Bodies Bodies Bodies

I came about watching this movie in a roundabout way. It was written and directed by Halina Reijn who also did the more recent "Babygirl" with Nicole Kidman. That one is a bit of a strange character study but I found it worthwhile. So I found "Bodies Bodies Bodies" on BluRay at my public library. Which surprised me.

I did not come away with a high opinion of this movie. First off, it starts with a very close-up shot of two 20-something young ladies locked in a minute's worth of French kiss lip-lock. If you assume that the opening scene of a movie sets the stage for what else is to come, it did not appeal to this 70-something grandfather.

It turns out the two of them were driving to a rather remote home (filmed in upstate New York) where a group of mostly 20-something guys and gals had a weekend party planned while the owner, the father of one of them, was gone.

What happens after all the participants are there doesn't make much sense and isn't entertaining. They decide to play a game in the dark, it is called "bodies bodies bodies" and it is a bit confusing. But it does set the stage for a dead friend being found, then another, then another. Mostly because assumptions, wrong assumptions, were being made.

In addition, the dialog is very poor and most characters curse constantly which may just be a feature of today's 20-somethings, but it got old quickly and took away greatly from what might have been interesting elements of the story.

My BluRay player has a very useful feature, a +15 second button, so I could get through the long, tedious sections more quickly without losing content.

No, not a good movie at all, from my perspective.

This is a fairly enjoyable and mildly funny movie with some good satirical elements. I had a good time for the most part, except when the extensive arguments started to annoy me. Solid for a one-time viewing. (1 viewing, SuperScreen 8/17/2022)

There are a lot things that I really like about Bodies Bodies Bodies. How it makes fun of Gen Z. Which is why all of the characters are intentionally obnoxious, as well as the great twist. My issues with it being that though the film is short, I started to loose interest. And the humor, which I'll admit I was laughing in any many scenes, there were points where I couldn't tell whether or not if it was trying to be funny. Overall, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a mixed bag.

Anyone reviewing this as vapid and shallow and claims it has a predictable ending is missing the entire point of the film.

The characters are of course absurdist representations of not only current youth but also humanity as a whole.

This is not meant to be a horror film that reinvents the wheel. It's meant to be a discussion of how we as a culture have warped our relationship with information, specifically technologically. It's meant to represent how we gather and receive unsound information, react impulsively, and create destruction while doing so, whether to ourselves or others. Understandably, the movie isn't TOO heavy handed in its approach as to not come across as preachy, but I think the message is clear and the film conveys it in a way that's fun and entertaining. I mean, come on, it's A24. If you're showing up expecting a by the books slasher, you've come to the wrong place. I think that's more of an expectation setting problem than it should be a knock at the film.

A modern horror of sorts, no scares and mild action. Mostly focused on trying to study the breakdown of people in the wake of suspicion. As I was looking for some good scares, I left feeling disappointed. I should have kept my old ass at home.