purplehayes76

I want to see it again to digest the film.

I could write much, and keep on reading about this film. But I won't retread what others have said.

This film does reward a person who can see it in a specific lens. That is from Gothic/Romantic Novels and stylized Hollywood films such as REBECCA, NOTORIOUS, GASLIGHT, etc.

It is a love note to the Gothic novel (and by extension Gothic film). It is a beautiful thing to watch it tick all the right boxes. It wasn't about surprise, it was about execution (perhaps literally, hehe).

It did feel as if I was reading a novel visually, and I don't think I have quite had that experience with a film. As in a novel, there were moments in the theater that I wanted to go back and "re-read" what had just happened, especially as there are such subtle emotional shifts in the beginning that carry as much weight as action.

That in itself gave the exhilaration of a "page turner".

Something as small as a glance, or a social slight becomes like a shot gun blast when you are used to that restraint of convention in the Gothic novel.

Watching the opening sequences were as delicious as reading Wuthering Heights or Agnes Grey or Ethan Frome for the first time. I really enjoyed Edith Cushing's character (Edith Wharton gloss, perhaps?). I got who she was very clearly, and I was on her team.

Thomas is a worthy and sympathetic Byronic hero. The moral weight of his choices and thinking through the "what ifs" with him, and mentally trying to fill in all the back story that is elliptically told, becomes part of the sad fun of watching the film.

The house is pitch perfect.

Lucille transforms visually and symbolically according to Gothic/Romantic archetypes.

Was just great fun to watch, and I enjoyed that it committed to the genre in ways that did not feel compromised for Hollywood/mass audience.

I did feel there was a little too much reliance on some "visual quoting" or narrative borrowing from some sources that it is clearly alluding to (such as Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS), but I could forgive it.

If you are Bronte/lit nerd, Crimson Peak is like visiting an amusement park.

I will admit upfront, this film left a really horrible taste in my mouth.

So much so that it even soured my feelings towards Nerdist and Chris Hardwick.

I know his M.O. is to be very positive about everything, and upbeat. But this movie just wasn't good.

If you are giving it a HUGE pass because it is low-budget, maybe you could forgive it some of its mistakes.

I was ready to walk out after 10 minutes because of a sound design element that was quite literally painful. From Bravest Warriors: "It's like making Oatmeal cry..." Catbug:"Why would you do that?" Why would you hurt your audience? That is lazy filmmaking.

All of the characters were unlikeable bullies. I rooted for no one and wanted them all to die.

The visual design was for stylistic purposes and actually violated filmic grammar in ways I just could not forgive.

Blacklight? Why? Totally non-diegetic, which is fine, but could not forgive it especially compared to other issues.

Oh, let me do First Person POV shots as Over-The-Shoulder shots, SOMETIMES. Why? I'm confused.

Let me have blinking lights/strobe effect FOR NO REASON, other than to make the shot painful to look at. Thanks.

The love story didn't really work for me either. There was ONE SCENE where it was almost poignant (the one with the strobe lights), but I didn't even want to watch it because the cinematography was so annoying.

Nor did I find the gore effects particularly interesting either.

I didn't like the movie. I didn't enjoy watching it. I didn't like the score (which was also a major selling point of the film).

It was all over the place. And there there was weird unnecessarily sexualized slut-shaming/emasculation dialogue that I also did not like at all.

The whole big social networking allegory was also not very strong or sold well in the movie itself. You get that more from reading critique on it than what you can actually see in the film text itself.

Maybe I am too old.

I love genre movies. I love the surprise little indies.

But I was sitting in my seat fuming, just waiting for it to end. I felt lied to by the Nerdist stamp of approval.

To me it is totally skippable. Unless you are OK with starting a movie that it is OK to shut off before you finish.

I saw this cold(was not aware of the director or her work) as part of Japan Cuts film fest in NYC, at which the director attended. I went primarily because of my love for cats and my respect for Japanese pop culture's handling of cats (Maru, Cat Cafes, Maneki Neko). It could have been horrible, but if there were some cute cats, I would have been satisfied. Fortunately, it was totally worth viewing. My boyfriend begrudgingly went with me, and he thoroughly enjoyed the film. The director got the idea for the story after an elderly friend's cat died, and she thought "wouldn't it be great if he could rent a new cat?". The script was written in four days. The tightly constructed episodic pattern to the narrative structure is pretty close to genius. It is one of those films that gets a pay off from the audience being in on the pattern and still manages to add some twists and side-steps clichés, particularly in the last few scenes of the film. The two negatives are that it starts to feel a bit long by the end, and the need to carry through the symbolism in each episode feels a bit contrived. But, these are small critiques. The protagonist, who is basically in every scene of the film, manages to be quirky without being annoying, and vulnerable without being pathetic. The cats are cute as heck, and the director, being an owner of three cats herself, allowed the cats to do their thing in the background, etc. Very funny dialog and comic timing makes a good transition into subtitles. The film itself is beautiful, with mellow golden mise-en-scene that lets the scene breathe. Everything, the costumes, the living room shrine,the pig-shaped incense burner, and the web of clothesline, is placed and shot for beautiful visual balance. Also the director she said she wanted the interiors to look very Japanese, Showa Era, and contrast with the heroine's modern take on life. The closing titles are the topper of a kawaii (cute) and funny film. It isn't a chick flick. It isn't JUST a crazy cat lady movie. It is a well-made film with a different point of view and a gentle message. And lots of cats.