It's a 3 part Marxist essay, exploring the dynamics of power in 3 scenarios. Part one, the date, is within the same class, and how even then, they are at odds and trying to take advantage for their own gain. The photoshoot section points out how the middle class is complicit in their own subjugation, as they happily and desperately jump through hoops to appeal to those of higher status in the smallest way. Part two, the yacht, is the current, 'normal' world. The super rich are on top as the guests running the show, the middle class are the 'face' staff who handle most of the guest interactions and are super suck up to get money, and then there are the below-deck working class, who keep the ship running behind the scenes. The upper class behave badly, the middle class overly-indulge them when they should say no, leading to disasters, and the working class just clean up their messes to keep things going. Part 3 is the flipped power dynamic after the social 'uprising'. The working class is now in charge, and the middle class switches their loyalties, but ultimately the world reasserts itself and the rich rise back up.
Yes! In the end, Abigal will likely find herself in an even worse situation (jail or dead) than toilet cleaner when she is found out. It's interesting that the middle class perpetuates the madness. I saw this all the time in corporate. It's more than doing their assigned duties, it's also doing the devil's work.
You missed one other part Abigail did on the island - make the fires. She made a point of asking several times if anyone can fish, anyone can clean and cook the fish, or if anyone can make the fire. No one else could. She did the trifecta of the important work herself.
I don't think Carl suspected Yaya would be hurt. I think he was running to stop Abigail from telling Yaya about them because he found out there's a resort on the island and that he didn't have to accept his relationship with Abigail anymore.
He was selfish the entire movie so maybe he realized Yaya invited Abigail alone on a hike and thought Yaya might kill Abigail out of jealousy, so he's running to save Abigail who's his meal ticket.
I agree with Richard below, this recap makes me really want to watch. Thank you for the trigger warning about the donkey. That stuff bothers me, I appreciate knowing when I need to cover my eyes and ears!
I loved this film so much, such a ridiculous fun time it was great to watch with a big audience. Definitely don't eat before watching tho, act 2 is hilarious but so so gross 😭
Samples of 'role - reversal' attitudes breaking through from both of you in this story. :) Joseph 's highlight on the "Who am I?" demand, gave me food for thought. But, the going for the donkey scene - and, the 'stink' (of the rich?!) Nick: "decomposition that's always on hand that we're ignoring." Didn't realize this could be an entertaining watch, once :)
I got the impression after the Russian wife was trying to get the female crew member to go in the jacuzzi that she was bisexual and that her both her and her husband are sleeping with the mistress… she definitely put her hand on the young woman’s thigh and wanted to see her in a bathing suit. Then it became about control. Carl liked having women take care of him. Yaya makes more money but she expects Carl to take care of her… so their compromise is that they try to be equal, until one or the other finds a rich partner. Carl doesn’t admit this at first so we think she’s awful by manipulating him, but we see they are actually both the same… willing to sell themselves sexually to be kept by a richer/more powerful person.
I love the 3rd part so much. Abigail vs white rich peeps feels so much like developed western countries vs developing asian countries. The scene when the blonde lady took away food and water from Abigail was such a satire. I also feel like the island is like a place indicates a place where western centered power is demolished and that is the only place where people of color have a chance to be the leader.
I loved this movie. Such a wild, crazy ride. It’s also very sad to note that Charlbi Dean Kriek (who played Yaya) died tragically just after the film was released :/
If the flies were purposely included or added I wonder if it could be a reference to Lord of the Flies. Which seems to have similarities to (at least the 3rd act) this film.
I just watched this last night and I loved it. Your review is excellent! I know I'm late tot he party here. You've got a new subscriber. One part that got me, early on is how JEALOUS the beautiful couple were. And the jealousy lead to a crew member (Dmitiri?) getting fired because he was hot and had his shirt off. The captain's dinner scene was extraordinary!
I have not seen this movie yet because it is not in theaters in my state yet, apparently. BUT based on what you have described, the flies could be an allusion to “Lord of the Flies,” a little intertext, perhaps.
