#filmblr

It’s the first film I’ve ever watched in IMAX and damn it was a big screen. It gets used to great effect though- there are so many beautiful shots, especially basically every scene that’s set on the water (there’s this one recurring visual of a setting sun that is so pretty).

Also the audio is actually crazy- you can genuinely feel the volume which is cool as hell (as with the thundering storms, especially coupled with the blinding lightning flashes) and also genuinely scary at points (actually feeling the pained inhuman wails of Polyphemus after he’s blinded was decidedly uncomfortable).

There’s so many things I could talk about that I genuinely don’t know where to start. All of the actors are really good in their roles, I get why literally everyone in Hollywood wanted a piece of the pie. Obviously nothing needs to be said about Matt Damon or Anne Hathaway because like we already knew they’d be great. Tom Holland is very endearing as Telemachus, and it’s really fun to see Robert Pattinson play someone as slimy as Antinous. A surprising standout for me was Jon Bernthal because to be frank I was not expecting much from him but he was really quite good as Menelaus. Lupita Nyong’o is also great as Helen of Troy- I really love the edge she gives the character (also unrelated but making Helen and Clymenestra identical twins played by the same actress is so funny considering only one of them is the most beautiful woman in the world, though actually that is probably a commentary on how needless the Trojan War actually was, which does seem to be a key theme. I was also delighted to see John Leguizamo as Eumaeus (though I couldn’t help but see Tybalt underneath that make-up). Elliot Page was also great as Sinon, genuinely such a good job showing his frustration at Odysseus.

The costume design is also really good. I do get why some people may have been frustrated at them not being accurate armour (especially considering Bronze Age armour is so rarely depicted accurately) but the costumes do look very cool most of the time. Special shout out to Telemachus’s new fit after coming back from Sparta (it was tough as hell) and Odysseus’s beggar disguise at the end because of the generational aura farming he was pulling off (I am a sucker for designs where the characters face is obscured by a hood). The Trojan soldiers also looked so damn clean with the full white armour, and I did actually really like the way the Laestrygonians looked and moved in that big bulky metal armour.

The only outfit I had issues with was Agamemnon because it just looked too big on him 😭. That whole outfit felt like they were trying too hard. There was one exception to this though: as the gates of Troy open on that moonless night, and we see Agamemnon standing there in front if his armies, posed tf up, I did see the vision. Batman levels of aura farming I simply could not criticise. Shame he looked silly in the day (again, personal opinion).

I did really love how they depicted all the obstacles that Odysseus faced on his journey. Polyphemus has such a cool design, I love how the rest of his face is distorted to make that single eye look more fitting on his face. His sequence is shot like a horror movie and it works so well, especially that first reveal as this giant looms out of the darkness. I do get why they didn’t have him speaking at first (so they can have this surprise as he cries out to Poseidon after his blinding), but at the same time it does mean we don’t get that delightful little “Nobody” exchange that really highlights Odysseus as a tricksy guy.

Circe is probably responsible for one of my favourite sequences with her transformations of Odysseus’s men into pigs. It’s actually such a visceral scene. The way the men just cannot stop eating is so so uncomfortable, the way they just keep forcing it into their mouths and it doesn’t seem to end (I’ve got to know how they shot it). To have Circe actively moulding the men into pigs like clay was such a cool choice and the squelching and cracking sounds as she rearranges flesh and bone are just awful (positive). It’s so damn long and drawn out and it just works so well at inspiring horror.

The sequence in Hades is also really fun, like obviously I’m going to love ghostly Greek soldiers on a dark misty beach. I love how bedraggled and unkempt they look, like they’ve been dragged out of the grave after their violent deaths. The design for Tiresias with his top half emerging from the ground, covered in that cloak that spreads over and blends into the dirt, such a good idea for a shade being called from the underworld.

I did love when they reached Thrinacia and the cattle they have been expressly forbidden from eaten literally pull up to the coast like a Bronze Age all you can eat buffet 😭. The escape from Thrinacia is also one of the standout sequences of the film, it just feels so overwhelming. The dark stormy ocean suddenly illuminated by flashes of lightning, the overwhelming rain smothering the men, the loud peaks of thunder that reverberate around the stadium, and the knowledge that you’re watching the end of Odysseus’s men all come together so beautifully.

I do think my favourite sequence overall is the Sacking of Troy. The tensions as the horse is dragged into the city and as the men quietly escape, and then as they race to open the gates before the men of Troy can stop them, all culminating in a phenomenal action sequence as the city falls. It’s well-choreographed, violent, and feels appropriately action-packed. I do enjoy that Odysseus wrestles with his guilt after the fact, and it’s not just hype for the Greeks (which is probably more accurate lmao)

Also, I’d love to hear your interpretation of Zendaya’s Athena appearing to be killed during the Fall of Troy: do you think Athena throughout the movie was being represented by the face of a real woman that was murdered in her temple as Odysseus watch, or was that apparent murder not real but instead a representation of the Greek’s disrespect as they beheaded a statue of the goddess?

