mosskillnz

I enjoyed this movie. In part because I recognised a lot of the filming areas as the Paeroa/Ngatea district, which was nice. But also as I found it quite a nice low key story exploring gender, "gender... It's complex". Ultimately though, the main theme is really about fractured families, and forgiveness... of self and each other.

I recommend this as a nice watch; despite the heavy subject matter, it's still a very enjoyable watch, and characters were sweet. Solid effort from a kiwi flick.

Review: we watched Phoenix Rising last night, a documentary following Evan Rachel Wood as she discusses her abusive relationship with Marilyn Manson. What a traumatic watch 😳😳 not for the faint hearted. There is a lot of criticism about her story; a lot of people believe she is exaggerating/lying/not accepting accountability for herself. I found myself able to relate a little to her; who hasn't had a relationship in the past they look back on and think, that was unhealthy? Things that happened when you were young that you look back on and think, that was actually really not OK? And man, my past stories are nothing as extreme as hers. Do I think she willingly was involved with him at the time? Yes. Do I think he manipulated her and abused her? Also yes. Do I think it's possible he doesn't view their relationship as at all abusive..? Also yes. People who manipulate are often completely unaware they are doing it. This was a truly disturbing and important watch. It is one sided, it's true... you'll only get her side here, and she has learnt all the proper terms to help her process the relationship for what it was (abuse). Im not saying he's a horrible person from watching this either, it's entirely possible he may not be a bad guy at all to his friends, but still make a really unhealthy partner due to personal emotional baggage. I hope anyone else in an abusive or just plain unhealthy relationship that watches it may gain strength from her to stand up for themselves and leave. I applaud her ability to stand up and speak of this even though it must be a) painful and b) doesn't paint her in a great light at times. It's true, we all make some terrible choices to please those we love. That doesn't make us bad people; but it's hard to face up to those parts of yourself in retrospect so well done, Evan 👏👏 a painfully honest and heartbreaking review of a youthful relationship. I'm sorry nobody protected you 💗 and hope we can teach our young women more about some common red flags like dependancy and control.