The Souvenir

[Ezee E]

WIKI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Souvenir)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/The_Souvenir_%282019_poster%29 .png

[Irish]

E, 2.5 stars but a yay?

I would thought you didn't like it based on your letterboxd review! ;)

(You're also the only person I know who's seen this one so I was a little bummed you didn't like it. Have heard great things from the twitteratti etc.)

[Ezee E]

E, 2.5 stars but a yay?

I would thought you didn't like it based on your letterboxd review! ;)

(You're also the only person I know who's seen this one so I was a little bummed you didn't like it. Have heard great things from the twitteratti etc.)

I actually didn't vote for it. It's getting a nay.

[dreamdead]

This was the film where I felt the strongest disconnect between film twitter and my own evaluation. The lead remains far too inert to be that captivating to me so while it's central storyline has some strong dialogue or shifts, it never coheres because the Hogg surrogate is just there, lacking any vivacity or verve to push the narrative in interesting directions. Even the eroticism that seemed like it'd push the lead into different reactions just kinda dies--I felt so confused reading reactions from Film Comment that I wondered what I missed, but this one was just there.

I wish I'd seen any of Hogg's earlier work to be more prepped for what to expect from this one...

[Irish]

I actually didn't vote for it. It's getting a nay.

Oh, duh! I assumed too quickly. Carry on then!

[Ezee E]

I had to lol when I saw that there was a sequel in the works for this, and that it was originally Robert Pattinson.

Looks like Match Cut is getting this right though. Fifteen minutes in, I was wondering what I was missing that some top critics and letterboxd/film twitter was enjoying so much.

[Lazlo]

Totally agree with this not clicking. It's the mildest of yays because it's not bad, just a bit inert. Don't get all the praise.

[Pop Trash]

It's not bad, but jfc is this thing overrated. Sight & Sound (a publication I admire very much) thinks it's the best film of the year, and Scorsese and others have praised it to the heavens. It's basically a slow slog to an inevitable conclusion (which we can see from miles away) that their relationship is to going end in tragedy of some sorts (either a breakup or well ... won't give it away). The lead male character is a black hole of charisma. An anti matter Hugh Grant. The lead (Tilda Swinton's daughter) is quite good and a cutie (totally my type). The film also captures art (film) school life in the UK in the early '80s really well; the fashion, the post punk music, trying to behave intellectual and erudite while being inexperienced in life.

[Mal]

A naive college-aged lady hooks up with a garbage man- how groundbreaking.
I'm totally game for slow cinema, but the amount of improv used here annoyed the fuck out of me. Improv should be light and enjoyable, possibly adding naturalism compared to structured scripting, but all this did was show seams and faults of the performances and this weak conception by Hogg. Swinton-Byrne was ok but I doubt I'd care about her at all as a screen presence if I didn't know who her mother was.