MEMOIR OF A SNAIL
This is the type of movie that could’ve easily fallen into the category of misery porn. It’s so relentlessly sad at times it’s almost humorous. I believe that may have been the point though because as mentioned during the introduction to the screening I attended, Adam Elliot has a way of breaking your heart into a million pieces and then putting it back together again. I think he accomplishes this by bringing context to the type of characters that are openly mocked in most popular media. We’ve all seen the crazy lady who collects weird things, the edge lord who can’t stay out of trouble, or the wimpy kid that seems to go along with everything. But how did these people get to this point? That’s the question that Memoir of a Snail dares to ask and for many the answer may be worth the pain and sorrow.
EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS
Exhibiting Forgiveness beautifully captures the struggles of creating art and how facing with your inner demons and past trauma can help an artist express themselves, especially when the trauma is generational. This film in particular is about a man who needs to face his past not only to progress as a painter, but also to break the cycle instability and toxic masculinity that has plagued his family for generations.
THE BRUTALIST
As I mentioned previously in my video review I believe The Brutalist is a movie that will be brought up in film studies when discussing this current era. It’s a character driven epic that despite its scale was made on a relatively small budge and shot entirely on Vista Vision. That alone was what immediately grabbed my attention but what kept the film in my memory was just how harrowing the experience of immigration was portrayed on screen. It goes into some rather dark places but never feels exploitative. The Brutalist feels like history in the making and I’m here for it!
