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noddytheornithopod · 1 year

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Watching Star Wars: Visions! Individual reactions under the cut.

"Sith" by El Guiri Studios, Spain: I liked it! Not my favourite, and I did kind of feel like it was more about showing off the cool visuals, but it was still a neat little story about choosing your own path. I mentioned the visuals so I'll say, they're obviously the standout here. 3D animation but in a sort of painted style? And a lot of the backgrounds are like blank canvasses to be actually painted? Droid was cute, and the Sith looked cool. Not sure about the sabre designs, but I do like seeing a double blade with two colours. I guess to finally be free this woman had to accept the darkness would still be part of her, but it didn't need to define her? But yeah, nothing too special story wise, but cool visuals and some neat character designs. Also is it just me or did one or two shots of the main character feel kinda fanservicey? :v

“Screecher’s Reach” by Cartoon Saloon, Ireland: Well this one certainly surprised me. I don't know much about Irish folklore and I've never seen anything by Cartoon Saloon, but it's a hell of a first impression. Like at first, I just thought it was gonna be a cute little ghost story, some kids on an adventure. Of course, animation and visuals are great, that should be obvious. I thought the purple alien girl was pretty cute too. But then suddenly, things aren't what they seem. So the main girl is interested in Screecher's Reach and the others follow, but it turns out she has her own motivations. She has the typical "I want more than this" stuff from many protags, but the moment we realise the "Ghost" is actually a Sith, suddenly things get interesting. She separates herself from the others, something I didn't understand at first but it turns out this was her plan all along. She's confronted by the Sith, who seems to be modeled after a banshee, but eventually she's able to take their lightsabre and kill it. She makes it out to the relief of the others, but then we see another Sith appear. This was all a test for the girl. This Sith basically offered a way out of her current life of just work, and she took the chance, even if now she's basically forced to abandon her friends. This twist really sold it for me. Also, the Sith that comes to take her, she has a really cool design.

"In the Stars" by Punkrobot Studio, Chile: I liked this one a lot too! This was my most anticipated short because I was curious about the real world inspirations of it being based on the genocide of the indigenous people of Tierra Del Fuego. I don't know enough to know if there's any specific references to certain things, but I appreciate Gabriel Osorio for trying to use this story to shed light on the dark side of his nation's colonial past. Animation had a cool style, it was actually CGI but if I didn't know better I would've assumed this was mostly stop motion, because they use a lot of techniques and aesthetic from that medium. Also appreciate they didn't need to be overly flashy and colourful, beauty can be found in more than just bright colours. Story was simple enough, but it's easy to get invested because these two sisters might be the last of their kind and the Empire has fucked their planet over. Also liked how the Force was incorporated for the most part, like the older sister was jaded after their mother died and lost hope and faith in everything, and the younger one while reckless still has that youthful idealism they need. The older sister realising she can still have the Force was nice, and the part where they work together and you think it's to stop the AT-ST but in reality they actually destroy the whole facility and free all the water is cool. Only real downside is... it's kind of a shame we don't have a mystical power that can make colonial resistance this easy. XP You can only do so much in 15 minutes, though. Still, I appreciate what they're trying here. And of course, they see their mother in the stars again. I do wonder if stuff about people joining the stars is something based on real beliefs of the people who lived in Tierra Del Fuego, actually. But yeah, even if it might be a bit naive and too hopeful, I still really appreciate this short.

"I Am Your Mother" by Aardman, UK: Really liked this one. Really sweet story about a mother and daughter coming to understand each other better, but also as someone who grew up watching Aardman stuff, seeing Star Wars stuff in that style was just so cool. Like, one of the ships in the race looked like the Mantis from the Jedi games, and the ship of the snobby family looked like the Nubian ship from The Phantom Menace? And lots of fun little Easter eggs here and there. Also just some genuinely fun and amusing moments, and honestly the humour could even have a little edge. Like, we got a bra joke, and one of the main girl's pals seemed like he was about to drop an F bomb, lmao. Also, seeing Wedge in this way was pretty funny, and he looks delightfully goofy in Aardman stop motion. But yeah, had a blast with this one.

