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This movie would’ve been a 4.5 if they’d ended it 15 minutes early. There was so much I liked about it, genuinely. The ending was such bullshit.
One thing I found baffling though was the director’s bizarre fixation on undercutting all the emotionally-weighty moments by splicing in the fucking danceboy fondling himself with a dead-eyed expression. It’s like you can’t take your own work seriously at all. And this film has so much full-frontal male nudity, I genuinely can’t fathom who they thought was coming to *this* movie to see that. Like all the lesbos who would’ve forgiven you for the fact that the butch was so damn mean to her wife the whole movie surely were not secretly hoping they’d see a massive dose of French-Canadian man ass.
Nevertheless, it was a fun romp, and the moments where it’s genuine really got me tearing up. It’s not often I see butches on screen and the struggles of trying to build a life with another woman in a world that will never recognize your love, your relationship, your home as legitimate, and the isolation of being a lesbian in rural maine, without family or other community. And the humor really hits a lot!

Watched on Friday May 31, 2024.

Come for a stellar performance from Anthony Hopkins, stay for the toxic yaoi

This movie was beautiful and emotional and spoke to so many of my experiences and is just an absolute work of art!

As a lesbian & trans person stuck in the suburbs, myself…. OW!!!!

Watched on Saturday April 6, 2024.

Watched on Saturday April 6, 2024.

Watched on Friday April 5, 2024.

Jake Gyllenhal is completely ill-fitted for this role and entirely unbelievable. The writing is poor with marvel-style quippy dialogue, the characters are hollow, and it’s neither  campy nor homoerotic enough to justify how bad it is. This whole project seems like some dude with too much power tried to see just how much they could inflate their budget and punish Jake Gyllenhal’s body before anybody told him “no”. You should skip this movie.
EDIT: Turns out that ‘dude’ was the UFC company, who funded this movie in an attempt to broaden the audience for Ultimate Fighting. Fascinating that they chose Jake Gyllenhal’s puppy-eyed twink face to represent the kind of Sigma Male new viewers might hope to cheer on as he gets beaten to bloody pulp on live pay-per-view.

Watched on Monday April 1, 2024.

Watched on Monday March 25, 2024.

I really enjoyed the exotic pet symbolism/imagery that pervades this story. Something grotesque to be kept caged, small, cared for, and ired but then destroyed should it ever try to assert its own agency. Its clearly representative of Lou’s relationship with her father, Lou Sr., but also the dynamic Lou briefly tries to inflict upon Jackie when she locks her inside. This is interesting bc both Lou and Jackie’s characters are seen by the greater society as something monstrous and grotesque, a “massive d***” and a muscular hulk, and are shown constantly how easy it would be to cast either of them, but especially Jackie, as beasts to be slain and discarded. This movie also plays with themes of size in really interesting ways that I’ll be thinking about for a long time. I also like the ways they leaned into the gross in this movie, from its very start with the lingering shots of the toilet to the squelching, bulging zooms onto Jackie’s growing muscles and veins. It feels very intentionally set up to induce a disgust reaction but also to make its audience question their disgust? Or maybe just me, but by the time we see (spoilers) the massive and radiant Jackie in the climax, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could ever have thought that about her. Fitting as perfectly among the desert stars, the goddess imagery is undeniable. I really enjoyed this one, I probably have more to say but I’ll leave it here. Great film!

Watched on Saturday March 9, 2024.

It’s not good but I really liked the set design and puppetry. If there’s one thing David Lynch loves it’s a wet fetus puppet.

Watched on Saturday February 24, 2024.

Watched on Saturday February 24, 2024.

Watched on Saturday February 24, 2024.

Watched on Saturday February 17, 2024.

Watched on Saturday February 10, 2024.

Watched on Saturday February 10, 2024.

Watched on Friday February 9, 2024.

Watched on Sunday January 7, 2024.