Deina Ristic

I never write negative reviews because I know how much effort goes into even making a film…but HOLY COW this movie made me break my own rules. It was THAT bad. Cinematography and Locations: Perfection Costume and Character Design: 10/10 Cast and Acting Quality: Flawless (I went for Dev Patel who knocked it out of the park). HOWEVER… The story and pacing: TORTURE The core itself (the story of the green knight quest set in King Arthur’s time) is fantastic. I would’ve loved to see this film execute it better. Especially with the cast it had. In fact, the hope that it would get back on track is what kept me sitting in the theater. I think it could’ve been a great story, but the execution ruined it. The editing, the sound mixing, the vagueness of what was actually happening on the screen… it was too unneccesarily “artsy”. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some artistic and intellectual stimulation from a film, which is why I bought the ticket in the first place. I mean c’mon, it’s an A24 film, they’re perfect with this stuff. I was super excited to see a story like this shown in an interesting way, but this was OVERBEARINGLY so and had a million conceptual metaphors and lines that over time just irked the hell out of me as a viewer. Yes, I understood them, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the constant need to be “smart” and “deep”. It would’ve had even more impact with less of that stuff. I kid you not, there was even an Attack-on-Titan-like scene that had no legitimate reason to be in the film. The entire ordeal felt like I was watching one big hallucination and I left the theater annoyed, and so dissapointed :(

So glad I decided to watch this movie. Also surprised some other reviews ranked it low. I haven't seen another movie like this in a very long time, if ever. I didn't know it was a musical going in, and I really dislike musicals, but this one was seriously amazing. The music was fitting and gripping. I laughed, cried, and was horrified by the story (which had a lot of interesting foreshadowing). There were so many nuanced scenes, my favorite being when The Conductor was telling his story during an orchestra practice. Very refreshing film!