femme fangirl filleretive

Someone please explain to me like I’m five why One Battle After Another is a good film? Because I kept an open mind for a solid 60 minutes of my life, hoping that it would become a self-aware parody of Tarantino and Scorsese, but all I am seeing is a deeply philosophically and emotionally conservative film that tries to be deep in the Dunning-Kruger effect way Crash sought to be deep, i.e., while retaining the white male casually misogynist gaze as the priority lens. I am trying so hard to see something redeeming in this but I’m not seeing any value.

this is gonna sound so fucking pretentious

Gosh, I forgot until just now how much I genuinely enjoy close reading for fun. I just rewatched Maurice in celebration of E. M. Forster's birthday, and I've stretched it out to over four hours watching it slowly and taking notes. The sheer joy and pleasure I get from paying close attention to motifs and themes and symbolism is really delightful. I have enough notes that I could sit down and write 5+ separate essays about this film if I needed to. The themes of class (and love as an equalizer), Englishness (and geography), society (and existence outside of society), education (or ignorance), dirtiness... the question of embodiment and deeds versus words and thoughts... the whole theme of existing entirely in the subconscious, liminal, or unspoken... contrasting "decency"/Christian doctrine with humanist philosophy... the recurring "are you all right" motif... the casual misogyny of male society... the rain symbolism... the piano being such a different prop in Maurice's first meetings with Clive and Alec... the way Maurice appeals to teachers and doctors as replacement paternal figures...