"Journey to the Dark Head" by Studio Mir, South Korea: Okay this one was pretty cool too. Seen Voltron in terms of stuff animated by Studio Mir, and I definitely saw a lot of the over the top action and epicness you'd expect from a show like that. Not too much to say, it just managed to have a lot of epic and striking moments and imagery, but they still were able to get some levity in. Liked the characters in it, too.

"The Spy Dancer" by Studio La Cachette, France: I saw this one being hyped up, and it didn't disappoint. As mentioned in promotion, this is based on how some women would act as dancers for Nazis but secretly work for the French Resistance. Of course, animation was great and all that, but the story was surprisingly touching too. Like, the titular dancer sees the Imperial from her past that occupied her world, so it ends up seeming like it's a revenge story, but that's isn't very Star Wars, is it? Turns out the officer attending now is actually her son who was stolen from her by the Imperial she thought he was, and he even cut off his horns that species has and wears and eyepatch to hide the species' heterochromia. More Empire doing things real colonial powers do. I know the director, Julien Chheng, is Asian, not sure exactly but the surname seems Cambodia, which was a country France colonised, so I wonder if there's some backstory there. But yeah, this was really cool and surprised me quite a bit. A very different kind of war drama or thriller we don't see as much, it honestly felt kind of film noir with many aspects. I do wonder who that second girl was though, like I can't tell if she's just younger and working under the dancer or if she's actually her daughter (which would make her the Imperial's sister). But that aside, liked it a lot.

"The Bandits of Golak" by Studio 88, India: Another I was curious about because I don't know much about the animation industry from South Asia. It didn't disappoint, I liked it a lot! They really embraced having an Indian aesthetic, with the designs and an amazing score. Also was surprisingly tense, seeing this guy and his younger sister on the run, especially knowing the sister is force sensitive. The Inquisitor was cool too, also eyy Purge Troopers! After being almost caught on a train, they make it to this other place that the brother was looking for, but before the Inquisitor can catch the sister, the old woman running the establishment reveals she's a Jedi and takes care of the Inquisitor. There's a twist too, with the sister realising she has to go to this safe house without her brother, because it will be the best way to protect her. A touching goodbye is had, even as they play bandits. Animation style was really cool, too.

"The Pit" by D'Art Shtajio (Japan) and Lucasfilm: IDK if this is exactly my favourite, but I still liked it a lot! Made by Japan's first black owned anime studio, and directed by LeAndre Thomas, with Justin Ridge from Star Wars Rebels and Resistance co-directing. Damn. Some of it was a bit slower, but it was appropriate here, these prisoners were just digging a massive hole for kyber crystals. The montage where we see the city nearby built was cool. Also damn, who we thought was the main character actually dies. His I think sister continues tho. Also the whole "the Empire didn't build the city, we did", you can definitely do a socialist reading on some aspects here I'm here. Also, the girl turns out to be force sensitive in an ending twist. Surprised the Empire didn't fight back harder, but if their forces were really that small, I guess it wasn't worth it, especially if most of the city was out there. I guess it's cool we saw mostly nonviolent resistance, though?

"Aau's Song" by Triggerfish, South Africa: Last, but certainly not least. Not sure if this was stop motion, or it was like In the Stars and just used that aesthetic. Still a nice style though, with everyone looking like different toys. Very unique aesthetic and score. Also a nice story about Aau realising she can sing in tune with the force and uncorrupt her planet's kyber, but her father seems afraid to accept that and thinks her singing is making it worse. She eventually is able to prove otherwise though, with the help of a Jedi. A nice story, and also shows that you don't always need big epic conflicts for a compelling story.

So yeah, that's Visions Vol 2! Not sure I have a favourite yet, though my gut is kind of leaning to I am Your Mother just because of Aardman nostalgia, lol. Only short I thought was just okay was Sith, but even then there was much to enjoy there. Overall, the fact that we went global and therefore got more variety I think makes this even better than the first Volume of Visions, and even that was already something very special. I do hope in the future they continue this more global approach for the sub-brand.

#star wars #sw spoilers #star wars visions

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darkpurpledawn · 2 years

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What would you like to see on a poison ivy live action movie?

This is a GREAT question, so sorry for taking a million years to get to it!

Personally, I don’t have many thoughts on plot, but I have lots of opinions on tone and style. I would love to see an Ivy movie in which she triumphs at the end and is happy (by getting revenge on people who harmed her and the earth) but becomes quite obviously less human (by realizing her full plant powers and becoming estranged from the humans in her life). In my dreams, the movie would begin after her acquisition of plant powers and would read as deeply ambiguous whether you’ve just witnessed her ascent or her downfall.

