I think this movie is one that when it clicks with someone it has the potential to be one of the most powerful films for them that year, but it's also a film that will alienate a lot of people. It's a film that so perfectly and powerfully portrays that all consuming, suffocating stagnation of feeling so out of place- knowing you’re out of place compared to those around you- and in response forcing yourself to fit what other people expect of you. And that will hit for a lot of people who have experienced that or are currently experiencing that. And I really respect the movie for being willing to take such bold swings and so confidently commit to what it's trying to say and do. It knows not everyone is going to connect with it and it's trying to impact and help people discover themselves for those who share some aspect of the experience it's centered around.
Interesting, a Director that is Transgender, and has Gender Dysphoria,.. that said they sought to make an intensely personal film,.... made a movie like this. For me it brought me to tears with how much I resonated with it. I was literally Gobsmacked. The true horror of the movie though is not so much what is happening on screen. What happens on screen is just an approximation of what all Trans people struggle with daily. It's the fact that there are millions of people with Dysphoria that feel this....every day of our lives. Owen and Maddie represent two possible lives. A life of Transition and being genuine,... and a Life in the closet. "that all consuming, suffocating stagnation of feeling so out of place- knowing you’re out of place compared to those around you- and in response forcing yourself to fit what other people expect of you." It's the fact that there are millions of people with Dysphoria that feel this....every day of our lives. Owen and Maddie represent two possible lives. A life of Transition and being genuine,... and a Life in the closet. What I would like is that people that may not resonate with this film, take from it that this is how Trans people feel in our world. If you felt bad for Owen,.... there are millions of Owen's in the real world.
@@clarissanavarro2762damn, that was beautiful lol. I’m not trans but I resonated with this SO much. It could definitely become one of my favorite films.
This film was definitely one that had me thinking about it for several days after I saw it. I thought how it handled its themes of identity, repression, and inner turmoil was quite affecting. It’s clearly a very personal film and I’m really impressed the director let us in on their experience in a lot of ways. The “metaphors” you mentioned are a lot deeper than I think you give them credit for, but I completely understand not connecting to the characters. The Pink Opaque is a mirror, not just a TV show.
The Pink Opaque is reality. The film takes place in the "midnight realm," which is false. It's an allegory for transsexuality. You are born male but feel that you are female, just as Owen was born Owen but feels as though he is Isobel from the show. The director, who is trans, is saying "no, you really are the opposite sex just as Owen really is Isobel."
People say the rock and Tom cruise play the same character but Justice smith literally plays the same character in every movie lol. He’s always scared in every movie .
I usually don’t enjoy his performances but he actually had a physicality and connectivity to this specific character and it’s probably the best I’ve seen him. It actually seemed like he did character work and developed something.
genuine question here, is there a reason you didnt directly touch on the trans themes of this movie? They seem pretty central to the messaging of the movie, especially the ending, so I'm surprised to see a lot of critics not bringing it up in their reviews.
Either they ( not being trans) did not recognize them,....or else,... may have wanted to ignore them. I would like to believe that it's the former. But I can understand that for some it would be the latter. There are a few among us that want to believe that dysphoria is not real. Since Dysphoria is not real in their delusion,... then this movie cannot be about dysphoria,... so... it has to be about something else, even though 90 % of people that experience dysphoria say " this movie is about Dysphoria." Including the Director !!! So could they be ignorant of the fact that Jane is trans? Or maybe they are ignorant that Jane said this movie was about dysphoria and transition? Only they know. ( they used as a singular FTW!!!) /trans humor
@@glyndwr15 I totally could, it's not only just a 'trans allegory' but an allegory for the entire broad of the LGBTQ identity, and the same suffocating feeling not just trans people suffer. Hell not even LGBTQ people suffer... I felt the pain of something I couldn't be, the horror of being suffocated and suddenly, I'm older and dying to a life trapped as a person I don't want to be, a person with big dreams to chase that were repressed to take simplicity... To reject ambition because of fear of failure. How one is forced to be taunted by a reality that they cannot have, or so you'd think...
