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stevescoundrel-12897
Reviews
Dear Brigitte (1965)
I wish I had seen it when I was ten
I read many of the positive and descriptive reviews, and very much appreciated them, but as an adult, the movie is dreadfully silly. I wish I would have seen it when I was a small child and I suspect I would have liked it. Now it's value is more of a historical piece. It doesn't seem long which is good and bad. Almost everything is abrupt, enforcing the silliness, but you wouldn't want it to go another minute. Strangely, I liked both the positive and negative reviews here (I read up to ten). One reviewer commented on how a prepubescent boy could not be infatuated with Bridgitte Bardot. Normally not, but it's not that unreasonable, and especially so given the ridiculousness of everything else in this comedy. My observation is that Bridgitte Bardot may not have been in sufficient media that a young boy in the US would have come across in the first place, which is far more strange. Infatuation with beauty of any kind is possible for a child of any age prone to being obsessed. Bottom line, it's a short, meaningless but likely fun story for a child, and some history for everybody else.
Don't Worry Darling (2022)
Trip Actually
Gorgeous movie from the start and I knew nothing about it except for a short paragraph description. I recognized Palm Springs from the start because I may have seen the actual location in real life, and for sure from plenty of photography. I was intrigued by the story and I wanted it developed. It was odd that Alice (in Wonderland it seems) kept getting back to her everything's-ok condition. When it was finally revealed that the couple were in a virtual reality state, it all made ridiculously obvious sense (including all the visual art), but it was a letdown for me and I felt the movie was essentially over at that point. Simulations, and dreams (like Alice in Wonderland), can be good if the entire movie is fully wrapped in one, but otherwise it's often just a cheap and easy construct where too much liberty is taken and coherence abused. The movie is all about imagery and possibly symbolism (for which no one will care). The final scenes where Alice had become more lucid were very entertaining so the virtual reality revelation wasn't a total thud. The movie is fun, entertaining, with solid acting, but I was expecting and wanting something different. A more serious story, not just an adventure. Still, well worth watching.
I should add, I watched the movie over two or three days in three installments illustrating that it didn't quite grab hold and breaks were helpful.
I should also add: any assumption that all the characters (besides the featured couple) were real people doing the virtual reality thing together is not my assumption. Any assumption that anybody died in the simulation is not my assumption. A problem with the simulation construct is everything is artificial and anything goes or is doable. Although some attribute significant meaning (perhaps the creators), I found none. It had the strength only of a dream. You can't assume anything except what they tell you outside the simulation. One can't care about the simulators, the equivalent of our internal dream machine. It was pretty, at least when it wasn't angst, and fun. Nothing more.
I'm going to add to my review one more time (3rd add). I wrote the initial paragraph after knowing next to nothing of what anybody had written or said about the movie. I haven't edited anything I have written to date, only added. I've now read more about the movie and have read many other reviews. Most reviews are rather negative and critique is far ranging but one aspect in common is the shallowness of the "story". I gave the movie 7 stars and perhaps I should downgrade it (but I won't) because I can't argue with much of the criticism. I thought the acting and casting was appropriate so I disagree with critics of that. And I haven't seen most of the shows people compare this movie to, so I don't have their experience. I think I initially came to write this review because I was annoyed with the movie. But I wasn't as annoyed as many - I was also thinking about the movie which generally means it was worthy - and I see what appears to be a large number of reviews. There are interesting aspects or I wouldn't be writing. Maybe the good parts are why I stayed annoyed. Yet a movie like this can't be fixed. You can't tune a dream to make it less shallow. It didn't have a chance from the get go. The movie is too much like a real dream, and for me, real dreams are nonsense.