Yeah, this was very good. The bulk of the movie is about what I expected: beautiful, subtle, sad, truthful. But what surprised me most was the way in which the artier, more abstract interludes affected me. I think usually my response to scenes like that is a kind of disaffected, critical respect. In this case I honestly found myself quite moved. I mean, the whole thing’s a visual feast, but the use of sound and music was particularly effective. Essentially it’s just a piece of really great, artful filmmaking.
That said, after a long time struggling with how I should grade movies here - based either on how “objectively” good I think they are or how much I personally enjoy them - I think with this I’m finally okay with leading with the latter. Do I think this was a brilliant film? Yes. Did I personally enjoy it more than Gremlins? Nah.
Top stuff all the same.
Grade: ****
