A film has never impacted me in this way before. I left the theater in a trance. It was as if all the nasty ideas festering inside my head over the last few years had been poured out onto a canvas, and interrogated in stunning detail.

The struggle to maintain some semblance of humanity in an inhuman society, to fend off the ever looming (and oh so appealing) threat of nihilism, is something I've battled with for a long while now. And this movie understands.

But it doesn't lash out. It treats the beliefs it confronts with respect. It acknowledges the societal pressures that cause people to resort to ideologies like nihilism or religion, and tactfully avoids demonizing anyone who falls into the trap.

And the characters in this film make mistakes, some that many would consider unforgivable. Yet they are forgiven. Because these mistakes are merely a symptom of the contradictions and anxieties of modern living. A desperate search for solutions in a world that has no interest in providing them. And that level of compassion and nuance is sorely missing from Hollywood these days.

Through it's darkly humorous dialogue and colorful visuals, this film teaches us to reject inhuman concepts, and embrace the reality of life. The reality of each other.

p.s. totally gonna read the book now