EM-69079

Don't get me wrong I liked it overall. But I still don't understand if the movie was supposed to explain how civil war is bad or if journalism is good or what.

Nothing in the movie is bad. The acting's great, sound design is clean, picture's beautiful.

But the lack of context, stakes and , while being a strong stylistic choice, just made me wonder why I was watching this. Idk if we're facing a Trump allegory, a dystopian future, a transposition of Ukraine in the US, a critic of neonazis in rural America, or a mix of everything. Maybe the movie will speak strongly to American audiences and as a European I'm missing the strength of it idk.

Easy reviews first, the visuals are mostly bad, special mention to the chimp. The sound design is mostly good. Lighting is pretty standard and Netflixy but works.

Not for more in-depth commentary. Actors are alright but mashing all characters into 6 or 7 main ones is pretty weird, when you think about it and the coincidences that occur. The characters they introduced like Tatiana are not well written. Jack Rooney is alright I guess.

I liked Will and Jyn, but them being Yun Tianming and Cheng Xin feels rushed. Same with Saul being Luo Ji or Wade being born in the 20th century. I understand the need for introducing us to important characters early, but I dislike how they did this. Things happen so quickly that it becomes boring. Not once are the protagonist struggling with coming up with a solution. For example, Staircase? Dealt with in 5 minutes of screen time.

Also, Augustina is one of the worst characters ever created. They tried making her this cold and cool clever girl while still having her being unstable and honestly pretty stupid in her relationships. Makes no sense.

So yeah honestly I'm glad that's not my first introduction to this universe.

The movie made me feel the full spectrum of emotions. I laughed, cried a bit, was moved by the deep repercussions of the story. Could've run for 30 minutes more and I wouldn't have been mad

It's definitely a beautiful movie too. Animation is good, despite a few low-fps sequences, it still works because of the hand drawn art style and crazy backgrounds. Knowing what the crew went through, I understand the need for some simpler parts. Designs are inspired, threading perfectly between the obvious references and something really personal. Music's very good and the overall sound mixing was perfect.

For a first movie, Périn and Sarfati really put the bar extremely high, I'm really wondering what their next move/movie will be. But first, time to rewatch this one.