- S: The extreme strangeness of the story creates some moments of curious behavior. In particular, how Beau behaves in his mother's home while knowing her state and the interactions with the
man in the forest theater.
- C: Sound design and score are both excellent, helping to capture the nuanced feelings of fear sprinkled throughout.
Sets are stunning and are critical to the choreography and narrative. However, there is far too much use of background blur/wave effects and there is some noticeably bad cgi which
stands out from the excellent practical sets and props.
- E: There are moments that are hard to watch, but you can't look away. The film is a bit too long, particularly with the rambling of the metaphorical play in the forest.
- N: A large portion of the story is metaphorical. There are moments where this metaphor is very surface level but others where it is so complex and nuanced that I think the story loses
the ability to appeal to a universal group. Some of the aspects of the story are so personal that it is disturbing. In fact, the story in general is deeply disturbing, and that is the point. That being said, this story is unlike any other I've ever seen: it's range in terror, humor, joy, sadness, lust, and disgust embody a very profound image of the modern human experience.
- T: The film received three bonus points: one for an incredible opening sequence and first act full of fear, humor, and extremes, one for a great combo of Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, and Joaquin
Phoenix, and one for a jaw dropping, horrifying end interpretation of judgement day.
The story is deeply disturbing and so idiosyncratic that I think it loses some of its potential audience in the specificity. However, I think the story is unlike any other and
the film has so much emotional variety that it really is an underrated modern masterpiece. There aren't very many films that capture the spectrum of human emotion to this degree. It's a film
that I think is incredible, but wouldn't recommend to many people.
Number of Watches: 2
