Alice Krakauer

25 minutes into this movie, I was out. Wish I hadn't seen any of it. I was traumatized by brutally violent acts I can't unsee. Torture porn. At the same time, I was bored silly by the slow pace and lack of story structure, and baffled by the choice to tell a story about characters peripheral to the war without offering insight into how the war came about. The good news for all screenwriters is that a great movie about how a civil war could reasonably happen in our times is still waiting to be written.

I've never seen a movie work harder to lose its audience in the first act. It opens with what feels like 5 minutes of credits (why? A statement?), then on to an endless onstage interview of Lydia Tar by Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker. I was about to give up more than once when suddenly out of the tedium a story emerged, a novel, compelling iteration of Me Too. Glad I hung in, ultimately it was a great watch, but why make it so inaccessible?

No matter how bad a movie, I'm almost always able to suspend disbelief. Not this time. I have enjoyed other M. Night movies but this feels shockingly amateurish. The dialogue is unnatural and at best pseudo-profound, and your bunkmates' acting was more believable in the camp play. Alot of silly running around on a beach. Really disappointing execution but the story itself was curious enough to make me stay to the end, which couldn't come fast enough.

I like a taut thriller, so I found the first half of the movie boring and annoying with its interminable, confusing dream sequences. But suddenly the film took a sharp turn and a plot emerged from the chaos. Maybe the point of the first half was to make the audience as confused as the protagonist/dreamer, I prefer conventional narrative devices, thank you, but I'm glad I hung in because the movie became a solid, twisty thriller. And the 60's Soho ambiance and soundtrack are dazzling.