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chaboldayh
I don't have this much free time so if I come here to review something, it means it left a strong impression on me. Which, I don't know, it can indicate something about wether the movie is watchable, or not. Or maybe not. Anyway have a good day.
Reviews
Apostasy (2017)
Unexpectidly apostatic / Spoilers ahead!
I'd like to say first, if you haven't watched the movie, I do think reading the spoilers would spoil it for you, so maybe pass on that review.
So I came to this film after a long time researching what I would watch that night. When I found this title, I wasn't expecting much else than the "predictable route" movies about leaving a religion often chose to follow. Not something bad, but the typical story of movies about this subject, much like in the dystopian movies where the character is first exposed to the reason why this is a dystopia, then chooses to fight, then joins the revolution, etc, etc. Doesn't make the story bad, it just makes it predictable.
But this movie went to places I just didn't imagine. The story isn't of a character who slowly comes to the realisation that something is wrong - then quits - then, freedom and consequences. No, no. We actually follow three main characters: a daughter, her sister, and their mother. We leave our first character when she dies after refusing blood transfusion, and then we slowly comes to the realisation that she's gone as we now follow her grieving mother. The character who decides to leave the cult, the older sister, isn't the only one which the story is about, and actually appeared to me almost as a secondary character here.
What we follow is rather those who stay, those who can't get away from the cult. And through their experiences, and a very interesting direction, we get to experience this life, as if in a bubble. To me, someone who's never been involved with anything or anyone related to this cult, this felt as if being into another world. Being trapped. All of those grey lights, those curtains on the windows, those spaces which do not seem to belong in the same society I live in. And here we see lives we could see change, we could see leaving, because of the pain they experience. We see the doubt, the hesitation, the desire to leave. But those two, they do not. They stay in. They stay imprisoned, in a way. Well, this is what I felt.
So the apostasy is, somewhat, secondary: it provokes the story, it moves the minds of those thow characters, but, eventually, it doesn't, and I think it's what it's also about. They aren't chained, there is no bars between them and the world, but they are trapped, it's as if they do not have any other choice.
The images, the music, the acting, everything was great and I loved this movie despite not knowing about the Jehova's Witnesses very well. I think this movie brings questions about freedom that can be interesting to anyone.
Dim the Fluorescents (2017)
I loved this.
I just watched the movie and it was just so awesome. I can't believe I've never heard of it before. I found out totally by chance and the first seconds of the trailer were enough to decide me to watch the whole thing.
This movie just brings so many feelings. It's funny, it's sad. I'f you've ever been involved in the art world, it will feel so real, too. I felt that it explored many interesting questions alongside the story it tells us: what is art, how do we value it, how can we do it in this world. What is real, and raw, and what isn't. It raised all of them for me at least.
The story is not predictable, nor are the characters. The acting is great. It will take you to unexpected places. The direction is also very interesting. I can't thing of one thing I didn't like in this movie. Everything worked, everything brings something.
If you haven't watched it yet, go for it. You'll just leave the movie with something more. Definitely worth two hours of your time.