Cache Jill Capuyan

I wanna touch on what this film is really about. I appreciate Zoe for making a movie about sex crimes & the abuse of power. Think Jeffrey Epstein. But with this information, what do we do about it? *Not make a movie that pits people against each other because of their gender, race and economic status - men vs women, rich vs poor, white vs colored. Why do people buy into this? It's how we Americans are taught to make sense of the world I guess. It's a feminist film but, as a woman, I didn't feel empowered. I didn't even feel love or support between the women in this film. How were the women portrayed in the film? Well… [SPOILER & SASS BELOW] The women blindly drop everything and hop on a private plane to a rich guy’s island, hedonism proceeds, Sarah was jealous Freda was getting attention from handsome Channing Tatum, Freda didn't respect her best friend's wishes to go home after getting bit by a snake and expressing her very correct intuition that all is not well in paradise, they keep taking drugs and running around and laughing…Oh no! We’re more than halfway into the movie and things are still not going anywhere! Let’s make the girls now like each other and team-up by drinking snake poison and gang up on the boys. Ok now we’re really running out of time, let’s blow everything up in the end ! And cut to: everything's good now. The man villain’s power transfers to the woman hero - and ...and then what? Well, the she goes on to use that power and abuse it - just like the villain. But guys! She’s a woman! Be proud! It makes it even harder for me to agree to disagree with the movie when it ends with the victims taking back power and returning abuse to the perpetrators. Such empowerment. So what's the message of the movie? To promote the cycle of abuse? I don't get what Zoe wanted to leave the audience with. Imagine suggesting to a victim of sa to marry their abuser and abuse them too to gain justice. The amount of healing, reconciliation and hope for the future generation that will bring ! Why do we excuse this kind of nonsensical and debased filmmaking and call it art? Who would wanna live in a world with people who operate this way? There would be no hope my friends. So the best I can take away from this film is to go home and learn. Research and educate myself on these not so secret things of society and know not to go around spreading the message of "return evil with evil." I think us human beings are so much better than that. I think victims of abuse deserve better than that.

Masterful acting and very stylistic film. Was the story great and was there any substance to it? Meh. Mia Goth brings something so organic to her characters, seemingly naïve but it's not all the way believable because her actions don't match her innocent look. That ending is haunting and it lingers on long after the movie ends. It's powerful for those who relate to that pain. I love when filmmakers are able to translate these indescribable feelings we sometimes have and portray those same emotions in characters and we find ourselves in them. The visuals (camera shots & angles, costumes, that "vintage look") & the editing (color & cut) were a pleasure. The setting looked cookie- cutter perfect. A clever guise to this twisted story. This is the first movie I've watched from Ti West and I look forward to watching more of his work... for educational purposes :D

Wow, this is inspiring filmmaking. Darren Aronofsky (director) & Samuel D. Hunter (writer) present us with real issues, real relationships, real dialogue, real questions (about raising a troubled child, imminent death, opposing views on Christianity, gluttony/addiction and the shame that comes with it etc.). The film is honest, sincere, painful, confusing, complicated yet loving and hopeful. I came in for Brendan Fraser and stayed for the story. I was moved from the start. Here's Charlie- he's trapped, sad, sick and lonely. Who hasn't felt this way? Yes, he's dying from morbid obesity but underneath his physical deterioration is a soul starving of unconditional love. Like you, like me. Those character traits were expressed very well visually through the acting and direction. We're all human and want real love more than anything in life. I think this type of thinking was shown when Charlie, at his breaking point, asked his students to write something real for once to reveal to them that, "Just cause I look like a whale, I'm really not that different from you. You're hurting on the inside too, just like me." Maybe this attitude in life can make a world of a difference in finding real unity despite our differences. I love the discussions that can come out from this movie. This is one of those movies I would watch over and over again, for different reasons each time :)

**After some time and more thought, I'd like to warn you that some scenes in the movie may cause anyone sensitive to sexual content or struggling with lust to stumble. For me, I chose to look away.... This is the main reason I deducted 1 start from my original 4 stars. Original review: This is not a movie you take the youth group to see by any means...but I would still consider this a faith film and would recommend it to adults. Even as a believer, I'm not one to usually get excited about Christian movies because I cringe at the usual clean-cut, fakeness of it all. I think the portrayal of the human condition often gets a good scrub-down and the turn around for the better is often displayed as a quick miracle. While I believe in next-day miracles, God most of the time performs His miracle of sanctification (making us like Him) after countless mistakes and second chances, years of prodigal betrayal, attempts at running away and intentional sin. Isn't Christianity all about God being the covenant keeper, the faithful One throughout all the unfaithfulness of His children? Enter- Redeeming Love. Despite obscene scenes, I appreciated that sin was at display at it's uncovered form: degrading and destructive. We all can relate to that one sin (or two or three) that we think is holding us back from surrending all that we are to God. When we think we've sinned too bad and too much, we find it hard to even love ourselves let alone still believe in the purest form of love. I saw the main male lead's purpose to show that kind of unbelievable, constant, yet true, love of God- requiring faith and wrestling with our demons to finally, actually believe it. And the main female lead's purpose to show us in her. I think this is the most I've ever cried in a film because it worked. I saw my sin and I saw God's faithful love: still here, still available, not cringing at my sin but drawing close to it with the intention of healing. I loved this movie, its message certainly has blessed me.

