The director demanded a lot from me during this movie. Only A24 can deliver something as insane as this project directed by Ari Aster, whose previous works ('Hereditary' and 'Midsommar') with the same studio cemented him as a 'mainstream' horror master. Now, this foundation is shaking under his feet because, from what I've read, this movie failed to perform at the Box Office and lost a significant amount of money. I dare to say that the Box Office is not a measure of a good movie, but when dealing with a multimillion-dollar project like this one, your movie should have broad appeal and probably be easier to digest. I watched this rollercoaster at home, but I'm uncertain how I would have reacted if I were watching it elsewhere, especially during the middle of the film. I could have just left the cinema, but here in my house, I was glued to the TV, and I absorbed this 3-hour fiasco. I guess the movie flopping just proves Ari Aster's point that we do not wish to look at the suffering of someone else from our species. When we cross paths with mental illness, we usually run in a different direction.
'One can see that the subject will go out of his way to feed a bird or a fish but not to support a suffering member of his own species. This is nothing new; the subject has thoughts every day on how to alleviate the suffering of those less fortunate. By all indications, he has a healthy functioning conscience; he just chooses to ignore it.'
Such a powerful statement that got me thinking that we are truly witnessing mental illness unleashed in this film. And as I said, this movie flopping just provides extended proof of what was written before us. The director chose to show you aspects of different mental illnesses: Anxiety Disorders; Depression; Bipolar Disorder; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Schizophrenia; Eating Disorders; Disruptive behavior and dissocial disorders, drug use, and a couple of complexes while taking the main character played masterfully by Joaquin Phoenix on a 3-hour roller coaster journey. Aster shines a light on the physical damages that often come with mental illness and their interconnectedness every time our character meets a new challenge along his twisted way. The movie itself is like an abstract painting and can take many forms in your mind, but at its core, it provides a point of view on mental illness and how that shapes our reality and controls our body, and how humans are so powerless against it, yet it is often overlooked because of the stigma that comes with it. The stigma, as if it is your choice to take this road, as well as all the suffering that comes with it. And that is why we tend to look away, because of this suffering, because mixed with our own can be overwhelming just like this movie was in parts. I don't look away from its brilliance because it didn't fail to prove its point, and even the parts that slowed the pace or went so far were part of the whole picture. I would love to discuss it with you if you want to share your opinion of it because we rarely see big balls like this anywhere.
Patti LuPone is extraordinary. Just like Toni Collette in 'Hereditary' and Florence Pugh in 'Midsommar', she has a vital role for the success of this story.
Iliya Badev
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