I would have the film start with relatively muted colors and get more and more saturated and colorful and visually complex as it goes on, as if we’re able to see how much richer Ivy’s world is as she becomes more connected to the Green, and how drab ordinary people look in comparison.

(If somehow I became supreme dictator of Warner Bros I would outlaw pretty much all non-practical effects and use a ton of time-lapse photography of plants growing, because nothing ruins a fantasy movie faster than generic looking CGI magic…but that seems super unlikely to happen in real life.)

Although I’d love to see Harley and Ivy together onscreen, I think it would be ideal to have Ivy’s first film not include Harley, especially given how much screentime Harley got in Birds of Prey relative to all the other characters–she’s deservedly popular but I think DC has a tendency (which to be fair they seem to be keeping in check quite well for the Poison Ivy solo comic series) to let Harley’s story overwhelm Ivy’s when they appear together.

As an acolyte of Ivycat, I do think they would make an interesting relationship for an Ivy solo movie–perhaps they are together at the beginning and it’s clear Ivy depends more on Selina than Selina on her, and their relationship falls apart with each convinced they’re in the right.

This was such a fun question to consider, thank you!

#pamela isley #poison ivy #batblogging #ask answers

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 2 years

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Spy x Family 10 - 12 (FINAL) | Kami Kuzu Idol 1 | TMM New 1

Spy x Family 10

Those should be excellence awards, but I’m just nitpicking.

Spy x Family 11

Man, people failing at the violin was not something I needed to hear again… *sweatdrops*

Having lived on an island nation for most of my life, there’s a bunch of ads about keeping your eye on the pool and stuff.

Notice how Becky respected Anya’s desire to be called “Starlight Anya”.

Spy x Family 12 (FINAL)

The top entry for one of the penguins at one point is “horse mackerel x 41”.

Kami Kuzu Idol 1

Here we go! I spotted this as a manga way back when it was just a JPN-only series and…it’s early?! In anime form? Hooray!

…waittttttttttttt…does HiDive say this is going to run for 10 episodes? Say it ain’t so! Update: Okay, it be so.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh…now that I’m working, I feel Yuuya’s ennui-ish attitude in my soul. Thank you, Kami Kuzu Idol, for this food.

…but why can’t Yoshino go solo…?

…that can is so obviously a parody of BOSS coffee.

The comment above Yuuya in the OP when he splats is “Condition: Used up all his energy just [getting to the office].”

The word above that character (the black and white text) is…”Super new”? (not sure about context, so might find out what this might be over the course of the anime)

These rival idols look a bunch like the King of Prism: Shiny Seven Stars guys.

…uh, you can tell this dance section of the OP is at least partially CGI.

One of Asahi’s albums is called Hallelujah.

…I think behind Yuuya’s shoulder, you can see what appears to be Asahi’s signature. With a smiley face and everything. (Is that a signature for Shun Horie to Asahi’s left?)

The fact they managed to retain the slightly derpy look on Asahi!Yuuya’s CGI model is enough to make me giggle. However, that doesn’t help the fact the performance is CGI in the first place… (slight concern)

…okay, this is a little more low-budget than I’d like, but I’m still willing to give it my love. Its comedy is pretty on-point.

I think the name Kami Kuzu Idol is better. I mean, it’s the “godly-crap idol”! Phantom of the Idol is…more reference-based of a title. It’s good and fits seamlessly where it has to fit…*changes mind* Okay, both are fine then.

The line “I want to get to know the real you”…how ironic. Heh.

No, why is there a sloth?!

Tokyo Mew Mew New 1

Apparently this is a remake, so I’m safe! I can watch this! I haven’t watched the original, even though it’s a cornerstone of ‘90s magical girl anime – the licensing just never worked out for me.

…why do magical girls insist on falling in love anyway? ~Drama???~

I will never get used to Mew Mint having long wavy hair…

The Korean heart gesture(…?) seems rather out of place in a remake for a 90s anime…

To be honest, I didn’t know what I was seriously going to be until I got mid-way through high school…and then I dropped that course of action when it turned out I sucked at that. *sweatdrops* So I get it, Ichigo.

