right on

I just went back from watching Nolan's Odyssey movie, and I have so many thoughts. Prepare yourselves, this will be a long review.

I will start by saying how I hate the culture war that this film caused. I think I hate both sides of the conversation. I hate the pathetic anti-SWJs and how they made a huge deal of Nolan casting a few non-white actors and a trans actor to play a cis role, as if POC and queer actors never had played roles in Greek mythology films before. But as a Greek mythology fan, I hate how my own camp reacted to this film, being rabid Homer purists and not even giving this film a chance.

It's Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. It's exactly what it says on the tin. He doesn't even try to be historically accurate. Who knew that brutalism would be an architecture style so popular in the Bronze Age Mediterranean? Odysseus travels in a viking ship for goodness sake. This is a guy who has no experience directing period fantasy pieces, so he designed ancient Greece as a generic "the past" with a few fancy costumes. I can't say I'm a fan of this aesthetic, but the film is so much more than that, and I feel like reducing the whole end product to a couple of weird directorial choices is shallow, intellectually dishonest and anti-art. 

I can say it right. @the-blue-fairie, @thealmightyemprex, I'm speaking specifically to you because I know you read my reviews and you don't like Nolan's style, this film isn't for you. Everything that you dislike about Nolan's directorial style is present in this film. This doesn't make the film bad, though. 

Everything is gray, dark, moody; the film takes itself as seriously as a shipwreck. It doesn't allow a single moment of levity. And it still embraces the fantasy elements.

Contrary to past adaptations, like the Hallmark miniseries or even the Tiktok concept album, it embraces the fantasy elements without embracing the wonder. The magic feels offputting, strange, like a disquieting apparition. 

Polyphemus doesn't speak properly, just proffering a few otherworldly and inhuman ramblings after Odysseus and his crew blind him, asking for Poseidon to curse them.

The Lastrygonians aren't rock-throwing giants , but an army of ruthless giants in full metal armor who don't rest until they kill as many of Odysseus' crew as they could find. 

Circe isn't a beautiful sorceress in a huge temple filled with nymphs, she's almost an old hag living in an old hut who has to manually twist the bodies of Odysseus' crew to turn them into pigs, in moments of visceral body horror. There's no Hermes here.

The ghosts of Odysseus' fallen men don't just haunt him, they try to physically attack him when they journey to Hades. 

There are no Lotus Eaters. Calypso is drugging Odysseus with lotus flowers herself, making him forget almost everything and making him live in a mist of confusion for years. All that to make him forget the horrors he saw.

Telemachus and Penelope share a very tempestuous relationship for a son and mother, with Penelope bitter about being powerless as a woman, constantly arguing with her son, belittling him, while Telemachus is constantly trying to prove he is fully capable of leading Ithaca.

And more, there are no gods here. Only Athena appears, in brief visions Odysseus has, before it's revealed in the end that she's wearing the face of the young priestess that the Greek army killed when they profaned Athena's temple in Troy. It's left ambiguous if she's Athena herself or only a manifestation of Odysseus' guilt for the horrors he took part in. She has tears in her eyes when Odysseus remembers the priestess being killed and Athena's statue beheaded.

Everything is meant to be unpleasant, not fully into horror territory, but extremely upsetting, strange. Maybe other directors could have made it more striking. Nolan has a too down-to-earth style. He films fantasy like he films sci-fi, but the guy is effective at what he wants to portray.

He makes you feel like you are right there inside this world. No matter how anachronistic this Greek world is, it feels like it exists. You won't see any bad CGI or bad special effects. The combination of score, camera angles, and editing choices immerse you completely in this story, as if the adventures and horrors are happening all around you. 

And all this lack of wonder has a point, because the film has a central theme: Hospitality and decay. 

Hospitality in this world is not just courtesy, it's a sacred law that guides this civilization. You should accept and treat well everyone that reaches your residence, be it a noble or a beggar, because they may be a god in disguise. Yet, people are constantly exploiting or breaking the laws of hospitality, the sacred laws of Zeus: From Antinous and the other suitors abusing Penelope's hospitality for years, from Polyphemus eating Odysseus’ crew, from Circe turning them into pigs when they were almost starving, and lastly, when the Greeks offered the Trojan Horse as a gift of peace to Athena before slaughtering the whole city.

