Hi, Noah, what did you think about the movie Promising Young Woman? I'm a bit of a film buff and like to see where my alignment is with critics so I know how to align their critiques with my tastes. I ask because Promising Young Woman is somewhat within this genre of which you're referencing.
I wrote briefly about Men on my Substack a few months ago. What struck me about all (but one) men being Kinnear is that people would have been enraged if it had been written by a woman. It would have been seen as simplistic - all men are the same - and it would have been that. But you're right, it does also let men off the hook.
While I appreciated the symbolism of the birth scene you mentioned while watching the movie, I also honestly guffawed because I think the purely body horror aspect of it is only going to be shocking to... men.
Hah. Body horror doesn’t really shock me much; the thing that makes me want to hide is like cringe comedy. Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid is a savage indictment of patriarchy which left me a lot more traumatized than Men did…
Yeah, of course, #NotAllMen, ha! But it's a climactic scene that is clearly filmed to be horrific, and I just think that yeah, the things cracking an exploding and blood and other fluids during birth is, to a lot of people, not boring exactly, but expected, and it's probably more disturbing to the dudes who leave the room or faint when their wives are giving birth. Not that I'm judging them for that -- it's just a different life experience. But in that movie, I felt notable. Not problematic, just... slightly goofy, which I'm not sure was the intention. Maybe it's just me!
I think it kind of gets at the way he’s polished up the tape/revenge and kind of displaced a lot of the violence. I Spit on Your Grave is a lot of things, but it doesn’t present sexual violence as goofy, for better or worse.
I'm curious if you'd consider the first (Spanish language) "Secret in Their Eyes" to be a rape/revenge film or just a recent film or something else? Or for that matter "Irreversible" ? I can see where they could be but since it's the men getting revenge it's true it's not going to effectively challenge patriarchy much via violence but it's still something these movies address. I'm just curious because my response to each movie was different, I don't think there's just one answer.
I haven't seen Secret in their Eyes. Irreversible is a rape/revenge film for sure, though not one I was that enthusiastic about? But yes, different films in the genre do different things for sure.
I think you'd probably like the Spanish language "Secret" the aesthetics were nice for me, kind of hmm "Zodiac" or "Bringing Out the Dead" kind of look and feel to it that I don't think the English version would have done well with, but I haven't seen that one so I can't say definitely. It looked terrible.
Hi, Noah, what did you think about the movie Promising Young Woman? I'm a bit of a film buff and like to see where my alignment is with critics so I know how to align their critiques with my tastes. I ask because Promising Young Woman is somewhat within this genre of which you're referencing.
I still haven't seen it! Maybe I should move it up the list...
I wrote briefly about Men on my Substack a few months ago. What struck me about all (but one) men being Kinnear is that people would have been enraged if it had been written by a woman. It would have been seen as simplistic - all men are the same - and it would have been that. But you're right, it does also let men off the hook.
While I appreciated the symbolism of the birth scene you mentioned while watching the movie, I also honestly guffawed because I think the purely body horror aspect of it is only going to be shocking to... men.
Hah. Body horror doesn’t really shock me much; the thing that makes me want to hide is like cringe comedy. Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid is a savage indictment of patriarchy which left me a lot more traumatized than Men did…
Taking notes, I love cringe comedy.
Yeah, of course, #NotAllMen, ha! But it's a climactic scene that is clearly filmed to be horrific, and I just think that yeah, the things cracking an exploding and blood and other fluids during birth is, to a lot of people, not boring exactly, but expected, and it's probably more disturbing to the dudes who leave the room or faint when their wives are giving birth. Not that I'm judging them for that -- it's just a different life experience. But in that movie, I felt notable. Not problematic, just... slightly goofy, which I'm not sure was the intention. Maybe it's just me!
It is pretty goofy! Hadn’t really thought of it that way, but you’re right.
I think it kind of gets at the way he’s polished up the tape/revenge and kind of displaced a lot of the violence. I Spit on Your Grave is a lot of things, but it doesn’t present sexual violence as goofy, for better or worse.
I'm curious if you'd consider the first (Spanish language) "Secret in Their Eyes" to be a rape/revenge film or just a recent film or something else? Or for that matter "Irreversible" ? I can see where they could be but since it's the men getting revenge it's true it's not going to effectively challenge patriarchy much via violence but it's still something these movies address. I'm just curious because my response to each movie was different, I don't think there's just one answer.
I haven't seen Secret in their Eyes. Irreversible is a rape/revenge film for sure, though not one I was that enthusiastic about? But yes, different films in the genre do different things for sure.
I think you'd probably like the Spanish language "Secret" the aesthetics were nice for me, kind of hmm "Zodiac" or "Bringing Out the Dead" kind of look and feel to it that I don't think the English version would have done well with, but I haven't seen that one so I can't say definitely. It looked terrible.