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Wind River (2017)

Rating: 9/10

I am not American nor have I ever lived in any part of America at any given time, but the message in this movie was loud and clear.

It's hard to review this in the same way that I review other movies as this deals with a very serious issue that is actually taking place in the present-day, real world. Sure, a person who hasn't seen the movie might roll their eyes at the fact that a movie that's supposed to be about Native Americans has white actors playing its two main leads, but to me, they weren't the true 'heroes' of the story.

If anything, it adds a certain emphasis that this entire movie is a mere glimpse into the horrors of such injustice despite the gravity of the story already being told in it. It shows that this is a story that is specifically being told to the ones who are unaware or blind to this reality--Elizabeth Olsen's character--and is telling/showing such people that there's really no excuse to just stand around and watch or continue pretending it's not true after they do find out about it--Jeremy Renner's character.

#wind river #film #review #2017

[frankintessence]

Recommended Reddit “r/nosleep” Reads

Series:

- Penpal

- I'm a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service

- Mold Series

- Borrasca

- I was a part of Queen's Guard in England (Two-shot)

One-shots:

- Fran and Jock

- Room 733

- The Price of Sugar

- Notes to the girl whose house I live in

- Fuck Lemons

- The Little Melting Girl

- The Deepest Part of the Ocean is Not Empty

- A Shattered Life

#recommendations #reddit #list #nosleep #r/nosleep

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#instagram montage #food #fish #travel #canada #barcelona #nice #france #hong kong

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@frankintessence

#instagram montage #barcelona #nice #canada #red panda #lobster roll #hong kong #travel #food

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Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Rating: 8/10

Unsettling yet mesmerizingly subtle in its approach, Martha Marcy May Marlene manages to tell its story in a way that can trigger one’s flight response without being overt about it.

It has a fantastic cast and Elizabeth Olsen is especially spectacular as its central character. She manages to showcase her vulnerability and susceptibility without appearing weak-willed, cowardly or even gullible about it. It hits you with the dreadful thought how an innocent young adult such as Martha could be so alarmingly misled and misguided by such wolves in disguise. 

While the movie will leave you thinking, it also accomplishes in not leaving you with too many questions. It handles its material steadily with a chronological order to its flashbacks as well as its present-day events, intertwining the two contrasting timelines in an almost dream-like balance. In spite of the open ending, the unseen outcome is something you can guess at with the help of all those foreshadowing elements planted throughout the story.

Additional Thoughts and Theories: ((Spoiler Alert)) If you’ve heard about this movie, chances are that you already know it’s about a girl who had just escaped a cult and who tries to live a normal life with her sister and her sister’s husband. What isn’t said, however, is that Martha never lets it be known that she had been part of a cult in all those years that she was missing. It was never even explicitly referred to as a ‘cult’, and yet it was pretty much presented as a no-brainer that it was indeed a cult–like how it’s often described in most descriptions written about the movie. 

As for theories, the ‘truth’ behind Martha’s escape as well as her intentions at the very end depends on whether you’d take an optimistic or cynical approach towards Martha’s character after all that you’ve seen. 

If you’re optimistic about Martha still having a conscience even through all the brainwashing she’d been subjected to at the hands of the cult, you’d be inclined to think that her escape was genuine and that it was only due to the lingering trauma that she was scared speechless and thus was unable to to warn her sister and her sister’s husband about the cult member following them. 

If you think Martha’s already too far gone in her loyalty to Patrick, you would think that her entire escape and reunion with her sister was planned so that she could prove her loyalty by offering up her sister’s luxurious home and doing some recon that only she could do–which falls in line with the cult’s robberies that Martha also took part in. Perhaps she develops a bit of guilt over what she’s about to put her sister and her husband through which results in bouts of paranoia, but ultimately stays silent when the other cult members make their move by the end of the movie.

#martha marcy may marlene #movie review #review #frankintessence #movies

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A Cure For Wellness (2016)

Rating: 7/10

It’s as mysterious and psychological as it appeared in the trailer, but disturbingly darker than I ever expected it to be. I somewhat predicted the ending with a sense of dread on my part and to see it come to fruition was perhaps nearly as nauseating as that of…well, being forcefully fed live eels.

It does its job in making you question what is real and successfully keeps you on your toes by slowly yet surely building up nerve-wracking suspense and paranoia that inevitably leads you to certain shocking revelations. 