I liked this movie, and that they went to the trouble of creating an in universe TV show alongside the actual movie. Justice Smith and Bridgette Lundy Paine were fantastic, I can't wait to see more of their future projects.
Even though you didn't like it, the way you were describing it made me feel like it would be the kind of thing I would like, so I went to see it, and it's my favorite movie of the year. 😊
There was one scene about halfway in that scared tf out of me and from that point on, I thought the movie was really good. Wasn't crazy about the movie before that
I loved this movie. But I do think it's not for everyone. The ending is fantastic because it's all building to that. Owen is so reserved about his innermost urges and feelings (ie who he really is) so the climax is all of that repression exploding out of him. It breaks him because he's been holding inside for all his life. And although "there is still time" I think the end leaves it mildly ambiguous because we do wonder, is there still time for him?
Just wanted to correct a couple things.... Owen is a girl. So just switch the "he/him/his" to "she/her/hers" and you got it perfect. There are more than enough clues to point to the fact that Owen is a repressing and non cracked trans femme egg. There is even a scene where their egg cracked. Yes this movie is about regret,...but regret about what? Regret of not transitioning and continuing to live an un-genuine life according to the rules that many around us seek to impose on everyone. I know many will disagree. But,... then they are ignoring what the Transgender director said about how they wanted to tell an intensely personal story about Dysphoria and Transition. In their words,..." Transition is traumatic." they wanted people to see that in an emotional language they might get even if they cannot totally understand why Owen breaks down,.... her breakdown is obvious, and Jane hoped that _that_ comes across to others around us tthat may struggle with understanding dysphoria.
@@clarissanavarro2762I personally think it makes more sense to call Owen by gender neutral pronouns, because they're literally too repressed to be at any point of their gender identity journey tbh.
@@radiofloyd2359 hmmmm... and yet in their dreams they appear femme in a few spots. I am a trans woman that was "too repressed to be at any point in" my journey through my whole life,... I was still a trans woman. Just because for a Long time I was repressed did not suddenly make me gender neutral. Interesting point, but... there is more than enough in the film to see them as femme. Especially that scene where she is all glammed up in the grave. Not gender neutral at all. To be honest,... this seems a touch of " They did not say they were she/her so... must have been they/them." I think the same way that you saw the show as her seeking escapism as a form of dissociation, which I saw thanks to your pointing it out , we can see elements that show that she is trans femme.
@@clarissanavarro2762 I use gender neutral pronouns for people of whom I don't know the pronouns (unless they're obviously a man or a woman), and while the main character is definitely femme, I couldn't tell they were a woman, if that makes sense. Like transfem enby people exist as well! Anyway, I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to these things.
@@radiofloyd2359 The difference is, that while that makes sense from the perspective of..." if all we have to look at is how Owen behaves and presents and things they say..." Then yes.... using gender neutral for her makes sense. Except that we see more...we actually see her dreaming.... When in the film do we see Owen as a woman? " in her dreams" which can also indicate how unlikely Owen thinks it is that they could ever be their true self... " I'm a woman??? in my dreams" Ummm.. exactly.
I got a different vibe from the film. I took Owen to be autistic and asexual. There is one small flashback where he's seen in dress but doesn't look happy at all. He looks like he's sliding into schizophrenia by the end. He claims a family that we never see and he still comes off as a virgin. Not into men or women. Not even repressing female urges, just out of place. If you have ever been an outsider, you can resonate with this movie. It's odd but it connects.
I took that conversation on the bleachers as everything in Owen's life being dull and not worth thinking about because he wasn't living as who he was supposed to be, not because he's literally asexual. We also see a lot of evidence of that being the case in the third act
I also felt he was possibly on the spectrum, I have four boys on the spectrum and my oldest is very high functioning- certain mannerisms and his speech/cadence when speaking reminded me of what I have experienced with my own children.