This single act of breaking the laws of hospitality is what dooms this entire world. 

This film is set during the Collapse of the Age of Bronze, the period of dark ages between Mycenaean Greece and Classical Greece, a period in which the epic poems were meant as a reminder of all the glory lost in the process. 

This is a world in decay, where everything is dying and collapsing. 

At all times, there are constantly mentions of the Sea People and how they may attack and destroy their kingdoms at any time. The Sea People are an unknown people who are theorized by some historians to be one of the causes for the Bronze Age collapse. It’s one of the threats that makes the suitors’ situation even more urgent. Ithaca needs someone who can protect it from the Sea People. 

And then, almost by the end of the film, it’s revealed: The Sea People are the Greeks who sacked Troy. The memory of what they have done, of how they broke the laws of Zeus spread through the Mediterranean, and that has caused a cascade effect of every rule that governs civilization starting to collapse.

This is the main reason for why Odysseus can’t go back home, he can’t live with what he has done. The whole journey is him dealing with his constant guilt and trying to make things better, but only making them worse as a result. He knows what he has done has consequences, and he’s watching as it spreads to the whole world.

In the end, Odysseus and Penelope exile themselves to a journey into the west, while Telemachus rules Ithaca as king, but even though our main leads are happy, it’s evidently clear that as a whole, this world, all kingdoms visited are doomed. Everything will collapse and the songs about their feats and mistakes will be the only things remembered.

The Trojan War is depicted as both this world's Götterdämmerung, the Twilight of the Gods, and its Original Sin, the primordial crime from which every subsequent horror symbolically descends. 

This film has a happy ending, but it doesn’t end on a hopeful note. The final shot of the film is the Trojan Horse ablaze, symbolizing the violation of the laws of hospitality and how that symbolizes the decay that will destroy everything. 

We are living in times of economic recessions, environmental catastrophes, and liberal democracies in decay. Despite all the dubious choices Nolan made, the text is incredibly rich. Maybe this is the story for our times. 

time travel fixes all ills

synapse by floormusic (E | 5403 | Shane/Shane/Ilya)

“You didn’t even kiss me last night,” Shane can’t help himself from saying in this consequenceless place. “You fucking asshole.”

“So sorry,” Rozanov says against his mouth, taking the hand braced on the small of his back off to pull at older Shane, and now they’re both shoulder to shoulder on top of him. “Very sorry, Shane. Let me make it up to you now.”

//

Shane leaves Ilya's penthouse suite in Vegas, 2014 heavy hearted and unkissed.

He wakes up in 2022.

cut to the feeling by Charlotte_Stant (M | 12056 | Shane/Ilya)

It had been a very weird day, but Shane wasn’t going to jerk off about it a second time.

circle back season by anonymous (T | 9618 | Shane/Ilya)

“Oh my god,” the intruder says, voice coming faster and higher-pitched. “Shane, what the fuck? Oh my god.” “Eeleeyah, come to my cottage,” Ilya mocks, voice muffled by Shane’s skin. “Don’t go to Russia. Come to my house instead. Is so private. No one will know…we will be completely alone. Together.” “Oh my god, is that Ilya Rozanov?” the intruder yelps like he's about to start hyperventilating. “Why is Ilya Rozanov half-naked in our kitchen, Shane?” “Okay, I know how this looks,” Shane tells Ilya, “But I mean, technically, we are still alone. Together.” or, At the cottage, Shane and Ilya meet eighteen year old Shane Hollander. This is really only a surprise for one of them. Everyone handles it as well as can be expected.

on communication

how do you feel? by exogenesissymph (T | 10787 | Shane-centric)

No one is going to win a Pulitzer interviewing him, and Shane is okay with that. He spends most interviews rephrasing the same five sentiments--I’m happy we won or We need to work harder after that loss.

