e_k_cinephile

A great movie built on dualities such as beauty and deformity, real life and art, authenticity and imitation. A hellish narrative shaped around one man's self-perception, identity confusion, painful change process and struggle for self-acceptance. It successfully blends black humour, drama and psychological tension, and adds a postmodern, meta touch to all of this. It reminded me of classic movies like "Seconds" (1966) and "The Face of Another" (1966). It is similar to "The Substance" too, which was also released this year and which also focuses on the triangle of body image, beauty and show business, but this one has a more realistic and grounded story. I watched Sebastian Stan, who previously attracted my attention in films such as "I, Tonya" (2017) and "Fresh" (2022), in the leading role of a movie for the first time and he shines incredibly in this movie. He is successfully accompanied by Renate Reinsve, who attracted attention with "The Worst Person in the World" (2021), and Adam Pearson, who appeared in a small role in the movie "Under the Skin" (2013) (and has neurofibromatosis in real life). The movie could have been just a little shorter and had a more striking, hard-hitting finale. Still a very interesting experience! 8/10.

This mystery/thriller film, Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut, draws attention with its focus on the theme of "evil rich men", its eerie atmosphere and its feminist stance. Just as it reminded me of the Jeffrey Epstein case, it also reminded me of movies such as "The Stepford Wives" (1975), "Ready or Not" (2019) and "Don't Worry Darling" (2022). The film, which starts with a darkly humorous tone (I'm not sure if this was really necessary), gradually enters a more disturbing and shocking mode. It has a remarkable cast with its young actors as well as experienced ones such as Christian Slater, Geena Davis and Kyle MacLachlan. But unfortunately, the movie is also the answer to the question, "How can a movie that could be a masterpiece be dragged down by a ridiculous ending?" 7/10.

Todd Haynes has done a great job again. I admire this man's ability to create a distinct ambiance and atmosphere in a movie. It was great to watch two actors who are among the best of their generation, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, against each other. While the film follows the relationship that develops between a woman with a very problematic past and a woman who will portray her in a movie, it deals with the relationship between reality and fiction, the effort of art to perceive and accurately reflect reality, and the slipperiness of reality. This slipperiness is about the questions of both "What really happened?" and "In how many different ways can that be seen and evaluated?" I had goosebumps when the movie ended! 9/10.