Dane Dehaan and Jason Isaacs shine in their opposing roles as Lockhart and Volmer, and the combined visuals of the Swiss Alps as well as the mental/metaphorical imagery are wonderfully incorporated into the movie. It’s quite reminiscent of ‘Shutter Island’ in the way that it toys with your mind and makes you keep your eyes peeled in trying to find hidden clues that may hopefully help in unraveling the mystery that surrounds this asylum-like wellness center.

Additional Thoughts and Theories: ((Spoiler Alert)) I thought the movie was pretty self-explanatory, though there are people online who have come up with more and more theories to further explain it. Some people have even said that the maniacal grin Lockhart sported at the very end was due to the eels–which he was forcefully fed with–taking control of him somehow.

Personally, I just took it for what it was: Lockhart finally 'lost his mind’ after finding the resolve and mindset to defy his bosses and to turn away from the harsh reality of the 'real world’–appearing indeed as though he had been cured of 'wellness’. I didn’t think it needed to be looked into further than that.

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Personal Shopper (2016)

Rating: 9/10

This movie may not seem like much at first glance but it unexpectedly managed to pull me in and somehow leave me pondering over its unanswered questions. It is eerie, mysterious, poignant, and leaves me thinking yet also leaves me at a loss.

One thing to take away from the movie is that it is unapologetically open to interpretation however one sees fit and that it was purposely left ambiguous in a way that leaves one in awe yet haunted. The film is filled with unexpected turns and misdirection that keeps you guessing even after the credits have finished rolling. It was, however, a mistake on my part to try and look up other people’s explanations online about the things that have eluded me in the movie. In the end, such discussions only kept me up at night in trying to understand the ‘meaning’ of the movie. Or at the very least, the kind of meaning that would resonate with me the most.

Additional Thoughts and Theories: ((Spoiler Alert)) I am unable to decide for certain as to what happened in the time gap between that of Maureen putting the paper bags with jewellery inside the hotel room and that of Ingo suddenly leaving the hotel room. 

People say that Maureen was murdered by Ingo at that moment, but I like to think that’s a bit too obvious and clichéd. Given how the movie likes to mislead us and make us think it’s one thing but that it’s actually something else entirely, I’m inclined to think that Maureen had managed to make it out in time before Ingo got there. After all, Maureen was seen talking to Lewis’ former GF Lara later at night about Ingo getting arrested. Before I saw that scene between Maureen and Lara, I too thought that Maureen had been murdered and that the movie would end after Ingo got arrested–only to see Maureen alive(?) and well afterwards.

Of course, there’s also the chance that the scenes of her talking to other people afterwards could be a manifestation of Maureen’s own delusions in the hypothetical scenario in which she ended up becoming a lingering ghost herself after getting murdered by Ingo.

As for the questions and knocks at the ending, I think it was all about Maureen continuously trying to find a connection with Lewis in the afterlife despite already getting such signs–as shown in the way that she continues to ask the ghost a series of questions even after she got an affirmative knock when asking if the ghost was at peace.

At the core of it, I believe she was never actually reconciled with the fact that Lewis was gone and that she was still trying to hold onto him by making him respond to her, which thus results in the ghost later answering her that it was ‘not at peace’ and then letting her know that it was only her there now–possibly in the context that her brother was no longer there with her anymore and thus leaving her all alone–which seems to devastate her. 

Following that thread of thought, one could also be led to believe that Lewis’ ghost might’ve saved Maureen somehow from encountering Ingo at the hotel and yet it wasn’t shown onscreen nor was it properly explained–which could also be another way of showing Maureen subconsciously refusing to acknowledge Lewis’ actual presence in spite of the claim that she was actively searching for signs from him. 

This is emphasized once again in the scene in which Maureen talks with Erwin (Lewis’ former friend who is now Lara’s new BF), where Erwin says that he senses Lewis’ presence but Maureen shrugs it off by saying that it might be his guilt talking. In the following scene, it is more obviously hinted at when Lewis’(?) ghost drops a glass behind her and yet Maureen doesn’t think much of it.

Of course, this is only my interpretation of the movie and there is undeniably lots of ways in which one could interpret it. 

#personal shopper #film #review #movie #2016 #kristen stewart #theories