You know how there are some movies that leave the end open for so many questions for further exploration and that post-movie inquiry builds on the satisfaction gained from a satisfyingly well-done flick?
This wasn't that kind of movie.
And it could've been.
I was with this movie...up until the final 20 min.
Overall, the pace was solid, a little slow at parts, but the cinematography and music made up for when it did lag a bit. The build up of suspense - great.
But the conclusion was rushed and left me scratching my head in a dissatisfying way.
The whole witch storyline didn't need to be there (for it watered down what coulda been an incredible movie that does social drama/commentary and horror very well) and added to the lack of focus for what this movie is essentially supposed to be about.
Not sure if the filmmakers knew what it's really supposed to be about, though.
It felt like supernatural horror tryna meet social drama with a big fat side of psychological mystery.
Like for the psychological mystery element.....Jasmine was a sleepwalker, so did that explain several of the red-dominant scenes she was in? Kinda like, she feels it's real but those scenes weren't actually? And if so, was she inflicting the scratches on herself, like how she told the story about peeing on herself in the Never Have I Ever scene? And if so, then was her suicide brought on by exacerbated mental health challenges? Or do we just lazily blame this all on the maybe witch character?
I could very well be reading into all of this. And that's part of the problem - the movie kept it too open so that I CAN read into it like I did.
I applaud the filmmakers for attempting to tackle all of these different genres and angles in one movie, for being ambitious and telling a story.
It didn't play out well though.
And since there was already so much in the movie, they could've left out introducing the possibility of Liv's character not being who she said she is and doing it so late in the movie. They've could've gotten away with this if her "big reveal" led to a strong ending, but it didn't - it was like a sub storyline that went nowhere.
Too many characters to focus on and none of them get the justice they deserve (feel free to read that more than one way).
My lingering questions:
- Was Jasmine's suicide psychological, supernatural, or a combo of both?
- What REALLY happened to the Margaret character and why was there that one photo of her portrayed as a white woman?
- How is Liv's possible lie (no time for the film to explore this with the effort it deserves since that topic was introduced so late in the movie though it tried to with Gail's monologue at the party) tied to Jasmine's death?
I have other questions but those were my top 3.
And yes, I can absolutely create meta theories and meaning based on the social drama elements alone: Racism includes psychological terror and it can also feel like some dark entity has it out for a group of people. Makes you question your reality. Experience it enough and you might just take your forever exit from the stage of life. People, like Gail, are committed to be the change makers within institutions egregiously purporting harm. Other people, like Jasmine, want to exit for other reasons, namely to protect their mental and emotional health. Jasmine stayed and it killed her. Gail ended up leaving anyway when she realizes she's "just a maid" and not really a master as her title states.
I have other interpretations but they do nothing for the resolution of the characters whom I developed a strong interest in because the movie did such a good job creating interest in those characters.
This is similar to how I felt about the recent Candyman remake. Sacrificed the completion of the character arcs and their individual storylines by tryin too hard to make a social message.
I love social messages, and not at the expense of storytelling.
I loved this movie until the final 20 min. The ending was just plain sloppy.
