I have seen a bunch of movies over the past two weeks that I want to talk about, but figuring out what order to do that in becomes the challenge now. Luca Guadagnino has taken a liking to stretching and testing the boundaries of what audiences inherently root for and why. I appreciate that Bones and All just might chew you up and spit you out in the process.
A young woman, trying to navigate a dark and dangerous addiction, is abandoned and takes to the road in an attempt to track down her mother and some answers. On her travels, she meets others like her and begins to figure out who and what she is and whether or not there is any semblance of a normal life to be had for her.
Romance and love are themes that Luca Guadagnino clearly enjoys exploring. Even in his version of Suspiria (2018), one of the characters says, “Love and manipulation, they share houses very often. They are frequent bedfellows.” That relatively cold view of love is examined more thoroughly in his latest work.
***SPOILERS***
As usual, I will do my best to circumvent the plot spoilers as much as possible, but considering neither the tagline nor the storyline on IMDB mentions the elephant in the room, proceed with caution.
Based on the novel by Camille DeAngelis and set in the 1980s, things start off with a sleepy small-town vibe and our lead character, Maren, going through the typical growing pains of a teen at a new high school. Trying to make friends and fit in. You know. When she is invited to a sleepover, she says her dad won’t let her go but it’s not until she gets home to her trailer that we see signs of something sinister.
Her father (played by André Holland) locks her bedroom door, from the outside, and has screwed the windows closed. It’s only fair to assume that she is being held captive or abused. We are supposed to feel that way so, when she finished brushing her teeth and snagged a screwdriver before heading to her room, we can see what is coming and even celebrate that moment of rebellion for her. That feeling is short-lived. I won’t get into that aspect of it but I’m sad that the new trailer basically gives that part away because it was incredibly effective when I saw it with no prior knowledge.
I appreciate that screenwriter David Kajganich wrote all of those context clues to lead us in one direction to start and then turned things completely on their head, in one frightening moment. Not only was the “aha” more impactful but it lets the audience know that you are not going to be able to blindly trust everything you see. It’s a wonderful mechanism to keep the audience on their toes and create a level of baseline tension that works to haunt you for the rest of the film.
The original music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a wonderful supplement to that. The duo has been among the very best in the business since they burst onto the scene with their Oscar-winning score for The Social Network. What I love about their music here is its subtlety. It certainly stands out when it needs to but it is there mostly as an accompaniment. The combo of delicate guitar and string instruments mixed with heavy, droning frequencies allows the score to be more fluid as it pitches between horror and romance. If you listen to the tracks on their own, the first few notes don’t exactly clue you in on which way the tone is headed, and I love that.
I hadn’t seen Taylor Russell since Waves in 2019, which was something of a breakout role for her, but she’s logged several credits since then and does more than hold her own opposite her decorated A-list counterparts. She wears the skin of Maren in a way that takes ownership of the journey. She isn’t as far toward the edges as the other main characters so she doesn’t get to step into a colorful character in the way the other actors do. The understated quality of her performance is making Maren seem lived-in and tangible where those other characters aren’t.
It doesn’t hurt to work opposite Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet who actually earned his nom working with Guadagnino on Call Me By Your Name, so I can see why they reconnected for this. His character, Lee, has that brooding mystique we’ve seen from Chalamet in other roles but it’s necessary to set the tone. He’s a loner but meeting Maren lets them know that neither of them is as alone as they may have previously thought and they move toward romance with cautious optimism. That allows the meat of their relationship to unfold in a space where they are both unraveling a lot of their baggage together. Because of that, their relationship is one you pull for even though you have a reasonable idea of what that reality may look like.
Mark Rylance was really the catalyst for me pursuing the film while it was in limited release and he did not disappoint. The Oscar-winner plays Sully, another similarly inclined individual, who meets Maren on the road and tries to show her the ropes. He’s eccentric, to say the least, and his behavior is undeniably creepy even though he does help Maren when they meet. So, it’s tough to gauge him completely but it goes back to what I mentioned about the script and how the context clues can lead you astray. Either way, Rylance is a powerful presence on screen and delivered one of the best supporting performances I have seen this year.
Before getting out of here, I love how the film looks. Set in Ronald Reagan’s American Midwest, there’s an undeniable grittiness to the film and Elliott Hostetter’s production design is minimalist heaven. Giulia Piersanti’s costuming was excellent too and I loved that each of the characters had their own distinct style. Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan shot the whole thing on Kodak film and it was a great choice because it captures the natural light in a way that makes the whole thing feel alive on screen while also feeling like a film made in the 80s rather than just a period piece trying to pretend.
I went to see this movie as soon as I could and it’s grown on me more since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Despite the knee-jerk reactions I imagine are bound to accompany this film, it’s really a story about finding yourself and what unconditional love really looks like. It is one of the year’s best films so far and I would love to see this again soon.
Recommendation: Not for the squeamish and probably not for the typical romantic film crowd either, but that’s exactly why you should see it.
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