i don’t have the mental energy to write another review because i am so conflicted about this film and i’ve written and rewritten my review about five times.

but i’m going to copy/paste parts of those to form my final review.

loved the cinematography, but while it may have produced some absolutely beautiful images, i feel like there were times that it really kept me at arm’s length. at those points, i couldn’t feel a great sense of intimacy, it just felt sort of vacant. i didn’t feel a ton of what i think cuaron wanted me to feel, and i think ultimately it’s because there’s a sense of emptiness or directionlessness that comes as a result of him wanting to make this film a universal experience.

however.

i think it’s a beautiful piece about how much the world demands of women both domestically and on a much much larger scale, and how little we give them in return. and how men are shit. and every single technical element supports that theme.

how it uses cinematic language to represent the fact that this is a story about and for anyone is also one of its greatest strengths.

Yalitza Aparicio gives a masterful performance that i feel like i initially didn’t even appreciate until thinking about it later.

here are some other reviews that represent some problems i had with it:
boxd.it/AdkjH
boxd.it/zJU99
boxd.it/AgL83 (minus the sound design part bc i thought it was great)

and a positive one:
open.spotify.com/episode/1HFCcaAojOPRWiNUMnRV3a?si=RK65QvS5R6GmLSDLfA2U7Q (2nd half of this podcast)