saccitygrl Reviews

Unsung Hero (2024)

Not the target audience but....

[4/10 · 3 May 2024]

As an unwashed heathen I will not comment on the story but the cinematography in this film is horrendous. One close up after another--for hours. I felt like I was watching a movie using a magnifying glass. No sense of space, context, perspective. And the same shot was repeated over and over---framed shot moving into a close up. Over and over. I never notice these things in movies usually but in this film it was so consistent and it was irritating. I don't think I would recognize most of the actors in this film in any other context as I never saw them beyond the neck up.

I am no expert but this issue with the cinematography seems a bit amateurish.

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Great Film for those who have a case of Mr Robot Nostalgia

[7/10 · 17 December 2023]

This is a great film if your expectations are in the right place. It's basically a handheld guide through a first hand experience of the collapse of your civilization. It's very realistic exploration of how disruption of all that we rely on in modern society and the associated fear and confusion one would experience could quickly develop into a societal explosion.

But that is just the surface and those who were avid fans of Mr Robot will be happy to discover the brain teasers/easter eggs imbued in this film by Sam Esmail. Keep an eye on the paintings on the walls, the logos on the products, and anomalies in the graphics.

The only downside to this film for me is the casting of Julia Roberts. Never was a fan and over the years I just can't stand watching her on screen. In this film where she is playing an abrasive character its an even more trying experience.

May December (2023)

skip

[2/10 · 17 December 2023]

I don't understand the hype over this film among TY movie reviewers. This movie is basically a boring mockery of the lifetime movie genera based on a tragic true story that continues to harm everyone it has ever touched.

Its slow. Its creepy and cringy at times (e.g. Portman's reenactment in the pet shop storage room (vomit) or her manipulation of the Joe character to what end who knows, (double vomit/yuck)). It looks awful--like its a VHS recording or nondigital TV broadcast. The music is atrociously overdramatic. And most importantly, It's just a story that doesn't need to be told and from a perspective that should never be explored.

The only redeeming quality of the film is the tenderness with which it treats the Joe characterization. Given this is based on a true story and the individual whose story was used to create this mess deserves all the empathy the film and we viewers can muster.

Fire Island (I) (2022)

Not a waste of time

[6/10 · 6 June 2022]

Beat for beat adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I am somewhat thick in picking these things up, but this was so in your face I got it within the first 10 minutes.

A nice updated take on a classic tale. Per usual "Mr Darcy" is captivatingly angsty prickly sort with a mushy core. A fun watch.

King Richard (2021)

Agree with other comments--Bland

[3/10 · 3 April 2022]

I decided to watch this movie because I figured there has to be a reason for the standing ovation after what happened at the Oscars.

So I watched the film and found it bland. It reeks of being sanitized to ensure that Williams is portrayed in the best light. There is little depth to the story and no depth to the acting.

Not sure why Smith's performance was oscar worthy after watching this film. He is flat throughout the entire film--its like watching a marionette going through the motions with nothing else there.

We Need to Talk About Cosby (2022)

Why is this necessary

[2/10 · 2 February 2022]

I was willing to give this mini-series a go despite the bad review I had seen about it. But after suffering through the first episode, I am not interested in watching any more of it.

The title is definitely of click bait calibur but the content falls short. It appears that the only one who needs to talk about Cosby is the Director W Kamau Bell. I imagine its just to make a buck.

As to the first episode, it goes on for a full hour about Cosby's career in the 60's. This is a bit over the top. When they started deep diving into the tangential connection between Cosby and the Playboy Club, I started to tune out.

Why is it necessary to go into every nitty gritty detail of his early career. Is it to paint Cosby as some iconoclast who later falls from the pedestal built by the director? Boring and trite and in this case, not true. For most, Cosby was a blip on the screen before the Cosby show in the 80s. Only if you were into Fat Albert or watched the HBO special Cosby Himself was he even remotely on the radar of most people. I remember him on I Spy--it was not a sensation they make it out to be in this program. It was cancelled after 3 years.

