Maddy

maybe yours doesn't involve a best friend. maybe it's an ex-partner, a childhood friend, a family member or simply someone who drifted away so quietly that you didn't even notice it was happening until it was already over.

what makes it even harder to accept the loss of a friendship or relationship is the pressure society puts on "forever friendships" and "forever love". we see it in movies, the typical childhood sweethearts to lovers trope never fails to make hearts melt in theatres but is it really realistic? for some yes but that's only a small portion of people around the globe. for most of us the realistic answer is no.

the same goes for tv, shows like 'friends' are marketing these "forever friendships". friends that stick with you through every version of your life consistently and support you no matter what. and while the thought of that is nice, unfortunately that's not always the case.

i learned in my twenty years of living that people can out grow eachother and that's alright. yes, some may stick around for longer but i also had struggles to accomodate my friendship with my childhood friend.

personally, i think what saved our relationship was that she moved to another city. not one that is particularly far away from mine. it gave us the opportunity to not only have physical space between us but also learn to give eachother space when needed.

we still chat, we still call, we still hang out but it has gotten less and that's alright because we're both busy living our own lives. which makes coming back together even more special. that way we're able to talk about what happened since the last time we've seen eachother and be ourselves more freely around the other.

the ugly stepsister ★★★★★

i watched this one in theaters and immediately knew it would become one of my favorites.

what i loved most wasn't just the story itself but the perspective. we've all heard cinderella's version of events a hundred times before, but seeing the story through the eyes of one of the stepsisters felt fresh and surprisingly emotional.

the film also explores beauty standards in a way that made me think about fairy tales differently. underneath all the absurdity, dark humor and genuinely disturbing moments, there's a message about how much people are willing to change themselves in order to be loved.

i also have a soft spot for european cinema. i feel like european filmmakers are often willing to take risks that hollywood wouldn't even consider. this movie is weird, uncomfortable, creative and completely unforgettable—which is exactly why i love it.

priscilla ★★★★½

this film completely won me over through its visuals.

the pastel colors, the costumes, the makeup, the dreamy atmosphere—everything felt so carefully crafted that i could've paused almost any frame and used it as a pinterest photo.

but beyond the aesthetics, i really enjoyed seeing the story from priscilla's perspective. the film captures her innocence while also showing her gradual growth into her own person.

i went into this movie expecting to enjoy the fashion and the production design. i left appreciating the performances just as much.

together ★★★★★

this is one of those movies where the less you know going in, the better.

all i'll say is that it's weird. incredibly weird.

and that's exactly why i loved it.

i've always been drawn to films that aren't afraid to embrace their own strange ideas, and this one fully commits to its premise. beneath all the body horror and uncomfortable moments, i found myself thinking a lot about relationships and how much of ourselves we give to the people we love.

it's bizarre, unsettling and surprisingly emotional all at the same time.

companion ★★★★★

this movie had one of my favorite plot twists in recent memory.

what starts out feeling almost sweet quickly becomes something much darker, bloodier and far more interesting than i expected.

i loved the contrast between the soft pink aesthetic and the absolute chaos unfolding underneath it. the concept itself felt incredibly creative and once the story revealed what was actually happening, i was completely hooked.

the horror, the comedy, the gore, the visuals. it all worked for me.

back when i was a kid, i used to dress however i wanted. one day i was going to kindergarten or primary school dressed like a princess and the next i was dressed like a tomboy. and guess what? nobody cared.

somewhere along the way, dressing for fun became dressing to fit into an aesthetic.

at some point, self-expression stopped being enough. now you're expected to be consistent. it's no longer enough to like a style. you're expected to build an entire identity around it.

and with that comes the overconsumption.

when did we as a society start buying into the idea that being a "clean girl" means more than just liking a certain style? because apparently it isn't enough to dress that way anymore. no, you also need the clean girl skincare products, the clean girl makeup products, the clean girl hair products, the clean girl stationery, the clean girl apartment, the clean girl morning routine, and probably a clean girl water bottle while you're at it.

but it's not just the clean girl aesthetic. the same thing happens with the cool girl aesthetic, the y2k aesthetic, coquette, balletcore, cottagecore and whatever other micro-trend the internet comes up with next.

i use the clean girl aesthetic as an example because it feels like one of the most prominent aesthetics right now and because i've seen how limiting it can become for people.

i've seen countless videos online (mostly on tiktok) from young girls talking about how they don't feel very "clean girl-ish" because of their tattoos or how they can't fully embrace the aesthetic because of certain features they have.

and honestly? that makes me want to reach through the screen and shake those girlies awake while yelling:

"YOU CAN WEAR WHATEVER YOU WANT!!"

just because some random person on the internet decided that tattoos don't fit a certain aesthetic doesn't mean you have to listen.

if the clean girl aesthetic genuinely resonates with you, then F*CKING EMBRACE IT! who cares about your tattoos? if they look sick, they're still going to look sick while you're rocking a slick-back bun and gold hoops.

the same goes for every other aesthetic.

you don't need permission to wear something.

you don't need to perfectly fit into a label.

you don't need to buy an entirely new lifestyle just because you like a particular style.

and most importantly, you don't need to choose one version of yourself and stick to it forever.

maybe the problem isn't aesthetics themselves. maybe the problem is that we've forgotten they're supposed to inspire us, not define us.

you can be goth one day and a clean girl the next.

you can love coquette fashion and listen to metal.

you can dress differently every week.

you can go through phases.

you can change your mind.

your personality is allowed to be inconsistent because real people are inconsistent.