Peter Jensen

I wondered if this was a whitebread version of Dope Thief, (a show with mercurial writing and hmane performaces from all involved, not to mention well directed) anyway despite some similarities its not. There's no doubt the actors are first class, they are however let down by stilted writing, streams of cliche and an abrupt devolution to soap opera. There is some yearning misery of course, but i feel this is a very unimaginative explorartion of white trash shennanigans. I'm from that world and it all seemed just a bit fake. Still itts professional and will do nothing to advance insights into unhappy relations, trapped women and broken men trapped in thug life. For that check out Dope Thief.

I just want to coment on the astonishing performance of Michael Stuhlbarg as the totally out there eater . His presence is so vivid , note the way he allows himself an almost musical accompaniement with drawn out sighs and rhetorical flourishes, all of them adding to the feeling that here we have a genuine monster, in the sense that he is both selfish enough and twisted enough to be capable of anything. The other performance that shines darkly is Sir Mark rRlance whose relentless adherence to private rules and blood soaked underwear ties the various threads of the story (that could easily have decohered given the wandering of the protagonists) together. In his at times simple at time exultant delikvery you become convinced that in a remarkable way he is unstoppable , his pursuit of the beautifully natural Taylor Russel is as inevitable as his urge to eat. The scene post consumption in the house is incredible, old man legs poking out of blood soaked tighty whities totally unselfconscious, this man finds innner dimensions in performaces that illuminate the screen. Timothy Chalamet is fascinating , full of feeling and full of pragmatism, osciallting between the two at the speed of light. Finally please wach Taylor Russel closely, shegives a nuanced performace taht reveal an iner grace that is the gift of the truly tlaented. Thw script is. sensational, the words are orignial and the cast is dynamite. Aside from the eating disorders everyone seems to have (just how many cannibals are there in America, its a wonder theres still a large population upon which to feed, (how beautful is the scene where Timothy Chalamet invites us to wonder at the music and language of cows mooing plaintively prior to becoming burgers) that said this film contains multutudes of feeling and desperation, the fear of loneliness , the anguish of alterity are in front of us like never before. Ignore the eating disorder and look at what these people are doing to themselves and others. Celebrating inner nature at the expense of humanity is a pheonmena that is already labelled and prevalent , I believe the word is naricissism, and privileging a food preference above ones fellow man is another hysteria of self gratification. Please see this film. it is a masterpiece.