Course, my opinion may arise from having never had much respect for Cosby after learning he referred to himself as "Dr." upon receiving an honorary doctorate from Temple--a school he had dropped out from. Who does that?

Seriously, who does that? I mean, he made so much of it, I even knew it was in education.. Obviously someone with ego problems. And time has bore that aspect of his character and much more. His fall from grace is only shocking in how long he got away with it. That is the mortifying part and THAT is what we need to be talking about. Not this drivel.

The Gilded Age (2022– )

My gawd where to begin...

[1/10 · 27 January 2022]

The acting, the dialogue, the staging, the directing, the editing, the set design, the lighting.....I am no expert but if it wasn't for the costumes this would be appropriate for YouTube.

Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022)

Spot On

[9/10 · 9 January 2022]

It was kewl revisiting this character. Tone and pace was familiar and the nostalgia increased with each episode.

I image a lot of people will complain about the ending. It was predictable maybe but made sense in the context of the characters and their arch during this reboot. I liked that this reboot really tried to show the monster that Dexter was through the eyes of his son and love interest.

Course, I wasn't all that put out by the first ending of this series but I am not a cheerleader for Dexter getting away with 100s of murders, even if most of them deserved it.

And Just Like That... (2021– )

And the cringes just keep coming

[1/10 · 1 January 2022]

I was turned off by this reboot from episode 1 but by episode 5, my car crash rubber necking is at an end. I have tuned in after the second episode primarily because it's like the uncontrollable urge to rubber neck while driving pass a car crash--its not because you like what you see its just to see how bad it gets.

From the get go I found the way they treated women of a certain age insulting. The way they treated these characters aging as if they had locked themselves in a jar for the last decade and emerged lobotomized unable to perform the most simplest of social graces like interacting with people of color without making racist a$$es of themselves, adapting to the open use of marijuana or coping with a child who is not expressing stereotypical behavior attributed to her sex, just to name a few, Each episode has been one cringe moment after another.

Episode 5 is beyond the pale with the entitled let me get you into my doctor friend within hours (WTF), the old lady back BS and the mirror reflected kitchen sex scene. Its unbearable to watch so I am done.

I didn't have high hopes but I surely did not expect to be insulted with ageist cliches or beat over the head with woke agendas. HBOMax, my advice, cut it loose as soon as contractually possible.

A Glitch in the Matrix (2021)

Basement Dwellers Dominate

[3/10 · 23 February 2021]

I think the simulation theory is very intriguing but this movie doesn't really explore it. Rather it takes this topic to a panel of basement dwellers who conflate this theory with their own myopic take on reality and in some cases delusions. The film largely focuses on the delusions or narcissistic tendencies of a certain type of white male. To make matters worse, the film's arc lands with a psychopath's take on his cold blooded murder of his parents while in some sort of depressive psychosis. Chilling to say the least. Including this in the film seems to unravel all the discussion leading up to this point in the film by conflating the embracement of the simulation theory with hedonistic nilhism. Definitely not worth paying to rent/see.

Bliss (I) (2021)

Good for a sunday afternoon

[6/10 · 8 February 2021]

I don't think my complaint is with the film so much as the marketing and the reviews I've seen. This film is supposed to be a sci-fi mind bending story. NOT.

If one pays attention you can clearly hear the main character use his credit card to crush and then snorts the pain medications he's been prescribed and then the weirdness ensues right through to the end when his partner in psychosis bites it and he goes to rehab.

This is a antidrug film thinly cloaked as a scifi reality bending flick. A careful watching of this film and you will see that this is what the film is about. Basically, its about a guy who is a druggie who hooks up with another druggie in a bar and together they use crystal (meth?) to experience prolonged periods of psychosis.

It would have been better if it was true to the marketing. The druggie story buried in the visuals and audio makes it lame.

Our Friend (2019)

Wonderful and Worth the Coin!

[10/10 · 25 January 2021]

This is a really special film exploring a topic with a depth and level of reality not usually seen in film. It shows how horrid death by cancer can be and how it impacts all those involved.

