Challengers (2024)

I'm aware that I'm very late to the party on this one. I already missed all the memes to come out of this and don't really know how good most people found it, but I had a damn blast. It was very entertaining :D The soundtrack was super addictive and some shots were really impressive, I really liked the scene in the storm with the big billboard in the back. [Spoilers ahead]

Usually "open" endings are not my friends, but in this particular case I'm glad I'm allowed to imagine whatever dynamic shift I want for these three, so I couldn't even be mad at how it ended. Another thing I'm not really a massive fan of is painfully obvious elements or stories that pop up randomly in conversation to serve as foreshadowing but really just feel like whoever made the movie didn't have faith in the viewers to put two and two together without laying it on really thick. However, considering the ending depended a lot on the audience understanding the reference to Art's serving tick, I think the foreshadowing here was executed flawlessly. You can read it on Patrick's face and see what he's going to do from a mile away, but the pace of the scene and its implications just made it feel really bold and exciting rather than predictable. I also chuckled at the Art's grandma mentions (poor woman, though).

I also want to praise the character writing. To me, Tashi was a really complex character, not because I couldn't grasp her personality or predict her actions, but because her motivations and driving force are so different from my own it makes her fascinating in my eyes. She saw through both of the boys immediately, understanding their deep bond and not really planning to mess with it until she had a messy breakup with Patrick. And you know what? I think she was perfectly justified to do whatever she pleased. In her defense, she was always presented as a sort of reward for the boys, be it when she promised to give her number to whoever won a match or when Patrick made it clear that it was fair game for Art to continue shooting his shot after that. Both boys understood that her interest in them was always partially conditioned by their success, both in tennis or in getting her attention whenever they could. Although I don't really condone infidelity, their relationship and dynamic is so complex that it almost felt like an implicit understanding; slack off, and you might lose her.

I thought it was really interesting how interconnected their relationships and tennis were, consistently mixed up in conversation and used as weapons in their verbal matches. This made it really exciting for me to see the other side of the coin, how personal it got on the last scene when it's a physical match and they have an entire conversation through body language and silent glances. Again, I wasn't necessarily cheering for their actions, but it was really comical how the climax of the scene wasn't a serve, missed point, injury, etc, but a childish comeback such as "regardless of the game, I already slept with her, so suck it". That's cold, but after Art was all big talk in the sauna, fair game. Hard to argue your buddy is a loser when he's almost beating you and your wife still thinks about him. Anyways, great movie.

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

I wanna preface my commentary by saying this movie's genre is not really my thing. That's not to say that I don't get it or can't appreciate psychological horror in general, but since I don't usually gravitate towards these movies I don't have a lot of other stuff I could compare it to, so I wouldn't know how well the execution of creepiness and suspense stands in comparison to other movies in the genre. I'd like to point out that I found this movie visually stunning, though, and I'd say it was worth the watch even if it's a bit out of my comfort zone.

I saw a few reviews dunking on it for being categorized as a horror, but I'm pretty sure they just mean they were expecting jumpscares or more explicitly scary material. I honestly believe that's quite a narrow and reductive definition of horror, and I had no issue identifying the elements that would make this so. This movie is uncomfortable, unsettling and suspenseful and made me feel utterly helpless and claustrophobic the whole time, so it more than fit the bill for me.

I also saw mixed reviews regarding the main theme/allegory. I think it's perfectly understandable for trans people to feel a certain way when presented with this mostly negative portrayal of the trans experience, and it's also not shocking that other people related and found it a faithful representation of all the consequences of repression. Frankly, even if it's not the greatest trans allegory of all time, I think it's an earnest attempt at one, and that's all it's gotta be. I believe we need space for stories like this, happy and sad and inbetween, if we want to live in a world where the queer experience is vastly recorded in all the shapes it can take, much like corny straight romcoms that get to just keep on being made, keep on standing as themselves alone, without the need to be compared to every other straight portrayal or live up to an ideal. I think this movie should be spared from shouldering all the responsibility of being the perfect representation of the experience it is trying to portray, as it's just one of them (hopefully, one day, one of many). I'm glad I watched it.

Conclave (2024)

I'm not a movie expert by any means, but I feel confident in believing this was a good movie. When it comes to movies, even though it's a very visual medium, I engage mostly with the script and ideas when it comes to my analysis, and all the technicalities are sort of secondary to that, but I have to say this was just a gorgeous visual experience. Not because of the sets themselves (for the most part, all of those rooms seem depressing, naked and oddly sterile smelling), but I had the constant feeling that the rooms were talking, each angle and corner handpicked to transmit a sense of dread, or urgency, emptiness, superficiality, and the list goes on.

The plot itself was endlessly entertaining to me. It's no taboo by now that people love to pry and gossip, and I found myself leaning closer to my screen as if I was about to listen to the tea of the century multiple times. Of course, what with the characters representing symbols of purity and righteousness, it feels all the more scandalous to find out about their hidden past. There are many themes that can be explored within this movie, but I'll just bring up the one thing that was stuck in the back of my mind, a striking combination of comical and sad (since it's far from being restricted to the universe of this one movie): the hypocrisy of it all. This was not a subtle message by any means, most of the candidates had glaring flaws and that made for a fair amount of snorts and chuckles throughout. But it really was something to lean back and squint at the realization of where all those people's priorities lie. Adeyemi's chances at becoming the next Pope were extinguished because he slept with a woman 30 years back, a woman who birthed his child, both of whom he abandoned to resume his post. Apparently, for such righteous people, between breaking a vote of celibacy and child abandonment, the former is a bigger offense. People were otherwise fine with appointing this violent homophobe, as long as he wasn't a rule breaker, of course. But Tremblay showed us these rules can apparently also bend a little, provided you line the right pockets :-) I hope Dante was right about the 8th Circle of Hell.

I wasn't shocked by any of their behavior, by the way. Thankfully, criticism towards organized religion is not a new concept. However, it does make my blood boil a little to be reminded of such realities. I particularly enjoyed Benitez's speeches, since deep down I want to believe there are people whose faith pushes them to be kinder. Sinning is human, none of those people are free of it, and they are well aware of it. But they forget you stay within the lines because God is love and understanding, God is empathy and brotherhood, not because a clean record puts you on the fast track to his private club. I hate to say but... this is the Greed they talk about in the Bible.