#feed 2017

Most underrated films in my opinion

~ Feed (2017)

~ Stoker (2013)

~ The dreamers (2003)

~ Qala (2022)

Spoilers are ahead. This movie deals with eating disorders (ED) so this movie and post may contain possible triggers. Please look at the trailer before you decide whether you'd like to watch it too.

Last night, I finally got around to watching the movie Feed with Troian Bellisario and Tom Felton. At first I was kinda worried I'd only see them as Spencer and Draco. I worried for nothing because that did not happen! From the first moment, the story drew me in and kept me enraptured from start to finish. A few points:

- Tom Felton as Matt was flipping scary at times. Maybe because I'm so accustomed now to seeing him as a happy-go-lucky and sweet type of fellow like Matt was in the beginning. When he became her ED voice, he progressed from her sweet twin brother Matt who she always depended on to something almost like a controlling and abusive boyfriend

- I was incredibly impressed by how well the movie flowed in terms of storyline and the story itself was enrapturing. It's such a different way of presenting EDs compared to what I've seen stereotypically presented in the past. Especially how Olivia had no idea of how she was restricting - to her, she was giving that to her 'brother'

- I'm a little confused on one scene - the part where Casey/KC (Matt's sort of girlfriend in the beginning) confronted Olivia in the changing room. Did that really happen? Was it a manifestation like Matt? I thought it was because Julian called her later and said that KC/Casey had been home sick sleeping all day. However, later in the movie, when Olivia tried to talk to her, she gave her a hard stare and ran away.

- The scenes with her parents, especially her dad, really hit me hard. Even when she was at her worst, they didn't even notice what was going on with her. Her dad was so accustomed to overlooking anything to do with his daughter unless it was to do with her academics (or, for him, his bragging right). When he called her a "beanpole just like (he) was in college", I wanted to hit him. And the way he treated her mother! I felt so bad for her. She was the only one of the two who ever really showed concern for their daughter. But I think she herself was struggling in her relationship (which, to me, was at least verbally abusive) and her grief to notice what was happening.

- The hospital scenes were incredibly eye-opening for me as the audience to see how everyone else had been perceiving Olivia. The entire story until that point had only been told through her eyes. "She's underweight"-"She's never wanted to look like a model in a magazine" - I'm paraphrasing what was being said when she was first admitted to the hospital and like I said earlier, it goes to show how much EDs are stereotyped more as a result of body dysmorphia than other potential triggers like, in Olivia's case, the death of her twin and the need for control and stability. The tube feeding scene was brutal and as someone who is in that field, it's forcing me to re-evaluate how I would do in such a scene as a medical professional.

- I really liked the ending of the movie. To me, it showed that Olivia was only beginning her journey to getting better. The hint that "Matt" would always be lurking in the background was daunting and still scary as hell but she was able to take deep breaths and re-center herself and then "he" disappeared. I don't know, something about that was very real to me. A lot of people think treatment = problems disappear forever but I think it's valuable to know that that's not always the case, especially when it's something like a mental health disorder.