I do love the Sea People being this looming threat, mostly because I just think the Sea People are cool lmao. But also, I do think it was really cool that Odysseus recognises that he is essentially no different to these Sea People- he too is a man who comes from the sea with apparently no respect for the rules of civilisation, and he is forced to recognise that fact.

I do think the finale is also really well done- an appropriately dramatic reveal for Odysseus (also, Argos barely managing to wag his tail upon seeing his master for the first (and last) time in two decades 😭). Appropriately action-packed, and I love that Eumaeus got to be involved. I do think that Telemachus felt kind of wasted- it was a bit odd seeing as he had this arc of growing up becoming the king Ithaca needed only for his final act to be fighting a slave (not to diminish Melanthius). I get he couldn’t really be involved in the main fight due to the risk of exile, and also it reflecting the lesson he learned in the beginning about holding back and attacking when needed, but still. I can’t complain though, it was a good finale and the reunion between Odysseus and Penelope was worth waiting for. Nice to see Telemachus crowned too.

1940s

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) dir. Maya Deren (co director Alexander Hackenschmied)

1960s

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Agnès Varda

The House is Black (1962) dir. Forugh Farrokhzad

Le Bonheur (1965) dir. Agnès Varda

Daisies (1966) dir. Vera Chytilová

1970s

Wanda (1970) dir. Barbara Loden

Out 1 (1971) dir. Suzanne Schiffman (co director Jacques Rivette)

Sambizanga (1972) dir. Sarah Maldoror

Je, tu, il, elle (1974) dir. Chantal Akerman

India Song (1975) dir. Marguerite Duras

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman

The Ascent (1976) dir. Larisa Shepitko

Harlan County, USA (1976) dir. Barbara Kopple

News from Home (1976) dir. Chantal Akerman

One Sings, The Other Doesn't (1977) dir. Agnès Varda

One Way or Another (1977) dir. Sara Gómez

1980s

Born in Flames (1983) dir. Lizzie Borden

Vagabond (1985) dir. Agnès Varda

1990s

Paris is Burning (1990) dir. Jennie Livingston

Daughters of the Dust (1991) dir. Julie Dash

Point Break (1991) dir. Kathryn Bigelow

Orlando (1992) dir. Sally Potter

The Piano (1993) dir. Jane Campion

The Watermelon Woman (1997) dir. Cheryl Dunye

Beau travail (1998) dir. Claire Denis

The Matrix (1999) dir. Lana and Lilly Wachowski

2000s

American Psycho (2000) dir. Mary Harron

The Gleaners and I (2000) dir. Agnès Varda

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) dir. Ágnes Hranitzky (co director Béla Tarr)

La cíenaga (2001) dir. Lucrecia Martel

Morvern Callar (2001) dir. Lynne Ramsay

City of God (2002) dir. Kátia Lund (co director Fernando Mereilles)

Lost in Translation (2003) dir. Sophia Coppola

The Intruder (2004) dir. Claire Denis

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) dir. Valerie Faris (co director Jonathan Dayton)

Persepolis (2007) dir. Marjane Satrapi (co director Vincent Paronnaud)

The Headless Woman (2008) dir. Lucrecia Martel

The Hurt Locker (2008) dir. Kathryn Bigelow

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Loveleen Tandan (co director Danny Boyle)

2010s

The Turin Horse (2011) dir. Ágnes Hranitzky (co director Béla Tarr)

The Babadook (2014) dir. Jennifer Kent

The Second Mother (2015) dir. Anna Muylaert

Mustang (2015) dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016) dir. Naoko Yamada

Lady Bird (2017) dir. Greta Gerwig

Zama (2017) dir. Lucrecia Martel

Capernaum (2018) dir. Nadine Labaki

Little Women (2019) dir. Greta Gerwig

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir Céline Sciamma

2020s

Nomadland (2020) dir. Chloé Zhao

Quo Vadis, Alda? (2020) dir. Jasmila Zbanic

CODA (2021) dir. Sian Heder

Petite Maman (2021) dir. Céline Sciamma

Aftersun (2022) dir. Charlotte Wells

Barbie (2023) dir. Greta Gerwig

Past Lives (2023) dir. Celine Song

There's Still Tomorrow (2023) dir. Paola Cortellesi

Hamnet (2025) dir Chloé Zhao