Okay, a lot of this commentary hit “sideways.” Let me see if I can unpack some of this.
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A lot of what’s missing is meditation.
TL;DR: It’s a meditation metaphor movie, with some heavily Eastern themes and symbology.
I’m about 99% sure that at its thematic core, it’s an “enlightenment/meditation metaphor” movie. I thought it does a really good job at being that, but that part is understandably not going to hit with everyone.
Did you notice that the damn circle has at least 3 different meanings or references, which all tie in neatly with each other? One of the major ones, that I think some people are likely to miss, is Ensō.
Ensō has a pile of deep associations and meanings in Zen, many of which they also touch on in other places in the movie. I thought they unpacked that symbol pretty masterfully, and that was pretty central to my enjoyment and understanding of the movie. However, it is something I expect a lot of western audiences to miss completely.
(I have not found a good extensive commentary to link, that unpacks this to my satisfaction. But this guy on twitter seems to get it.)
...on the art level, it also struck me as pretty chaotic. It’s a flashy fighting movie, a family comedy, some cringe humor, a bit of an art movie… put it down for “a little of everything,” really?
If I’d missed the theme, or God Forbid, if I had mostly tried to assess its merits in terms of how often she’s making sensible or strategic goal-directed moves? The movie probably would have landed more as loud silly nonsense.
Some people like loud silly nonsense! I don’t think I would have found just the loud silly nonsense all that compelling, though.
This one came with a really strong core theme, that I do think you missed or misunderstood.
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Everything Else.
“The violence is pointless”: The violence being pointless, is actually part of the point. While it’s used to generate some initial attention and interest (...in people who find that interesting for some reason), the violence is also deliberately pointless, and the protagonist is supposed to slowly realize this and grow out of it.
(...however, the movie did handle grief with less maturity than a 5-year-old, basically by just ignoring it. I have no idea why! Maybe they really didn’t want to slow the movie down? Bleh, even that reason doesn’t feel entirely compelling to me, and it did undercut the movie for me a bit.)
“Weirdly NON-attention-getting”: I’m pretty sure that the late stages of the movie are actively trying to be held in broad/diffuse attention, not single-point laser-attention. I think so, anyway?
This is kinda part of its whole deal as a “meditation metaphor” movie. Also ties in with its commentary on “looking around, even when what’s immediately in front of you seems extremely urgent,” as echoed in stuff like looking up from the circled receipt.
If that diffuse state-of-mind is uncomfortable or somnolent for you? You are not alone in that! It’s a pretty common sentiment, actually. There are a whole lot of people who complain about finding parts of meditation uncomfortable or sleep-inducing, especially when it gets to the “broad/diffuse attention” step.
(...although this doesn’t necessarily rule out that you found the movie boring for unintended reasons, though! To which, shrug it’s cool if you didn’t like it.)
Okay, a lot of this commentary hit “sideways.” Let me see if I can unpack some of this.
0
A lot of what’s missing is meditation.
TL;DR: It’s a meditation metaphor movie, with some heavily Eastern themes and symbology.
I’m about 99% sure that at its thematic core, it’s an “enlightenment/meditation metaphor” movie. I thought it does a really good job at being that, but that part is understandably not going to hit with everyone.
Did you notice that the damn circle has at least 3 different meanings or references, which all tie in neatly with each other? One of the major ones, that I think some people are likely to miss, is Ensō.
Ensō has a pile of deep associations and meanings in Zen, many of which they also touch on in other places in the movie. I thought they unpacked that symbol pretty masterfully, and that was pretty central to my enjoyment and understanding of the movie. However, it is something I expect a lot of western audiences to miss completely.
(I have not found a good extensive commentary to link, that unpacks this to my satisfaction. But this guy on twitter seems to get it.)
...on the art level, it also struck me as pretty chaotic. It’s a flashy fighting movie, a family comedy, some cringe humor, a bit of an art movie… put it down for “a little of everything,” really?
If I’d missed the theme, or God Forbid, if I had mostly tried to assess its merits in terms of how often she’s making sensible or strategic goal-directed moves? The movie probably would have landed more as loud silly nonsense.
Some people like loud silly nonsense! I don’t think I would have found just the loud silly nonsense all that compelling, though.
This one came with a really strong core theme, that I do think you missed or misunderstood.
1
Everything Else.
“The violence is pointless”: The violence being pointless, is actually part of the point. While it’s used to generate some initial attention and interest (...in people who find that interesting for some reason), the violence is also deliberately pointless, and the protagonist is supposed to slowly realize this and grow out of it.
(...however, the movie did handle grief with less maturity than a 5-year-old, basically by just ignoring it. I have no idea why! Maybe they really didn’t want to slow the movie down? Bleh, even that reason doesn’t feel entirely compelling to me, and it did undercut the movie for me a bit.)
“Weirdly NON-attention-getting”: I’m pretty sure that the late stages of the movie are actively trying to be held in broad/diffuse attention, not single-point laser-attention. I think so, anyway?
This is kinda part of its whole deal as a “meditation metaphor” movie. Also ties in with its commentary on “looking around, even when what’s immediately in front of you seems extremely urgent,” as echoed in stuff like looking up from the circled receipt.
If that diffuse state-of-mind is uncomfortable or somnolent for you? You are not alone in that! It’s a pretty common sentiment, actually. There are a whole lot of people who complain about finding parts of meditation uncomfortable or sleep-inducing, especially when it gets to the “broad/diffuse attention” step.
(...although this doesn’t necessarily rule out that you found the movie boring for unintended reasons, though! To which, shrug it’s cool if you didn’t like it.)