That is the beauty of art. I also felt that Owen was asexual, but I did not think it was autism. I know autism, and what Owen experienced had features in common with autism, the social anxiety for example. But there were no executive function issues,... no emotional deregulation,.. no sensitivity to different sensations. What I saw in Owen is gender dysphoria. Dysphoria has the social anxiety of autism, and many people (like myself ) that have gender dysphoria also have autism as well... but... Owen is a non-autistic trans person. There are many clues in the film to suggest they are a trans femme, even if asexual. (Some of them exist,... Not me, I live in the total and utter other end of the spectrum from asexuals ). While I get that many cisgender people may be struggling with how trans this movie is,... I think Jane ( transgender non-binary, they/them ) sought to provide us all a common _emotional_ language to talk to one another about the emotional aspects of transgender lives,...especially those of us that struggle with gender dysphoria. Not all of us do. BTW, I know people like saying that Non-binary people do not struggle with gender dysphoria, but that is so untrue. One of my friends is AMAB started transitioning to femme because they knew they were not a boy,... but then when they were heading into femme,... realized they were not a girl either... by that time they had a cuvy body with huge breasts, which they now want to have a double mastectomy, or at least breast reduction,... to address. They tell me that at first they hated being referred to as a boy (edited), they were misgendered constantly,.... until they started being referred to as a girl,...and did not experience the Euphoria they expected, but instead,...felt dysphoria. They realized at that point... Non-binary. Back on topic,... It is art. Everyone sees Art differently,.... but this is in my opinion, less art,... and more of an artistic attempt to facilitate a conversation that has been a Long time coming, and is much needed. I just hope that the cisgender people among us that did not understand it, can open their minds to Owen and Maddie's experiences with the above in mind, and maybe it can help them understand what our emotional lives are like.
as a trans woman I'm finding so many of the interpretive "gaps" this movie is leaving to be very emotionally resonant; I'm listening to Jane speak, watching along, and it's making absolute sense to me as a capturing of my emotional experience - and all I've seen so far is trailers, clips, featurettes (I don't know when it's gonna hit the UK but I think I'll be waiting a while) Jane Schoenbrun makes tone poems that are emotionally true if you can tap into the experience their imagery is evoking, not linear narrative movies that make traditional sense I'm so ridiculously happy that A24 is investing in and taking this kind of material to the masses and very proud of Schoenbrun and other queer horror film makers that are smashing it right now, like Robbie Banfitch, Kyle Edward Ball, Rose Glass
I loved everything about this movie, it had everyone talking and buzzing after it ended. Everyone under 20 years old in the theatre had no idea how to interpret the movie, but that didn’t surprise me. It just makes me sad for our gen-z future. I know the director said there was a lot of metaphors of going through life as “trans.” However I found that you didn’t have to be trans to relate to the main character Owen, or to interpret what is happening in the film. Being an outcast who feels alienated by society can result from many different issues. For those of you under 20 that left confused and said “I don’t get it,” well…I can’t help you.
Just to add. The episode guide at the power line section explains the entire plot of the movie in it as Season 6 Episode 1. The movie is not just a movie it’s the first episode of season 6 of the Pink Opaque. The movie is a Pink Opaque episode. And that implies that he will escape which will finally be episode 2.
The meaning of the movie to me asides what personally happens with Owen and his friend Maddy is that sometimes people lose themselves/live vicariously and end up being transformed by it in some regard. Like for me I watched Lost from middle school trough high school and that just sort of triggered something in me to strive to make connections. The biggest problem in the movie though is Justice Smith *trying* to be a 9th grader. that does not work. Thankfully most of the movie is set after high school. This movie hit me though I teared up a few times notably in Maddy's monologue. I also feel relatable to Owen.
Not only am I sick of that trope, I'm also sick to death of 'lets examine 90's nostalgia and how horrifying it is", so this movie was a big double whammy for me 😂 I got all the trans allegories despite knowing nothing about the movie or director ahead of my viewing, but I just felt like it was very ham-fisted and beating you over the head with the messaging.
The more I sat with my thoughts on this one, the more I liked it. I think that it’s going to be a lot harder for people who didn’t feel like an outsider in high school to connect with this one. Even harder for straight cis people to connect with it. The movie is about a time before the internet was huge and it was easy to find people that liked the same things you did and who were like you. I lived in a small town and only had a few friends, but none that understood how a tv show like Buffy meant so much to me as a kid.