Through all this pain and loss the beauty of love between friends takes center stage. The best part is based (quite accurately) on a true story. The journey this film takes you on is not a finessed, saccharine hollywood experience but a chance to glimpse into the lives of people who make you feel good about being a member of the humans species.

Must see!

Utopia (2020)

Truly Americanized

[3/10 · 3 October 2020]

So you get great source material and decide to jump the pond and bring it to a new audience. What happens--the same thing that happens in every american film/series--scrap the characterization, scrap character arcs, amp up the violence. The original series is AWESOME in every way. But truth be told it never caught on because of the grotesque violence. It is very violent--think Layer Cake. However, the violence served the PLOT--this trash just tosses it in as shock and awe effect. In the process the storyline/conspiracy becomes less and less plausible and the motivations of the characters becomes more and more elusive.

I won't get into the acting beyond saying some of the characters are so badly played it takes away so much from the story, esp. the Arby character.

Amazon--shelve it at 1 and call it done.

Kiss the Ground (2020)

What the world needs now...

[10/10 · 26 September 2020]

2020 has been a dire year and like Woody Harellson, I had long since given up already knowing all the things contained in this film. We may be in the triage stage of the collapse, but we do need hope to carry on even in that sad endeavor of being of service during this time.

Despite the writing on the wall, this movie is just what the doctor ordered. I truly hope this film and the warriors it features continues to reach those who have the power to change from the course we are on with their message. All it takes is a decision to change and perhaps we can begin to shift off the course we are on to a more human descent into the abyss.

Blessings to all those who contributed to this film.

Planet of the Humans (2019)

A good overview of the predicament we are in BUT....

[7/10 · 6 July 2020]

This film gets many things right when discussing the issues with renewable energy despite what all the naysayers say about the information being dated or misleading. The reality of the limitations of green energy were well known when the Kyoto Protocol was created in 1997 and there has been no magic bullet invented to date that has substantially changed these limitations 20+ years later.

However, this film fails to grasp the root cause of the situation we are in today. Also, it fails to frame the issue of climate change as a systemic problem rather insisting it's just another problem coinciding with the bigger problem of--what...well, it doesn't clearly state what. It implies--Over population? Civilization? Ecological collapse?

Whatever it may be in the mind of the filmmaker, it doesn't matter. My basic point is the film fails to grasp that climate change is a systemic problem and represents the ultimate outcome arising from the many abuses humans have wrought on the planet since perhaps their first appearance on the planet. Until climate change, the issues were the same as today and only differed in scale. To date, we've been able to kick the can down the road as we hit each limit--be it with migration, agriculture, colonialism, wastewater treatment, drinking water treatment, solid waste management, birth control, the green revolution, fracking, deeper wells for water and oil, fish farms, taller smoke stacks, catalytic converters on cars, etc.

With climate change we have reached a point where the entire system has shifted beneath our feet due to our activity and there is no more road to kick the can down. We have fundamentally altered the carbon cycle on this planet, the basic system that supports life as we know it on the planet. This shift is acidifying oceans, changing wind and water currents, killing forests, creating deserts, causing sessile species to go extinct, warming the deep sea in addition to melting the polar ice caps and glaciers we all hear about over and over again.

A systemic shift such as climate change requires a systemic change in how humans live on this planet. This film fails to realize that all the issues it raises with the current efforts put forward to address climate arise from a single underling root cause. And that root cause is, all of these so called solutions are based on the carbon mass balance approach to addressing climate change as mapped out in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. It is this approach, to perceive climate change as simply a carbon problem, is the reason why we have things like biomass plants, electric cars, gas powered electric plants, etc. If the film was as well informed about the climate change movement as it purports to be, it would have never proposed the issue was some sort of nefarious conspiracy between the environmental movement and the fossil fuel associated corporations. Rather it would KNOW that this alliance is by design with the signing of the Kyoto protocol. To make a film critical of this alliance seems to me either a cash grab or ignorance as that horse left the barn decades ago.

