happened to watch this on a rainy day which is really fitting considering how much it rains in this movie which really adds a great atmosphere(I was going to say that it has a relaxing atmosphere but the story itself is far from relaxing, maybe I just consider it relaxing 'cause I'm a whore for rain).
Highly recommend it.
The main reason I decided to watch this movie was because of all the good things I'd heard about it. The fact that it's in black and white did put me off a bit but because when modern movies are made in black and white it's a style choice and most of the time it doesn't really add much to it. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) was also black and white and I enjoyed that one so I decided to give it a try.
I can't say I was as blown away by this movie as a lot of other people were but it definitely wasn't bad. After 1 hour of watching it I still wasn't sure what the point of the movie was but as it turns out it's just a story about a womans day to day life working for this not-so-perfect family. It is very real though and not in some epic very hollywood way. It just shows a very real human experience.
It's a slow movie and it's definitely not dramatic(although it does have its intense moments) so if you're expecting something grand and fast-paced you're bound to be dissapointed.
The amount of dog shit in this movie gave me anxiety. I also really wish I could kick Fermín in the nuts, proper dickhead that one.
I will say that I did have quite high expectations for this movie and it did not end up being as good as I thought it would be, however, I really liked the acting and the music, both were really good. The way the movie was filmed(the lightning, angles, everything) was also really good.
The ending was really unsatisfying and the explanation for everything(why everything happened and the motives for it) was really weak. There are lots of unanswered questions or answers that quite frankly really don't make much sense.
The movie as a whole has a really uneasy vibe/feeling to it, which adds a lot to it even if nothing particularly odd/scary/weird is happening at the moment.
There was a particular scene that made me flinch so bad because it looked hella painful (the scene with the tooth drilling, ouch).
So the secret to a longer life or maybe eternal life is..... eel sweat...eel derived sweat .....what even.
Also the fact that the baron would do all that shit just for a pure bloodline just seems kind of weak and far fetched to me.
I guess there is symbolism for workaholism and making work your life. People want to cure something that isn't there and just end up actually getting sick instead....I don't really know what I'm supposed to feel about this movie or what the intentions are or what deeper meaning it actually has.
It wasn't a bad movie, and it certainly wasn't a masterpiece but it was unique, so at least that's something.
I don't want to make it seem like it was a bad movie, because it wasn't. It did keep my attention throughout the entire movie and I never once felt bored.
I also didn't have a problem with the length of the movie(it being almost 2 and a half hours long). I never caught myself thinking about when the movie was gonna end and I was never bored of it either which I'm guessing has a lot to do with me really wanting to know the answers to all the questions I had and I think that might be the biggest reason as to why I got disappointed.
I was expecting this big reveal at the end and it just never happened, a lot is left to interpretation and it just didn't feel complete.
Would I recommend it? Maybe , if you're someone that's sick of seeing the same old things over and over and actually want to see something somewhat original then yes, I would recommend it.
If you just ask for a movie recommendation then this movie would not be at the top of my list and there are lots of other great movies I'd recommend instead.
My point is, it's not a must-see but it is worth seeing.
I'm a bit confused as to what exactly the point of this movie is.
Maybe some things got lost in translation, maybe it's just as weird even if you understand french, I don't know.
It's not a bad movie but I can't honestly say what exactly is good about it either.
It's a bit eerie(but honestly not that much) and quite confusing. The feeling it evokes is a lot stronger and more present in the movie than the actual plot of it, in this case that's not really a good thing, considering the story itself is confusing so the feeling it's supposed to evoke doesn't really have a leg to stand on.
Tom is letting himself be abused and manipulated by Francis, which is made extra clear when Sara arrives and actually stands up for herself, which Tom clearly doesn't do. He doesn't leave, even though there are several red flags. It takes an entire story about Francis ripping a mans face open(and actually seeing that man) for him to finally leave, I feel bad for him but damn it's ridicuous that it took that much.
Finding out that Guillaume basically slept with everybody and that Tom really wasn't that special makes you feel even worse for him.
He is staying at the farm with Guillaume's crazy family, getting emotionally and physically abused by Francis, all because of a guy that probably didn't care that much for him in the first place. It's obvious that Tom is somehow trying to replace Guillaume with Francis and it's really just sad. Tom just seems completely emotionally drained. Francis obviously doesn't want him to leave, which I'm gonna say is not because he genuinely cares for Tom in the slightest but because of his own selfish reasons and because he's a psychopath.
Everybody is trying to replace Guillaume. Tom is trying to replace Guillaume with Francis, and Francis and Agathe are trying to replace Guillaume with Tom but it just isn't possible and just comes off as extremely odd.
I'm not saying it's a bad movie because there is some depth to it but there is just so much missing from it in order to really make you feel something(other than pity for Tom and the urge to punch Francis in the face).
It keeps you thinking about it though, so that's something.
I would like to start off with the fact that I read the book.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, but I didn't cry.For me the book was just cute,at some parts funny and I did enjoy it,I didn't love it as some people did BUT I did like it. I didn't cry at all though.
I liked the movie better to be honest, I didn't cry but I almost did at some parts.
There is, in the movie as well as the book, one part that I found really bizarre. The part in the Anne Frank house, it's supposed to honor the people that died and they just start making out! That is wrong on SO MANY LEVELS.
It was a good movie, no lie and I would watch it again but one thing that was completely unrealistic was the way they speak. I do understand that it was written by an adult but it's supposed to be in the mind of a teenager, not Shakespeare. They use all these words that no teenager these days would use, for example in the trailer of the movie Gus says:
...I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable...
