I read the book before seeing the movie so I feel like I could see the movie far less as what it was, esp considering I finished the book (which I had been reading over a few weeks) the same day I started the movie. It ofcourse is fully fully adapted. There is nothing in the movie that felt special or unique to me. However given how good the book was, the movie was equally good too. And similarly, a few flaws that I felt the book has, where it is there but not there there, and a few ends still seem sloppy (eg the whole lack of layering on Leda's own mother or parenting) so that sloppiness has continued fully in the film too. So the movie does a good copy. But the way the book remains a 8/10 and will always stay that, the movie will also remain an 8/10 purely because it is a complete and utter copy not even an adaptation. Having said that, here are my top 5 things for the movie:
1. The music - I loved the parts where Leda sings in her car, sings along - the choice of songs is great. I also specially loved the end credits and the Leda theme playing there. It felt powerful and I found myself reaching out to apple music to hear the OST this morning so yeah that did stay with me. Think the opening credits were awesome too. Where she is walking and then she just goes and lies down there. And the music starts playing and the title comes. So again, Maggie kills it w the aesthetic in the opening credits, closing credits and everything in between.
2. The casting - Perhaps Maggie Gylenhaal's connections/ network/power where she can perhaps make a phone call and get these guys but then what an ensemble she cracked dude. I mean from Olivia Coleman to Paul Mesac to Jesse Buckley to Dakota Johnson to the dude who plays Lyle to even the daughters - she definitely killed it w the casting if not bringing her own touch to the script in any way
3. I really liked the first shot with Nina and her daughter, and then all the subsquent shots with Dakota in them. I feel like Dakota for me really stood out. I mean so did Olivia and Jesse and Paul etc but I just think that Dakota's face definitely has some kinda etheral beauty and Maggie has done a great job of highlighting that properly. In the sense that a Jesse for instance is also beautiful but in an indie, offbeat, nutjob, short hair, impulsive vibes way and so does an Olivia - boycut, unconventional, big teeth n all that. But then a Dakota. She is just a conventionally good looking chick. And a conventionally good looking girl is just STUNNING. Because that beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder anymore. That beauty just IS. Its objectively there. There aint nothing subjective about that anymore. I dont need to put on any rose tinted or indie glasses to see it. Its there in the way God made her. In her features. In the long thick lustrous hair. In the beautiful pouty lips. The lightish eyes highlighted w eyeliner. The perfect teeth. The flawless skin. That smile. Those eyes. The smize. All of that. Its breathtaking and Maggie did a great job w the close up shots, Dakota's wardrobe etc. DAMN. Can watch that woman for days and how.
4. I think in general, the way Leda and also young Leda have been portrayed, in a very like neutral way almost. There is nothing holier than thou and yet there is nothing too black too. She just is. There is no pity induced and yet there is no hate either for her. One just gets it but without any overdose of any emotion whether empathy sympathy or hatred or judgement. I think thats definitely an achievement on the part of Maggie for sure. Or Elena rather but a win for Maggie to have been able to translate that neutrality into cinema where its obviously harder because of the several constraints involved such as length, lack of verbosity, preconceived notions of viewers abt those actors, just the fact that 10000 people are involved as opposed to just the writer. So a director does have a far far harder job and Maggie does kill.
5. The wardrobe of all the women especially. I didnt notice the men as much (except paul mescal ofcourse who is delightful and even though he probably has 3 scenes here, everytime he comes on screen, the screen just lights up w his presence so he is just fantastic in every single thing and lights up the whole universe!!! Fyi im still reeling from aftersun and all of us strangers so for me he is just a greek god like literally no one in this whole entire universe paul i love you and when i saw him in that first scene where he comes to olivia i actually had no idea about the casting because i like to go into movies completely without seeing trailers or having any preconceived notions whatsoever but then i saw paul suddenly and i was like WAIT THE MOVIE HAS PAUL FKN MESCAL??????????? So well yeah end of this swooning) but all the women are so aptly dressed in such a striking way. Dakota's bikinis and outfits she wears and them colours. Jesse's shirts and just those businesslike vibes and her amazing hair and just the way she is dressed in each shot. Olivia in that pink dress walking down the street and then in white walking to the beach in the first and last scene. Even the way the first and last scene repeat and pause and have the same music and have the same goosebumpy vibes. Kudos.
So all said and done, I feel like if there was any lack of imagination wrt the mother backstory, the relevance of the orange peels, the role of the husband, why exactly she steals the doll etc (i feel like the doll sequences must be so darn powerful and horrorlike to those who havent read the book esp considering olivia gives horrific vibes all the time in a powerful way but for me they were ok given the book) but all that I can blame Elena for, not Maggie. I think if this were a tribute to Elena and respect to Elena, Maggie did a 10000/10 job and Elena should be so proud. However if Maggie were to take the book and perhaps bring in her own touch and maybe try and figure out the lost endings here and solve for the sloppiness perhaps with her own mommy issues (every intelligent woman has em and its the only issue that troubles us all our life truly speaking), this could have been a true 10000/10. Thinking of the way the director of All of us strangers took the book and then just made it ENTIRELY HIS OWN. I think thats what I mean by that alternate reality. But then everything is its own unique art and one cant compare.