Although the main idea of this movie was supposed to be about a trans realization, i wish i honed more into the isolation and depressing themes it presented
I 100% agree with you. I wanted to be emotional devastated by this movie. It just felt like a queer teen movie. Ver disappointed but the music and visual was great
EXATLY….. I care they have my attention!! Edit it builds an ending that stop!! It was missing the climate in my opinion!!! because it really got me into story and I was like that that’s how you chose to end it!! awesome
@@prathapkutty7407 just gives me an uncomfortable feeling, like he’s very insecure in real life and if he did something troubling I wouldn’t be surprised but hopefully I’m totally wrong
Same. I was disappointed because someone reviewed this months ago and said it was their favorite movie of Sundance. Both of their voices was annoying and the story didn't keep me in.
@@mbryanf I'm 25 turn 26 in 2 weeks so I don't know what you're on about. I've watched a lot of movies in my lifetime and been to film festivals. Even Austin didn't like it and he's a married man with a kid so stop with your generalizations. The two gay men from Fish Jelly Film Reviews RU-vid channel even said they didn't like it. Everything ain't for everybody.
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Except for those of us that have similar tastes to the people reviewing the films. Not every movie goer likes sundance film festival movies. This only "hurts" the movie in that it may not draw in the people for whom the film was not intended. Just a thought. It's Like... If I through a party for Trans people, and invite a Lot of trans people with imagery and art that is trans specific,.... and the invites are found by cis people that are put off by it,.... does that mean that the party is " hurt" because no cis people showed up? I am by no stretch saying this film is not for cis people. It very much is for you if you have an open mind to try and understand it for what it is.... an emotional Rosetta Stone for cis people, about the Transgender experience. Transgender people will apreciate it, because we are fluent in Egyptian Heiroglyphoics... metaphorically. But this film helps us to communicate with the cis that may not understand what dysphoria feels like,... by giving us something that they can emotionally grasp for... " When Owen was experiencing this.... that is exactly how I felt when...." type of conversations.
Nostalgia click bait imagery, queer love letter of the the director/writer’s growing up emo coming of age choice to suppress their queer self or become part of the social norms of society. Annoying movie and cringe for me. A pretentious meandering mess of atmosphere yet deep for those that can relate. For me I was like dude, stop being emo and be who ever you want to be, do what you want to do with your life rather than living life within a tv show.
It’s a calculated agenda. From LGBT & from the left. They know what they’re doing . The goal is to keep kids and young adults in their 20s away from self respect, decency, accountability & normalcy. They want this. The movie couldn’t be more obvious. Make everyone in this group make them feel like they’re special and a part of something and suck up to them for their vote & conformity. Men used to be MEN. What we have today is so wrong and ALL SHAME has gone out the window to push their message and corrupt the world
I had so much hope for this movie and at a point I really thought it was about a couple of people on a different world fighting monsters who get defeated and are put in a different dimension and now stuck there with one of them trying to desperately Convince the other that’s what’s happening. But it’s just some bullshit about being trans.. 😭😮💨🤷♂️
This movie was such a snooze fest. I grew up in the 90s as a shy teen with a very small circle of friends. Discovered The X-Files and made a local friend online, we’d have sleepovers watching episodes on tape, share recordings on VHS, etc. I should’ve loved this and related more to it but it fell VERY flat. The 2 leads are awful actors. I actually wanted to leave halfway through, which is very rare for me, I kept watching hoping it would get better… But it didn’t. 2/10
I think you think you understand what you think that word means but, if you are applying it to This Film,... you either do not know what that word means, or... you are wrong.
No, It is Not Transphobic to hate the movie. Feel free to hate it. Some movies are made with mass appeal in Mind... in fact 98 % probably are. You have a LOT of movies that are being made with you in mind. This just does not happen to be one of them.
It's not transphobic to hate the movie, but it does disturb me a little how seemingly incapable a lot of cis people seem to be of empathizing with queer themes.