Of course back in the 1990 we could have easily chosen options such as addressing population through education and supporting planned parenthood, reforestation, conservation of existing forests and natural preserves, reducing consumption, improving energy efficiency, de-industrializing, mass transportation, proper city planning and other life embracing options to address climate change. Had we done this, we may have found ourselves living lives of quality. But human nature is what it is and it was especially strong in the Me generation boomers who held the reins at the time critical decisions needed to be made. It should be noted there was barely a whisper of groups advocating for this approach at the time of Kyoto. No one cared enough to be informed about the issue to raise a fuss in the 90s. This movie is decades late and a dollar short.

The fact is we as a species failed from the get go with Kyoto and the industry/economic interests that shaped what went into that plan. That is the real story and this film ignores this. Rather it places the blame on some nefarious conspiratorial relationship between oil/gas industry and environmentalists groups.

A poorly informed take on a tragic chain of events that can be traced directly back to at least to 1997 if not the appearance of humans on this planet.

Dark Waters (2019)

Don't Miss this Film

[10/10 · 10 May 2020]

I came to this issue through the controversy around another corporation that produced pfas which resulted in widespread ground water contamination--2005 in Minnesota when the career of water scientist Fardin Oliaei was destroyed as MDH tried to block any response to her research that had found widespread groundwater contamination in the Twin Cities from PFAS dumped by 3M in an old landfill. MDH was lead at the time by a former 3M executive. PFAS was a chemical of concern but not regulated by any entity as there was no toxicological data for it.

This is a must see film! It is heartening to see the wheels of activism and the court system finally work in the public interest for a change. The performances are excellent and the insanity of how this country balances environmental health against corporate profits is laid out for all to see. There are over 80,000 registered chemicals that are for sale in the world and less than 20 percent have any health or environmental toxicological research associated with them. Why? Because the law makes it the burden of regulators to prove there is an adverse health impact rather than the entity that makes the chemical responsible for doing this work before being allowed to sell it.

PFAS is one of these chemicals for which there was no toxicity research associated with it. It was a chemical of concern due to its chemical properties of environmental persistance and bioaccumulation. However, it was completely unregulated and could be disposed along with regular waste.

There are tens of thousands more chemicals that are widely sold and used for which there is no data and unregulated. One wonders what data are those companies sitting on in terms of impact of these chemicals on their own employees involved in its production and use?

If you are not afraid of the grand experiment we are doing on this planet, you should be.

Bombshell (I) (2019)

As a movie a 5, as a story...

[3/10 · 23 March 2020]

This movie is solid with some good performances. More of the quality of an HBO or Amazon movie than something for the big screen. As for the story, I really don't want my daughters to see as a rally point for fighting workplace sexual harassment is a bunch of women who engaged in transactional sex to progress in their career and then later sue to get a payout. Wish they had focused on the many women I am sure who said no...they are the true heroes in this. (It is not all that convincing in the film that Megyn actually said no and got promoted anyway.)

Mr. Robot (2015–2019)

One word review...

[6/10 · 19 November 2019]

This series is best viewed as a binge watch otherwise the numerous threads of the plot get very confusing making it necessary to rewatch old episodes. There is some amazing cinematography throughout the series and some episodes just blow your mind. If you stop at season 3, its all good. As for season 4...its getting rather tiresome viewed on a week by week basis. Half way through the season and I have lost all interest in the fates of these characters. However, I am hanging in there to see how the body count falls out. If there was a one word review of this series....Sybil (albeit with mad computer skills) Hoping for the best as it winds up that its more like the movie Sybil than the real life Sybil. Disappointing either way at this point.

A Dark Song (2016)

Excellent occult film--definitely worth checking out!

[8/10 · 9 February 2019]

I stumbled on this film through a recommendation from an acquaintance. This film was described as a very realistic representation of an occult ritual. I don't know if that is true but as an outsider it surely was very believable. I am surprised at the low rating on imdb. Definitely recommend watching--this film is a slow build with twists, turns and surprises. It will stay with you long after the credits roll. If you like Nineth Gate you will probably love this!

