isharalion

It was an excellent choice to situate this story right after the second WW. The shock and terror at having to battle another enemy so soon after the war is tangible. It also gives the characters a bigger emotional undertone which prevents this from being another mindless disaster movie.

Godzilla is just Godzilla. They don't put a character or personality on him. He is just what he is, a destructive force without an agenda. Waltzing through cities, levelling them without a reason. There is a great narative that balances the mindset of that period with going into a new era for Japan. Honor and duty against staying alive and being happy.

And the VFX are amazing!

Well cast political thriller, Ralph Fiennes is especially great as the lead. Isabella Rosselini gets too little to do (the Academy really went, well it's time for you to get a nomination, I guess).

In any case, it's great to see that the holiest of people and those that are supposed to live a life that is far removed from everything that goes on in it are thrown in this maelstrom. Everyone has secrets and everyone tries to reveal them or use them to gain favour in the race towards the papacy.

Every revelation is a knife twist and every one looks suspiciously towards everyone. It's tight and exciting, which I didn't expect for a movie about a conclave!

Almost 10 years to the day since I last saw it. Back then, in my early twenties, I hardly paid attention to what it was trying to do. But now that I have seen Mulholland Drive again and Lost Highway for the first time, it's really clear that Lynch makes movies about experiences, not narrative.

The characters in this become representations of outside forces that have an influence on Jeffrey's young life. Crime, agression, seduction are all those bad forces that try to send him off the deep end. Contrasted by the 50's styled good-world, represented by Sandy. To me it feels like Lynch is trying to show how someone growing up in the safety and fantasy of a 50s neighborhood is then thrown into the real world. Which at first fascinates the main character, because it is so different from his own life and he wants a piece of the cake. But he realizes it goes too far too soon, but he's already entwined with that part of the world and it is really hard to get out.

That at least is my interpretation of it, having gone in without reading into it before. I think it is an excellent visual and enigmatic representation of what it feels like to be alive in a certain time and place.