View Poll Results: Thelma (Joachim Trier)

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Thread: Thelma (Joachim Trier)

  1. #1
    White Tiger Field Stay Puft's Avatar
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    Thelma (Joachim Trier)

    THELMA
    Dir. Joachim Trier



    IMDb page
    Giving up in 2020. Who cares.

    maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
    Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
    The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
    Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
    Night Hunter (David Raymond) *

  2. #2
    White Tiger Field Stay Puft's Avatar
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    I enjoyed it, but it's also Trier's worst film to date.

    Louder Than Bombs seemed a little divisive among fans but I still liked that one a lot, thought it had a lot of sharp stylistic touches. Thelma, on the other hand, absolutely lacks the strong sense of style Trier has shown to date, suffering a bit perhaps by working with a different aspect ratio, but suffering a lot by employing a lot of shoddy special effects and iffy creative choices.

    It's pretty clear that Trier's focus here started with a supernatural revenge thriller, but eventually moved away from that, to the point that the supernatural elements probably shouldn't even be here at all. As a lesbian coming out drama, Thelma is potent. My heart aches for these characters, and Trier displays the same powerful empathy evident in films like Oslo, August 31st. As a genre film, it's goofy as all get out. The few elements that exist are so loosely connected that they clash with the main plot more than anything, and undercut the tone in a really unfortunate way (the aforementioned special effects only exacerbate this problem). There's only one sequence where these disparate elements actually gel, and the metaphor of the scenario is killer, and I was on the edge of my seat, sweating and trembling. The woman sitting next to me was visibly crying when it was over. It really drives home the conflict in Thelma, the repression of her feelings and the desire for her friend. It's a powerful and amazing sequence. I'm imagining a whole movie like that, and it could have been Trier's masterpiece. Instead, it meanders through various threads and punctuates everything with [
    ]. It doesn't really work.

    Evidently, Trier made the film out of a certain frustration with the prolonged development of Louder Than Bombs, just to do something different and shake things up. I appreciate the effort, and still think there's a lot to admire here, but I certainly hope he has something better in store for his next film now that this is out of his system.
    Giving up in 2020. Who cares.

    maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
    Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
    The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
    Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
    Night Hunter (David Raymond) *

  3. #3
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    I hadn't seen any of the previous Trier films but I enjoyed this one a lot. I agree there's a discomfort between the Horror movie it actually is and the sober drama it tries to be at times, but I don't think there's a movie here without Thelma's supernatural powers. I'm curious what's the sequence you loved above all else, Puft.

    That being said, there are times when the CGI work or the overdirection renders certain moments a bit goofy. Like the broken glass CGI shot or the snake during the marijuana scene... too much.

  4. #4
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
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    Damn coming of age, you scary.
    Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)

    The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
    Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
    Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
    M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
    Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
    Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5

    615 Film
    Letterboxd

  5. #5
    White Tiger Field Stay Puft's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Grouchy (view post)
    I'm curious what's the sequence you loved above all else, Puft.
    [
    ]
    Giving up in 2020. Who cares.

    maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
    Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
    The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
    Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
    Night Hunter (David Raymond) *

  6. #6
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Oh yeah, fucking loved that.

  7. #7
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Stay Puft (view post)
    I enjoyed it, but it's also Trier's worst film to date.
    If this is true, then I really need to catch up on his work. I thought this was excellent. Kind of like Carrie meets Killing of a Sacred Deer. Scene after scene is captivating and I really like the way that Trier complicates the love story by calling into question Anja's freewill.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

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