All in all, its definitely worth a watch.
1. The music - I loved the parts where Leda sings in her car, sings along - the choice of songs is great. I also specially loved the end credits and the Leda theme playing there. It felt powerful and I found myself reaching out to apple music to hear the OST this morning so yeah that did stay with me. Think the opening credits were awesome too. Where she is walking and then she just goes and lies down there. And the music starts playing and the title comes. So again, Maggie kills it w the aesthetic in the opening credits, closing credits and everything in between.
2. The casting - Perhaps Maggie Gylenhaal's connections/ network/power where she can perhaps make a phone call and get these guys but then what an ensemble she cracked dude. I mean from Olivia Coleman to Paul Mesac to Jesse Buckley to Dakota Johnson to the dude who plays Lyle to even the daughters - she definitely killed it w the casting if not bringing her own touch to the script in any way
3. I really liked the first shot with Nina and her daughter, and then all the subsquent shots with Dakota in them. I feel like Dakota for me really stood out. I mean so did Olivia and Jesse and Paul etc but I just think that Dakota's face definitely has some kinda etheral beauty and Maggie has done a great job of highlighting that properly. In the sense that a Jesse for instance is also beautiful but in an indie, offbeat, nutjob, short hair, impulsive vibes way and so does an Olivia - boycut, unconventional, big teeth n all that. But then a Dakota. She is just a conventionally good looking chick. And a conventionally good looking girl is just STUNNING. Because that beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder anymore. That beauty just IS. Its objectively there. There aint nothing subjective about that anymore. I dont need to put on any rose tinted or indie glasses to see it. Its there in the way God made her. In her features. In the long thick lustrous hair. In the beautiful pouty lips. The lightish eyes highlighted w eyeliner. The perfect teeth. The flawless skin. That smile. Those eyes. The smize. All of that. Its breathtaking and Maggie did a great job w the close up shots, Dakota's wardrobe etc. DAMN. Can watch that woman for days and how.
4. I think in general, the way Leda and also young Leda have been portrayed, in a very like neutral way almost. There is nothing holier than thou and yet there is nothing too black too. She just is. There is no pity induced and yet there is no hate either for her. One just gets it but without any overdose of any emotion whether empathy sympathy or hatred or judgement. I think thats definitely an achievement on the part of Maggie for sure. Or Elena rather but a win for Maggie to have been able to translate that neutrality into cinema where its obviously harder because of the several constraints involved such as length, lack of verbosity, preconceived notions of viewers abt those actors, just the fact that 10000 people are involved as opposed to just the writer. So a director does have a far far harder job and Maggie does kill.
5. The wardrobe of all the women especially. I didnt notice the men as much (except paul mescal ofcourse who is delightful and even though he probably has 3 scenes here, everytime he comes on screen, the screen just lights up w his presence so he is just fantastic in every single thing and lights up the whole universe!!! Fyi im still reeling from aftersun and all of us strangers so for me he is just a greek god like literally no one in this whole entire universe paul i love you and when i saw him in that first scene where he comes to olivia i actually had no idea about the casting because i like to go into movies completely without seeing trailers or having any preconceived notions whatsoever but then i saw paul suddenly and i was like WAIT THE MOVIE HAS PAUL FKN MESCAL??????????? So well yeah end of this swooning) but all the women are so aptly dressed in such a striking way. Dakota's bikinis and outfits she wears and them colours. Jesse's shirts and just those businesslike vibes and her amazing hair and just the way she is dressed in each shot. Olivia in that pink dress walking down the street and then in white walking to the beach in the first and last scene. Even the way the first and last scene repeat and pause and have the same music and have the same goosebumpy vibes. Kudos.
So all said and done, I feel like if there was any lack of imagination wrt the mother backstory, the relevance of the orange peels, the role of the husband, why exactly she steals the doll etc (i feel like the doll sequences must be so darn powerful and horrorlike to those who havent read the book esp considering olivia gives horrific vibes all the time in a powerful way but for me they were ok given the book) but all that I can blame Elena for, not Maggie. I think if this were a tribute to Elena and respect to Elena, Maggie did a 10000/10 job and Elena should be so proud. However if Maggie were to take the book and perhaps bring in her own touch and maybe try and figure out the lost endings here and solve for the sloppiness perhaps with her own mommy issues (every intelligent woman has em and its the only issue that troubles us all our life truly speaking), this could have been a true 10000/10. Thinking of the way the director of All of us strangers took the book and then just made it ENTIRELY HIS OWN. I think thats what I mean by that alternate reality. But then everything is its own unique art and one cant compare.
All in all, its definitely worth a watch.
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