POSITIVES:
1) The performances are brilliant. There are basically only four characters in the whole film and all four actors give really great performances. In particular, Andrew Scott really carries the film on his back by appearing in every scene and giving a beautifully emotional and complex performance 2) As the title of this review suggests, I found the film to be very abstract and artistic. It's a film really about emotions and about how something makes you feel, rather than a film where everything makes sense and has explanations. What this has lead to is a haunting film that I think will stick with me for a long time 3) I enjoyed the ending of the film a lot. It's certainly not a happy ending and I was actually impressed by how dark the film got in terms of Adam's parents leaving him and then the reveal that Harry has actually been dead since just after the first time we meet him
NEGATIVES:
1) As I've said in the title of this review, I did find the film to be muddled at times. It almost seems like two films mashed together. On the one hand, you have the film that's a love story between Adam and Harry. Then, on the other hand, you have the film about a man who's imagining seeing his dead parents again. There were certainly times for me where these two elements didn't blend together very well 2) A fairly small point given some of the outrageous age gaps we've seen on screen before, but I did find the age gap between Adam and Harry quite uncomfortable. There's 20 years between Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, and personally I have to say that I think Mescal didn't really add anything to the film that an actor closer to Scott's age couldn't have done anyway. I also found some of the dialogue between the two to be really cringey and the scenes of them doing weed and ketamine together felt very unnecessary 3) I've stated in my "positives" section that the film is about making you feel something more than actually giving you answers. While this is good in a sense, it did still leave me confused at times and wanting some sort of explanation as to what is actually causing Adam to have these visions. Given the ending revelation that Harry has been dead for most of the film, it seemed to me that Adam is clearly insane and I could've done with the film coming out and stating this clearly rather than giving us a more poetic ending of the two of them in bed together.
1) The performances are brilliant. There are basically only four characters in the whole film and all four actors give really great performances. In particular, Andrew Scott really carries the film on his back by appearing in every scene and giving a beautifully emotional and complex performance 2) As the title of this review suggests, I found the film to be very abstract and artistic. It's a film really about emotions and about how something makes you feel, rather than a film where everything makes sense and has explanations. What this has lead to is a haunting film that I think will stick with me for a long time 3) I enjoyed the ending of the film a lot. It's certainly not a happy ending and I was actually impressed by how dark the film got in terms of Adam's parents leaving him and then the reveal that Harry has actually been dead since just after the first time we meet him
NEGATIVES:
1) As I've said in the title of this review, I did find the film to be muddled at times. It almost seems like two films mashed together. On the one hand, you have the film that's a love story between Adam and Harry. Then, on the other hand, you have the film about a man who's imagining seeing his dead parents again. There were certainly times for me where these two elements didn't blend together very well 2) A fairly small point given some of the outrageous age gaps we've seen on screen before, but I did find the age gap between Adam and Harry quite uncomfortable. There's 20 years between Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, and personally I have to say that I think Mescal didn't really add anything to the film that an actor closer to Scott's age couldn't have done anyway. I also found some of the dialogue between the two to be really cringey and the scenes of them doing weed and ketamine together felt very unnecessary 3) I've stated in my "positives" section that the film is about making you feel something more than actually giving you answers. While this is good in a sense, it did still leave me confused at times and wanting some sort of explanation as to what is actually causing Adam to have these visions. Given the ending revelation that Harry has been dead for most of the film, it seemed to me that Adam is clearly insane and I could've done with the film coming out and stating this clearly rather than giving us a more poetic ending of the two of them in bed together.