NO TEENAGER WOULD SAY THIS!
I didn't have any expectations before watching this movie and I hadn't read the book(still haven't ,still not going to)and to me this was all very average.
This movie reminded me of two other movies.Those movies are both superior to this one,and it only reminds me of them because of the whole ''There's someone that has gone through some type of injury and they need an assistant to help them''thing.Those 2 movies are ''The Intouchables (2011)'' and a Swedish movies called ''Ego (2013)'' and both of them are really quite good.
Emilia Clarke did a great job and her character is very likable from the very start.Her smile is adorable and I think she's a really good actress in general.
In the very beginning I wasn't feeling Will and Lou's relationship at all and I was honestly shipping her more with Nathan.Of course she had a boyfriend that I wasn't really very fond of.Patrick was a bit annoying and when he gave Lou a necklace with HIS NAME on it I just kind of lost it...what is she?property?No thank you dude,I'll pass.The only time where I really felt for Patrick was when he found out about the trip ,the uh.."business trip" ,I completely understand why he got mad.
The biggest reason why I give this movie a 6 and not anything higher is because there's something missing.I can't quite put my finger on it but there's just something that just makes this movie kind of "meh" to me.I think it might be Sam Claflin,I don't think he's a bad actor but I don't think he fits the role very well.
I got kind of irritated at the fact that she was always saying both his first AND last name,it's so cringey ,but that's probably just me.
I'm glad he ended up dying,I know that sound horrible but if he would magically just get better and start walking again that would just be way too cliché and I'm so glad that didn't happen.Is a life with just a little joy and a great deal of pain really so much better than no life at all?maybe not,it really depends.
Just like a guy suddenly going blind,he knows what he lost and knowing what you can't have is certainly much worse than not having it in the first place.To live your life in a wheelchair when you know there's so much more out there is a major restraint and for some people it just isn't worth it.
Would I recommend it?not really.Watch it if you want to,maybe you'll love it or maybe you won't but those are my thoughts about it anyway,if that helps.
It's hard to really put my opinion about this movie into words.
Is it horrible? yes. Does it have a point or a message? I don't fucking know.
It is truly fucked up and without a doubt the most disturbing shit I have ever seen. I don't know what to rate this so I'll just stick to a 5. I've noticed some people either give this a 10 for the fact that it really is disturbing and sick (living up to the genre,I suppose)while some give it a 1 or a 2 because they think it's just gross and nothing else.
The thing is, it is gross, but there is a plot there and it's not just disgusting(unlike August Underground that lacks plot and is just gross for the sake of being gross). There is a story(how it all happened and why), character development(for the most part not in a good way,really,but still) and a turning point where he's just in too deep(is that inappropriate?)and just feels like 'fuck this,I'm done' and he decides that he wants to commit suicide(with the rest of his family), but while his life may be over,the disgustingness is not. They(the people that hired him,I guess,that company or those people ,whatever,you know what I mean) just take that opportunity and decide to rape them and film it,which you're obviously aware of if you've watched it.
I have thought about this movie more than I should have after watching it. I have gone to forums and interviews from the director trying to find out what the actual fuck this is, and why ,and if it really has any sort of point.
I do think that it is artistic in a way, it's also sadistic but the feeling I got after watching it was (among other things like extreme nausea)a feeling of what the fuck did I watch but more importantly why? , and that is the primary point that I found before all the research.
It is sick,twisted and completely nauseating but you wanted to watch it anyway. Why?curiosity perhaps.
Many people have said that this is the most disgusting movie they've ever seen and when people say that , you ask yourself oh really? , is it really that bad? and you feel tempted to find out, or at least I did, but I reckon many agree.
This review was not as put together as I had planned but it's the best I can do for this particular movie and I hope it all made sense.
(the word disgusting was was featured in this review way too many times but for lack of other words, that'll have to do, because there really isn't a more appropriate word to describe this movie.)
Not as bad as I thought it was gonna. Still full of clichés though but that's to be expected(obviously it had to include the whole innocent girl and bad guy trope). The main thing that gave me the impression that it was gonna be really bad was based on the things I've heard about the book but a lot of the really bad stuff that happened in the book was left out of the movie which is good. In the book he kept the used condom(!!) and a sheet with Tessa's vagina blood on it to prove to his friends that they had sex....so the movie could have been worse, there's also a bunch of manipulative and abusive shit in there and some dubious consent but thankfully that's not really in the movie.
Every single character in this movie annoyed me(mainly in the first half) except Selma Blair. Bless.
Hardins backstory was severely underdeveloped.
Tessa is deadass out here being a dumbass. If a man that you barely know asks you to go into the woods with him, YOU SAY NO!This is common sense y'all.(I know that's not technically what he said but like if a stranger asks you to come with him somewhere and he drives into the middle of the fucking woods...bitch, that is when you run.
Also, towards the end when the teacher gives Tessa the assignment Hardin turned in for that class...you're definitely not allowed to give someone another student's work, wtf.
Not to mention at the very end where Hardin basically compares them to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy....I have to laugh.
One more thing,this is not important in the slightest but I can't be the only one that thougth Noah was Tessa's brother in the beginning.
The acting is subpar at best but the script didn't give them much to work with so I'll let that slide.
It is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a movie that was based on a Wattpad "book"(I use the term "book" loosely).