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

Maybe if you've been under a rock the last decade or so

[4/10 · 26 January 2019]

I saw this movie opening night in the theater. There were 5 people in the theater besides myself. The lack of an audience in a city with a population of 500K was surprising. However, after watching the film the lack of public interest was no longer a surprise. About 90 minutes into the film I was VERY ready for it to be over. It is LONG, way too LONG. Over 2 hours of mostly clips, many of which are of such poor resolution they have no business being shown on the big screen. As for the content, first impression was the film was BORING. Unless you've been under a rock the last decade or so, you know everything that is presented in the film already. Second, the film was cognitively disjointed. It jumps from the Trump election, to the Flint water crisis, to the Parkland Shooting, etc. with none of it seeming to have a real logical connection. Having just seen it again on Amazon Prime (for free), I think while the film is a bit less incongruous, it's still just a rehash of headlines. There is no special insight that is offered by Moore save maybe instilling fear that totalitarianism is on the horizon. In light of the gov't shutdown/fed worker hostage crisis this does not seem such a farfetched fear as it appeared this pass summer. So do I recommend the film? Well if you have Amazon Prime--sure, see it. It costs you nothing. There are some good bits--such as the shoutout to Fahrenheit 9/11 at the beginning. But I would not recommend paying to see this film unless you've been under a rock the last decade and wish to exit and rejoin civilization.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

TNG Episode

[5/10 · 5 February 2018]

Well, about 30 minutes in and you realize why Paramount decided to release via Netflix. I don't think anyone who loved cloverfield will be particularly taken by this film. And to those people who felt cloverfield lane was a bait and switch, they will really feel betrayed by this film. The acting in this film is respectable. The effects, set and the like are fine. But the dull plot is not overcome by having a single character to care about.

Lady Bird (2017)

Another hyped independent film

[4/10 · 21 January 2018]

Saw this film in Sac at the Tower Theater. The hook for this film was twofold: 1) an opportunity to see Sac on the big screen, and 2) an opportunity to see Laurie Metcalf in a great performance.

The film did not disappoint on either--it was very kewl to Sac sites on the big screen and it was fun to be the only one to laugh in the theater when the main character quibbed that Sac was the Midwest of California--SO TRUE!!! I said the exact same thing within days of moving here from the bay area.

Also, Laurie Metcalf was great in the film. She is a gem so under utilized in hollow wood. 10 stars to her in this film--spot on all the way.

So that was the good. The bad was rather simple---TMI. This film is in definite need of a good editor. Much too long and much of the content is the extraneous blow by blow recounting of the main character's senior year in high school. We see EVERYTHING--from thanksgiving, christmas, prom, drama club, math class, drivers ed, virginity maintained, virginity lost, the whole shebang blow by blow.

If the strained relationship between the mother and daughter in this film was the main plot, it gets lost in the weeds of mundane day to day teen angst. Maybe I am too old to find such triviality interesting or deep. And its not something one can ignore because this movie tries really hard to make white american teen angst seem deep from the opening credits to the closing credits.

Which brings us to the finale of the film, where we see a resolution in the main character on her perspective of her hometown and mother. It occurs within a few days after getting exactly what she wants and experiencing alcohol poisoning. If that scenario had some deep insight intertwined, I missed it.

Some questions arise from the excessive details in the film--why was the film set in 2002? This seems just one of many pointless yet specific details in the film (a film that is adamantly claimed not to be autobiographical by the writer/director). Beyond being able to have the iraq war news playing in the background and attributing the father's joblessness and depression to an IT slump that coincided (but did it really--I don't recall that sector being significantly impacted in particular after 911), it seems a weird pointless detail in the film.

Another pointless detail--Why did we see the drama coach's visit to the psych hospital? Adds more questions than answers to his ease with winning the crying exercise. It doesn't add to the Laurie character, as we already have seen her empathetic qualities at work with the gift to the coworker and banter with store clerks about baby pictures. And the Saoirse character NEVER would have known about this turn of events due to patient confidentiality. So...point?