They are a good team; the win was hard fought or They are a good team; there is a lot for us to take away.

And finally: I love playing on this team, for our fans.

Then Ilya Rozanov bursts into his life, and answering questions becomes a little more complicated.

or: Shane Hollander, interviewee, throughout the years.

Il y a (There Is) by lark_ral (G | 3819 | Shane & the French language)

Then. After the face off, after he's hit from behind, sliding across the ice, an explosion of pain and confusion. Once everything goes dark and confused, he's there, too. Il y a Ilya, il y a aucunne secondes. Il n'y a pas jamais qu'Ilya. There's talking, and he's being moved, strapped down, lifted, jostled carefully, rolled. "He's gonna worry," dribbles out of his mouth. "Your coach called your dad," one of the medics says calmly. "Not him," Shane feels slide through his teeth. "Ilya."

// In which Shane Hollander is personally victimized by the French language.

leaving montreal

Heel Turn by DistantStorm (T | 5771 | Shane/Ilya)

“If we are burning jerseys,” Ilya begins, eyeing the massive blank space on Shane's side of the room where his Montreal sweaters used to live, “I would have gone to the store for marshmallows.” “Burning polyester smells like shit,” Shane replies, scrunching his nose. OR: The one where Ilya is attracted to Shane an absolutely normal amount, the Centaurs go 1-1 in their first two games against the Metros, and Shane reckons with Montreal as a concept.

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right by errantgods (Not Rated | 10605 | Shane/Ilya, Scott/Kip)

At the penalty box, Shane grinds his jaw so hard his ear starts hurting. Then he remembers that ESPN caught one of his players using a homophobic slur in front of the most famous gay player in the league, flaunting Shane's authority as team captain in the process. His ears are ringing and he feels like a zoo animal, but he catches Scott Hunter’s eye for long enough to say, “I’m sorry,” then averts his eyes. When Hunter says nothing, Shane looks back up long enough to see the guy bracing himself to say something pitying, and Shane would rather die, so he cracks a joke first. “So what d’you think? Most dramatic way to come out in the NHL? Or do you still have me beat?” Hunter snorts so hard he almost overbalances, then looks at Shane like he’s lost his fucking mind. “I think we don’t need to talk.”

the sex is the character study

with equal and opposite force by anonymous (E | 5111 | Shane/Ilya)

Rozanov's physical presence was Shane's own personal aphrodisiac; if he could organise every waking minute of his day according to his preferences, half of it would on the ice and the other half in bed. They wouldn't even have to fuck. Well. They would a hundred percent fuck, some of that time. But the rest of it, Shane could just sit in Rozanov's lap, keeping his dick warm, just a nice soothing fullness while they napped and talked and answered emails or something. He'd even let Rozanov smoke, if he really had to.

"Aw, is this compromise?" Rozanov crooned when Shane was panting out this plan in little incoherent gasps, face down in the pillows. "So sweet. Did not know you could do that."

virtue theory by gone_girl (E | 11262 | Shane/Ilya)

When Shane thought back on his life, he could not identify a serious misstep. Nothing should be wrong with him. He'd done everything exactly how he was supposed to.

get good by whatimages (E | 4975 | Shane/Ilya)

Ankle sprain at fifteen, broken ribs and another lost tooth at sixteen. At seventeen, a hairline clavicle fracture that almost cost him his spot at Juniors. Shane's a good patient. Quiet, says please and thank you to the nurses, always does his physio. Never, ever complains. And then he gets his first concussion.

slow show by hockeyfinches (E | 8737 | Shane/Ilya)

“If you don’t come here, I will come to you.” “Rozanov.” “I will drive,” Ilya tells him without sympathy. “Park illegally in my big muscle car. Everyone will notice. Lots of photos, probably.” Shane rubs his forehead. He gets to his feet and glances at his bag, still packed, on the hotel dresser. “I hate your car,” he says, at last. “Yes, I know,” Ilya says. It sounds like he’s smiling.

hold a cut inside by dinosaur (E | 8.8k in 2/6 chs | Shane/Ilya)