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givemeyourhonor) wrote2025-04-10 07:51 am
givemeyourhonor) wrote2025-04-10 07:51 am
Entry tags:
Movies over the last two weeks.
I got myself a letterboxd account because I decided I should watch more movies, and the last two weeks I watched Pyscho (1960) and Saltburn.
Pyscho: I have a funny relationship to this film because when I was a child and visiting my grandparents in California, we went to Universal Studios, and they had an attraction around special effects and showed the shower scene from Pyscho. I was scared of someone killing me in the show forever lmao!
But I think because of that, the shower scene wasn't that terrifying. What I didn't know was how much movie there was leading up to that and how tense it is. How much of it is this woman being afraid of being caught for her crime of impulse. How much of this probably also happened because of the tensions of the time. Janet Leigh's character Marion, is driven by her desire to be with her boyfriend, who is too poor to marry her, partially because she feels ashamed of their trysts. But it's just tense.
The scene with her and Anthony Perkin's Bates is also incredible. The discussion of being trapped. Roger Ebert said that Pyscho endures because of how much of it relates to our fear of committing a crime and I have to agree as someone who has experienced the ridiculous "Oh no I have to hide a body" nightmare.
There is also so much care taken to showing how Norman disposes of the body. Like an excessive amount.
Also, regarding the film's most controversial element at the end hasn't aged well, even though I think that Hitchcock probably wasn't thinking about that in the way that we do these days. Still transphobia though.. It's messy because I think the ending scene with Norman as his mother is very strong, but it's still tied up into that.
Overall, I think the movie is worthwhile.
Saltburn is one that I know people have some controversy on. And I could talk about how people get mad about how it either does or doesn't live up to being "eat the rich," and how I think analyzing every film about rich people behaving badly through that specific lens is a bit silly
There's a lot of squicks in it for me, ngl. Even though I think those are the least interesting parts beyond what they say about Oliver's obsessions.
I love the look of this whole thing so much. Gorgeous looking. No wonder tumblr loves it.
Thematically, I like how it's about isolation. And Oliver's obsession with Felix feels like genuine attraction mixed with a fixation on what Felix represents. Not just wealth (definitely wealth though), but also acceptance and belonging.
I think Oliver is highly manipulative, but that he wasn't planning from the beginning to cuckoo nest the Cattons. He wanted to be part of their lives, and murdering Felix was part crime of passion/fear that Felix might change his mind and reveal the truth. Oliver wants continuing access to the family and their home. That's what a lot of it is about to me. Access to them and more importantly what they represent.
Killing Venetia was also impulse and fear because she had realized he was suspicious. I'm pretty convinced that despite the razor blades, he did actually kill her, or he came back and staged the body because of how intense the scene was. He didn't anticipate being asked to leave by James though and ruminated for years. Elspeth's murder was calculated though. I do think he kind of needs to believe he was an evil mastermind at the end, and the naked dancing through the empty house feels a bit hollow. They can never kick him out now, but what happens after?
I would kind of criticize that everything after Felix's death feels like we're rushed towards the end, though that works too, considering that Felix is such a drive for Oliver. Also Farleigh, you got done dirty in the story, but you're better off.
Pyscho: I have a funny relationship to this film because when I was a child and visiting my grandparents in California, we went to Universal Studios, and they had an attraction around special effects and showed the shower scene from Pyscho. I was scared of someone killing me in the show forever lmao!
But I think because of that, the shower scene wasn't that terrifying. What I didn't know was how much movie there was leading up to that and how tense it is. How much of it is this woman being afraid of being caught for her crime of impulse. How much of this probably also happened because of the tensions of the time. Janet Leigh's character Marion, is driven by her desire to be with her boyfriend, who is too poor to marry her, partially because she feels ashamed of their trysts. But it's just tense.
The scene with her and Anthony Perkin's Bates is also incredible. The discussion of being trapped. Roger Ebert said that Pyscho endures because of how much of it relates to our fear of committing a crime and I have to agree as someone who has experienced the ridiculous "Oh no I have to hide a body" nightmare.
There is also so much care taken to showing how Norman disposes of the body. Like an excessive amount.
Also, regarding the film's most controversial element at the end hasn't aged well, even though I think that Hitchcock probably wasn't thinking about that in the way that we do these days. Still transphobia though.. It's messy because I think the ending scene with Norman as his mother is very strong, but it's still tied up into that.
Overall, I think the movie is worthwhile.
Saltburn is one that I know people have some controversy on. And I could talk about how people get mad about how it either does or doesn't live up to being "eat the rich," and how I think analyzing every film about rich people behaving badly through that specific lens is a bit silly
There's a lot of squicks in it for me, ngl. Even though I think those are the least interesting parts beyond what they say about Oliver's obsessions.
I love the look of this whole thing so much. Gorgeous looking. No wonder tumblr loves it.
Thematically, I like how it's about isolation. And Oliver's obsession with Felix feels like genuine attraction mixed with a fixation on what Felix represents. Not just wealth (definitely wealth though), but also acceptance and belonging.
I think Oliver is highly manipulative, but that he wasn't planning from the beginning to cuckoo nest the Cattons. He wanted to be part of their lives, and murdering Felix was part crime of passion/fear that Felix might change his mind and reveal the truth. Oliver wants continuing access to the family and their home. That's what a lot of it is about to me. Access to them and more importantly what they represent.
Killing Venetia was also impulse and fear because she had realized he was suspicious. I'm pretty convinced that despite the razor blades, he did actually kill her, or he came back and staged the body because of how intense the scene was. He didn't anticipate being asked to leave by James though and ruminated for years. Elspeth's murder was calculated though. I do think he kind of needs to believe he was an evil mastermind at the end, and the naked dancing through the empty house feels a bit hollow. They can never kick him out now, but what happens after?
I would kind of criticize that everything after Felix's death feels like we're rushed towards the end, though that works too, considering that Felix is such a drive for Oliver. Also Farleigh, you got done dirty in the story, but you're better off.