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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you need a plot that moves from A to B, skip this. Seriously. You’ll be bored to tears within fifteen minutes. But if you like movies that feel like a dusty attic or a rainy Tuesday afternoon, you might actually get something out of it. It’s a vibe thing.
The pacing is honestly a bit of a mess. Sometimes it just stops moving entirely. There’s a scene where Alma Busby is staring at a teapot for what feels like a lifetime. I counted. It was way too long. But then, for no reason at all, the camera catches this glint of light on the wall that made me forget I was even watching a movie.
The cast is doing something odd here. It’s like they all agreed to act in a different genre. Pierre Dac is doing this low-key, grumpy thing that works, but then you’ve got Eric Aiken popping in with all this manic energy that feels like it belongs in a silent flick like The Rough Diamond. It’s clunky! It’s uneven! I kind of loved it.
There’s a moment involving a bicycle that I’m still thinking about. It happens in the background, totally out of focus. Did the actor mess up? Or was that intentional? It reminded me of those weird, small flubs in Wandering Willies where you aren't sure if the crew just gave up for the day.
It’s not trying to be The Port of Doom or anything high-stakes. It just exists. It’s messy and it doesn’t explain why any of this matters. That’s why it works, I think. Most movies try so hard to be 'important' that they just become loud.
This one doesn't care if you're paying attention. There’s a scratch on the film strip in the third act that stays for three whole minutes. It’s distracting, but it adds a weird charm to the whole experience. It felt like watching a home movie that accidentally turned into a feature film. 📽️
Don't look for meaning in the final shot. There isn't any. It just fades out while someone is mid-sentence, which honestly felt like the most honest thing the movie did all night.