I watched this last night and enjoyed it. In the end, all I could think is, absolute power does absolutely corrupt. I think Abigail almost had a change of heart at the end, but when Yaya said you could be my assistant it took her over. She no longer wanted to be in a servile role. I understand that, but to be ready to kill because you want to have power over someone else. I suppose we see this corruption all the time when looking at the world.
I agree power corrupts. With Abigail we don't know what she does at the end. Does she kill Yaya, or does she change her mind? A great thought thought provoking ending.
I just watched Ostlund's "The Square", and would love to hear your review. If you ever host a Best Foreign Films Live review, what a terrific choice to put on the list. Thank you for the excellent show today.
I thought it was interesting that you said you know the island is inhabited with the peddler. I clued in with the reveal of the donkey. A donkey is a domesticated animal they aren't wild like a bird or squirrel. Maybe that was my own knowledge and made a spoiler before it was revealed.
The actress of the woman with the stroke is actually Iris Berben, a German actress (back in the day) and the phrase she says is actually German and translates to "in the clouds".
I really hated how the Africans showed up in the most superficial/dehumanizing ways. The “Rolex” hawker, the pirates.. smh I wish euro filmmakers would leave us out of their mess
I found this film so heavy handed that it got really boring. It seemed to make its point and then just wallow in it. Fail to see what the fuss is about.
The fly followed Carl for a majority of the film.I think it was symbolic for the fact that he really didn’t belong there.He wasn’t really rich but used his looks as leverage.He’s very insecure and wants to fit in and objectifies himself to anyone as means of survival.
My favourite part of act 2 was when all the guests are in the hall w/life preservers and this flashlight is shining down a spotlight on different groups of them, their facial expressions took me out LOL. They look like refugees
I think Karl running at the end probably means that people from the resort side (like the saleman who met the German lady who had a stroke) are showing up and the revelation has reached Karl and the others. He might be running because it dawned on him what Abigail's reaction might be and what that means for Yaya. Also, the Captain's assistant said "any day but Thursday due to the weather" but the Captain insisted on Thursday and so his incompetence made the seasickness-food poisoning debacle possible as well.
I fast forwarded that part. I thought the donkey killing was the funniest part, so it's kinda interesting to hear Nick and Joe reacted the inverse. Shows how this movie walks the line between satire and drama.
Definitely on the nose, but I didn’t find it to be preachy like so many films satirizing class dynamics are. The working class on the boat are not portrayed as inherently more noble or “better” people than the wealthy. They’re just people without power over others. They could be just as easily corrupted by power as the wealthy have been. BRAVO! Also I love that y’all caught the inverted positions of Carl and Ya Ya by the end. The dynamic of their relationship has become the complete opposite of what it was at the beginning of the movie. Really great stuff 👍🏼
My partner and I saw it. I agree that it gets heavy handed in the way the social satire is executed. Rather cartoonish. Fun in bits. My partner wanted to walk out from the first scene and gave it 0 stars. I give it 2.5 as good and not so good.
Enjoyed this, the bluntness of the political elements/characters/stereotypes didn't really bother me, saw that a few publications gave it very negative reviews for what appeared to be this reason, but they were paywalled. Very sad to learn of Ms. Kriek's passing, RIP.
Great review! I’d love to hear equally what both of you have to say :) Maybe split the review into parts between you both so people don’t get talked over?
The movie should have ended with the question when Yaya asked abigail "Do you want to be my assistant?" rather than having carl run hysterically in the jungle. It would have fit the theme of the movie and with a better impact for the end. imo
I still don't know what the deal with the pirates was. Why did they throw a grenade on the ship? I mean what was their goal here? Surely not hostages. And looting will be hard with a sinking ship as well. So just some kind of assassination? If so, why then proceed to board and start shooting, on a ship that is about to get its heck blown off?
