Made me think of Kelly Reichardt's Showing Up where Hong Chau's landlady character isn't really someone who does anything wrong, but she's such a one upper that the contrast between her and the lead becomes hilarious. That's basically half of the movie in here when after Sebastian Stan's character Edward rather magically loses his tumorous skin condition, Adam Pearson as Oswald enters the film and just embodies the existence Edward wishes he could have lead.
Basically a Faustian bargain where…
Even if a title card at the end didn't drop "A secret Israeli state document reveals the training zone was created to block Arab villagers from expanding", it is very obvious something like that was driving the actions of the Israeli soldiers and the West Bank settlers. The former use legality as a shield to bulldoze buildings or to cement a well of all things. It's nonsensical, but the letter of the law is a very efficient way of manufacturing…
Giving my author stand in cancer right after I've had him DESTROY a feminist caricature, just to make sure people will feel bad about him dying and not think about the bullshit I was whining about.
Perfect example of how it's not usually the idea which is boring, it's the execution where the film lives or dies. Ballerina doesn't really do anything new in the revenge genre, though I'm not entirely sure what exactly would be refreshing in this land where there's nothing new under the sun, but the film nevertheless succeeds because of strong direction, a phenomenal lead performance and a great style.
The film is basically aesthetic bliss paced to perfection, with a lot…