Yet another pointless detail---BFF (classic caricature) crush on the math teacher meeting his pregnant wife. Are we to think she believed she had a shot with this guy or something?

There is so much in this film that could have been cut and left room for more detail to explore the tense relationship between the mother and daughter in this film. An opportunity lost.

The film teases at being something that could have been great--like another Terms of Endearment. But it fails miserably. Also, if this film is to be held up as an example of the contribution of female film screenwriters and directors to the industry, then we need to keep looking. This is nothing more than navelgazing passed off as deep introspection.

Three word review: Wait for Netflix.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017)

I enjoyed, ENJOYED this film

[7/10 · 7 January 2018]

Disclaimer: Al Gore holds a special place in my heart--I was in N. Carolina during his first bid for president when he championed climate change as an issue in 1988. Also, he's also the only politician I can say I have shaken hands with, back in 1996. He's the only politician I would and will have ever gone out of my way to see in person and it was a thrill. So if you are a Gore basher, move along.

I enjoyed this movie. I mean I ENJOYED this movie. It made me smile, many times. You may say thats an odd reaction to the destruction but I am one of the few who is long past bemoaning the course we have set for ourselves as a species. It is what it is.

I admire Al Gore's tenacity. I envy his hope. I envy his faith in the system and in people. And I enjoyed his angry rants. Wish there was more of this in the first film--it may have helped fuel the flame when it was needed most, and cowed the trolls and predators in the only language they understand.

I am not angry he continues to carry these things forward into the twilight of our collective path. He knows what he wants to save (do you?) and he will continue to fight for it. Good on him.

However, to be honest the film adds nothing to the discussion. Every scientific fact stated in this film was WIDELY known and accepted in 2006 when the first AIT film came out. But, given more than a decade has passed, things have shifted by an order of magnitude or so, so now we get to see it from the perspective of a rearview mirror.

I am glad there was a lot of focus on the ocean in this iteration. Climate change activists are so doggedly focused on humans and fossil fuels, they have been completely oblivious to the slow death of the one thing that maintained this biosphere and the climate in which the biosphere we know and love has evolved. Twenty years ago I would regularly argue this point with greenie granola activist types, until I realized we had reach a point in time where this issue was yet another moot point. That aside, its nice to see this truth in full living color on the screen.

We also get something else in full living color--the complete and utter commitment of our "leaders" and more importantly the elite, to this collective trajectory. When the bible says greed is the root of evil, it clearly wasn't a metaphorical statement. We will now all pay for that collective "sin".

If you are clueless, you won't see this film. You are the type to deny what has been knocking you repeatedly between the eyes for years because it would mean you would have to relinquish some dogma planted in your head as a child. As Rhett Butler once said, "Well, far be it from me to question the teachings of childhood." I leave you to the inevitable crash and burn.

If you are in the know, this film will not do much in terms of enlightening you, or motivating you, unless you fantasize about cornering the market on renewables or some such thing.

All in all, this film is beautiful. You will see things you have only read about up until now. You can relish the carnage and anticipate the further unfolding that we face. Upon leaving the film, you can take with you the feeling that you have borne witness to the great unraveling. Its a spectacle that doesn't get much airtime and for that alone it makes this film worth seeing.

The Dinner (I) (2017)

"That's Racist"

[3/10 · 11 November 2017]

This film starts out pretty interesting, gets lost in the weeds and then pulls out an open ending to make it seem....ahh...Deep?

Rather than bother retelling the plot or lauding performances I will just identify why I didn't like this film.

The main reason being, there is no protagonist an audience can identify with. The protagonist doesn't have to be a good guy, there are great films with really awful people as the protagonist such as Good Fellas. But there has to be a hook that keeps you in the seat along for the ride of the protagonist through the plot. This doesn't exist in this film.

In this film you have the character Paul put forward as a protagonist but he becomes creepier and crazier as the story unfolds. This character development or reveal reaches a crescendo about 1/2 to 2/3s of the way into the film when he's become so repugnant one is looking for someone else to align one's point of view with to continue being engaged with the film.