Really, it's a 3.5 out of 5: It's frustrating because I liked the film, but they missed such a big opportunity to make this one great. I enjoyed my experience watching it, especially with a group of friends. It's an artistic and well-made film, but I feel the strong need to watch it again because I'm left a little bit confused. Interestingly enough, I found myself laughing more than I ever thought I would for such a psychological and moody film because the performances were so great. The unexpected, subtle comedic inserts were fun especially against the slow & dark feel in the first half. Tang Wei (female lead) was a standout in her acting and Park Hae-il (detective lead) was believable, along with his co-detectives. The premise and acting sucked me into this detective's world from the start and I'm never fully convinced that the female lead is innocent or guilty. Until... the film tells you and that's where things start unraveling. Sure, the film tells you through dialogue and it's showing you "how" through flashbacks but, "But..why?" I'm left with loose ends and not enough character development to make me believe that their past justifies the events that took place in the movie. The latter half of the movie becomes over- dramatized and jam-packed with new revelations from the past that the characters become more and more unrealistic. The pacing also transitions from slow to pretty fast from the first to the last half because there's just so much explaining to do. Yet, by the end, I felt like they didn't cover everything thoroughly enough. I would like to ask why the main detective was so dissatisfied with his marriage? His wife seems perfect- always present (emotionally, physically, sexually, etc.), supportive and caring! I guess she's too perfect, a mystery already solved, and this new damsel in distress was a way to escape his dull life and he becomes obsessed with figuring her out. I think the director nailed that in the head- to translate this obsession through the screen visually. It was very engaging and convincing. He captured their very subtle flirtatious exchanges well and it was the most realistic thing in the movie. Unfortunately, the ending was just... pitiful (pun-intended). I won't count it against a movie if I disagree with the ending, but if there's not enough justification for it or it's used as a lazy way to conclude things- then I'm gonna "dock a point". The ending downgraded the artistry of the film- which is well-directed and well- acted. But this would be better as a series, I think, for better pacing and character development. All in all, it was fun (and frustrating) to watch and discuss with my friends. We all agreed that it was "good", but it could've been so much better ! I'm looking forward to re-watching it, maybe I'll be more forgiving for some of the things I disagree with in this film.

Beauty only from afar: Entertainment: 10/10 - love the dialogue (except for the tennagey high school talk). It's funnier than some of some "comedies" out there (it's funny how you start talking when you stop caring about what others think of you). Yeah, plot was about day to day life but I found the characters interesting enough, it was never boring. Meaning/ depth/ significance/ impact on audience: 0/10- I almost completely disagree with the morals of this movie, even though it's presented as something profound. I'm no saint, but I ain't making movies and promoting depraved as the cool thing to do. Think about it, are we to applaud these actions? Quitting your job through the basis of blackmail, lusting after and following it through with an underage girl, being ok with your wife cheating on you, being emotionally absent with your daughter while expending your energy on her hot friend instead, etc. If the rest of the world thinks that's ok (seeing all the 10 star ratings), then that explains a lot- but I definitely will teach my kids otherwise. I don't hate Lester. Throughout watching it, I liked the guy- but I completely disagree with his actions and can't hail him as a hero of any sort. How the story ends for each character backfires on the message the film was trying to portray. Acting- 10/10 I very much enjoyed the performances. Each actor delivered the role they were made to portray. Music: 10/10 had thrown this in there :P Overall: I can't get behind this film for its message or whatever it's popular for- looking beneath the surface of suburban life, finding imperfection and providing solutions that are blatantly depraved but presented as progressive and admirable. In the moment, while watching the film, I feel good for the guy because he's so much happier now. But you know who else is happier? Drug addicts after getting their fix, husbands who escape their broken family relationships by obsessing over their hobbies, a wife who finds fulfillment in another man, a teenager who seeks love from a boy because her father doesn't give it to her, a teenage girl who enjoys being sexualized because she sees her worth in all the attention she gets from men, and on and on. 5 mins after watching the movie, I came back to my senses, and realized: someone just killed somebody (2 lives are lost- the victim and the murderer) and overall, things are 100x worse off than how it was in the beginning. The approach to all the brokenness in self-image and relationships is just straight- up wrong, no matter how entertaining and enjoyable the movie was. Don't forget about Jane and Ricky and the trauma they have to deal with the rest of their lives. I don't believe the hype. I can't give it a rating lower than a 3 because indeed, it was an entertaining and skillful film (direction, acting, camerawork), but it's cunningly depraved.

No fluff, let's get real. This is a true horror film- one that unmasks the root of what *really scares us (in real- life). And that's not jump scares or gory scenes for shock-value. It digs deeper- into the internal & invisible, unresolved trauma that manifests itself into tangible fears & psychological damage. What if some of those we deem as "crazy" are the ones who are actually willing to sacrifice their label of "normal" in order to try to resolve what's eating them up inside? Masking our fears has the tendency to create this veil of "normal", but being our true, broken selves make us look like a "nutcase". Pills and building a good reputation in society can be used as masks to hide our "crazy"- but can it resolve & heal trauma? This film transcends your generic horror film when it shifts its focus from the external solution to trauma (the masking) into the internal (mental & spiritual) battle to fight your fears. Its approach to fear is similar to the IT movies.. I love the screenplay towards the end when the lead finally faces her fears. The visual representation of that fear though? Meh. Also- the gorgeous, uncanny cinematography was so effective. That said, it's not a 10 because of minor flaws based on personal taste (ex: the overuse of cheap jump scares- except for ones where I actually screamed haha). The ending was a bit abrupt and ...objectionable, but nothing worth harping about. When the credits popped up, it just further confirmed my theory: that some of the best films are written & directed by the same person! The passion & personalized touch to movies like these translate so honestly through the screen. These movies are *felt and makes an impact to the viewer. Like they experienced something in their life and they want to make you feel those real emotions too. Smile is the FIRST (feature) film of Parker Finn and he shot-listed the entire movie himself. I mean, I can tell. Very inspiring !