Abhishek Patil

I was watching criterion collection closet picks on youtube and this movie was suggested in one of those videos and decided to watch it. The dreamy atmospheric quality of the movie sold it for me. I had heard about the movie before, so I knew exactly what type of movie I was getting into and the unresolved mystery didn't bother me. I was obsessed to know the fate of the girls just like the other characters in the movie.

It was such a joy to watch this film. I had heard about during last year's Cannes film festival but wasn't able to get hold of it until now. I wasn't aware of Agnes Varda before watching this film, but later I managed to track down all of her French new wave films and her recent documentaries and intend to watch all of them. The thing that I liked the most about the movie is the upbeat quality and playfulness between JR and Agnes throughout the movie. Even though her eyes are fading and knows that she hasn't got much time left (She jokes every time she meets a new person during their trip it will be the last person she meets) she is still enthusiastic about the people she meets. JR with his 'magical truck' and his youthful liveliness and his team's effort bring forth smile to ordinary people faces.

I was on a streak of watching Asghar Farhadi's recent films and got hold of this earlier work from the filmmaker. The story starts off as a lighthearted group of family friends out on a picnic with a playful mood all around and quickly turns into a complex web of emotions churning out from the characters. Farhadi directs it to make it feel like a locked room thriller and the sea scene is one of the tensest scenes I have seen in recent years. The moral dilemma of the characters has been a common theme in all of Farhadi's films and it is central here as well. He seems to ask 'What would you do in this situation?' to his audience. There are no easy answers but it all about the conversation it starts.

Watched it on lazy Saturday noon on Hulu and it just made me cry and I can’t pinpoint exactly why. Going along with Fern’s journey of grief made me reflect the loved ones I’ve lost. There’s a lot I’m still processing from this wonderful film, and I’m at loss of words as to how much moving this film was. This is my first exposure to Chloe’s films and will definitely be checking out The Rider

> Frances’s circumstances often seem to be at war with her sense of entitlement, the idea, no doubt carefully nurtured by sympathetic parents and progressive schools, that her specialness makes her immune to failure. It is painful to watch the world challenging this view, even as it is also hard not to be on the side of the world. But the spirit of the film is more wry than punitive, and it is, in the end, less a satire or a cautionary tale than a bedtime story for young adults. It will all work out. Twenty-seven is young. Frances will have the last laugh. This NYTimes review sums up exactly how I feel about the movie. I couldn't have said it better.

You can clearly see why it is such a divisive film. You are either gonna love the style and go with the flow or completely hate it. I absolutely went with the flow right from the start. It was constantly fascinating to watch and not as weird as one might expect compared to Holy Motors. It certainly has a clear emotional flow to it which is one of the reasons one might say it is a lesser work than Holy Motors since however inventive the story telling is the overall theme is one which we’ve seen told before. But still there are a lot of things to think over and take away from this film. Regardless it is still a one of a kind film with use of music like no other film has done before.