Unfortunately, there isn't much to choose from in the form of major characters as they are all such horrid self absorbed self righteous people who all have a serious vicious streak in them you can barely tolerate it when they speak anymore while on screen. I found myself saying, "did s/he really just say that" quite a few times while watching this. YUCK. A$$holes the lot of em.

The other unforgivable in this film is the ending--I don't really care what these a$$holes decided to do in the end about the evil spawn they brought into the world, but not being clear whether an obviously racist aSS murdered his nephew by bludgeoning him to death with a rock is NOT a cliffhanger. That's just racist. That loose end deserved to be tied up out of decency to the way in which the film allows for 2 hours the cretin Paul character to tap dance around the fact he was blatantly a racist pig concerning his nephew which was just an extension of his frustration with his life as a teacher in a minority dominated school.

three word review: YUCK, skip it.

A Ghost Story (2017)

Letting Go of the Immortal Beloved

[8/10 · 9 October 2017]

I will not rehash the plot as others here have. Rather I will just share my thoughts on what I think the film is exploring, whether it did so well and what I think of the filmmaker's point of view. If not interested, skip this review.

First, this is not a straightforward film. Its not something we are used to seeing in terms of what its title implies, its not something we are used to seeing in terms of grief nor is it something we have seen before in terms of love or love lost.

What the film explores is attachment. In this case, attachment to one's (lost) love and perhaps a place. On the latter, I think that is incidental as I think the attachment to the place in this film is intertwined with the love the main character has for his wife.

In the film, the main character eschews the hereafter to remain with his beloved. When she eventually moves on, the character remains, seemingly attached to the place he once lived. However, its fairly clear the attachment to the place is merely there because of his desire to know the last message his beloved left behind in their home together. Immediately upon having that question answered, the main character can let go.

Its really an intriguing exploration of attachment and I truly enjoyed the superficial story presented. However, upon giving the film more thought, I find the film's themes unsettling.

First unsettling aspect to the film: the "speech". It occurs about midway and I presume it is put there to clue the audience in on the filmmaker's thoughts embedded into the film.

As I listened to this narcissistic speech, I found myself repeatedly asking "yeah, so, your point?" This man prattles on regarding the insignificance of all that we preoccupy ourselves with during this short carousel ride around the sun we call life. When contemplating the vastness of time and space and the smallness of a human life in that context, he is fixated on the notion of the desire of an individual to have a legacy. In particular, he seems to think this a big motive for great works of art. If not for the glory of god, then this character believes legacy is the point to art and presumably life.

A big turn off to me--seems very narcissistic to spend your time slaving away working on and worrying about what will remain of oneself in the eons that are to come after your death. So this speech is the weakest part of the film and almost made me tune out and disregard the film as a whole.

However, its when I began exploring this line of thought a bit more deeply, that a more awful aspect about the film was revealed. And that is the film's take on the other more commonly believed point to life--love.

The film shows that holding on, even to the things/people we love, can cause one to be trapped or at least suffer greatly. It also shows, through the story of the neighbor ghost, that one can even hold on long after one has forgotten what or who one is holding on to. And perhaps the most bittersweet part of the film, is it shows that letting go is inevitable and how long that takes is up to us.

Okay, that covers the overt thoughts that comprise the movie.

You could leave it there. The letting go theme is heartwarming and seems enlightened I suppose. Entire religions are centered around this notion afterall.

However, reflecting on this film further while writing this review I found another perhaps covert thought in this film that is much more unsettling than the overt messages. I say covert because I am not sure this aspect of the film is intentional.

When the time loop overlaps we learn something else: that his beloved did not share in his deep attachment. With the second ghost appearing in the film when the time loop overlaps, I thought for a moment that his beloved had returned in death to join him. But this is not the case. Her absence from the story says something rather disheartening. Her absence means only one thing--she in death moved on leaving him behind. He was alone in his love and attachment. That is probably the saddest part of the story and makes the entire film a rather grim, nihilistic exercise.