It was a great story flipping social classes, showing how disgusting it is when people kiss ass to raise social ranks, its so symbolic. The movie is brilliant! " In the clouds!!"
"In den Wolken" , German ""In the Clouds"" / As usual I find your observations very good. Agree about the donkey scene, at least we don't really see the animal. Really related to the dinner scene where Woody H is served a burger and fries, while the others have octopus tentacles, etc on their plates.
"This looks like one of ours", was one of few, fun, dark moments, in my opinion. It was a lot of good points around power dynamic. But nothing new. I didn't like this movie. I had to force myself to finish watching.
Just finished watching this movie. I have to say, it was a very disappointing movie, didnt really like it. All the critiques the movie was trying to make felt extremely on the nose and superficial
I liked the film a lot, but I hated everything that happened in it. As a Marxist myself I appreciated the digs at the rich & powerful, but I found myself trying to get a bit deeper into the movie and think about these characters. And the more I did that, the more and more horrible this film became - to the point where I was really annoyed by the fact that everyone else did nothing but laugh at it, when everything that was happening was a inhumane and terrible. At one point I tought that the movie really brings out something ugly in us. It wants us to laugh at the characters in the movie as they suffer - especially the rich ones - and go "yeah serves you right!" Now, being a socialist myself, I hate rich people very much, but I don't want them to suffer. Cause what does that solve? I just want justice. But the movie wanted us to laugh at someone while they're falling down the stairs, it wanted us to - essentially - be cruel to characters that represent a class of people who are cruel to us in real life. Yet I kept hoping that, the movie would go beyond that and that one of our characters would start seeing the humanity in some of those helpless rich bastards and teach them how to do things and in return they might get to view the people that usually work for them in a different light. We actually did get a glimpse of that in the last few scenes, where the vapid influencer white girl says that she's impressed with how Abigail managed to pull the group through, but then she just says that she wants to help Abigail by letting her being her assistant and gets killed (which, after after such a dehumanizing sentence - fair enough). I wanted a bit more of that. But it wasn't that kind of story, which is fine, I just didn't like that the movie expected me to revel in the cruelty, like a simpleton who cannot see and appreciate what's happening below the surface. And finally, one thing that really disturbed me about the movie, is that it kind of exposes how powerless we are. The world is so inhumane and the wealthy are so entrenched in their political, social & financial positions, that - just to pick an example of the present - people like Elon Musk can afford to buy and ruin one of the most important means of communication on the planet in a way that not only upsets and negatively affects millions of people's lives, but also neither serve his interests as a face for brands and all we non-rich folk can do is make up fictional stories where people like him finally "get what's coming" only to feel good about it for one evening and then go back to being the letting them exploit us. It's depressing stuff.
The character with one phrase that she's speaking with varying inflections reminds me of Groot's, "I am Groot." - Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel. 💫 (You're probably not a fan, but some others who comment might appreciate this.)
Abigail’s reasons for keeping the spoils of her work are the same as corporate owners…. She caught the fish, she made the fire and she cooked the food… and later in the boat with Carl she even says that she’s responsible for all these people so why shouldn’t she have what she wants? Not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be here but all I got was that capitalism is a brutal system but it’s not because of individual of humans it’s more that it’s human nature… Abigail was willing to kill at the end in order to keep her position and influence… something we usually hate the rich for. When really, whether it’s fish or money, the person who earns it gets to keep it, and gets to use it as leverage against the rest of humanity.
When the crew is ordered to go swimming, the chef tells Madam Paula that the seafood will go bad if they stop working... The storm just accelerated or encouraged the projectile vomiting.
How many donkeys have to die! But really the first 3rd could be cut. My friend told me Dolly is one of the most acclaimed actresses in the Philippines. #TeamAbigail
I think you forgot the vital moment at the end 5:50 when Yaya was conversing with Abigail saying that she could work for her. I don't think the film intended to imply that she killed Yaya, more so that she sided with her. Sounds like they may edited the final release.