This whole “Mint passes on tickets to an endangered animal exhibit” feels vaguely Straw Millionaire-ish…

The text for the exhibit clearly says “Red Data Animal Exhibit”…

…I’m not sure about the boob jiggle, but…otherwise, yay! Magical girls in 2022 are just as great as they always are!

*blushes* Keiichiro! Kyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (He’s voiced by Shirai. What else is there to say? I mean, Ume-chan voices one of the antagonists…)

“…to come with me?”

Wahhhhhhhhh, this is so fun! This is like discovering magical girls all over again! Hooray!

#simulcast commentary #spy x family #Tokyo Mew Mew New #Kami Kuzu Idol #Phantom of the Idol

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feuqueerfire · 2 months

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The Sign Live Blogging

I was supposed to watch Only Friends after Pit Babe but then took over a week off of watching new shows because I had to write a Pete/Kenta fic and now instead of Only Friends, I'm watching The Sign.

I know incredibly little about this show except it involves Billy and a guy I don't know, there's monsters? sci-fi/fantasy elements? cops? I watched like a few tiktoks/gifsets from eps 1 and 2 but those didn't give away much. Also, there was angsty stuff going on in this show during that week when Pit Babe ep 10? aired and [redacted] [redacted] and Last Twilight was getting a lot of flack for ep 12 but I can't remember if it was because somebody died or not

Anyway, here we go, hope to love it, as always.

Ep 1 (Feb 20)

1-1

Ah, I for a split second wondered if that person was gonna betray them... but was like nah, this is just the beginning and we don't know anything, would they would that rn? maybe that look was meant to signify that he's gonna get himself killed by being stupid? but ig they would make him betray them (though was that a real hostage or also a dummy?)

ohhh we got powers here too? Jeff in Pit Babe needed to touch someone to see their future but ig it's just visions at random times here?

I wish the first 10 minute fight sequence was shorter because we knew nothing but the last 3-4 minutes was interesting because we see more of the characters at play beyond just fighting

1-2

Ah, it was a little educational test. I knew it was about cop training, so I guess this makes sense

Were the censored butts necessary lol

ohhh people don't believe Tharn can see the future and would make fun of him

Ohh Tharn's visions often include Phaya

Also at first I didn't get what iron rod they were talking about but I rewatched and seems like there are iron rods protruding from the poles

Man, Chart's gonna be like Winner (Pit Babe) isn't he? But maybe more skilled and so less pathetic but more dangerous? Equally annoying maybe?

Does Tharn like Phaya already?

Are the guys who keep calling each other Baby dating for real or is this a joke? So many dudes, can't keep track of who is who

omg are Tharn and Phaya becoming friends aw

I just realized from the comments Chart is Kawnah (from KawnahTurbo and TharnType's Lhong)

1-3

"a sign in your vision but couldn't stop it" oh is that why this is called The Sign

Oh Chart is gonna already? delightful

oh wtf, a sea monster?

woah gorgeous gorgeous beautiful sea monster for real, I was not expecting it to look so beautiful instead of kinda janky CGI

not the ethereal being reaching her hand out to rescue Phaya and that hand becoming Tharn's pulling him up

What's the thing Tharn always wanting to do

dang, that girl is Tharn? but like magical? his magical projection when he couldn't physically go to help Phaya?

not past life soulmates

Chart haunting this story by being annoying even after he's left goddamn

Shoulda dropped some money for the auntie before leaving for making a mess of her restaurant

Phi Yai so funny watching Tharn and Phaya run away hand in hand talking about feeling like his nong is about to fall in love

I'll be honest if i was a gay dude and my crush drew a girl who looked like me and had my name but again was a girl, I'd lose my shit

1-4

Why is P'Yai obsessed with Tharn and Phaya, it's so embarrassing for them >.<

ouuu not this random kiss

damn a Lieutenant died and was found in the water

Is the Lieutenant dead fr or no cuz why'd the other instructor kinda give Phaya the go-ahead to do some investigating on his own

man, Phaya and Tharn are so cute! At first during the 5 day training I'd thought they weren't friends but then became friends throughout it but obviously not

oh lol so the guys actually have something going on on-and-off

pls not Yai airing out everything about his bro including his single and virgin status

this bathroom scene why?? i'm so embarrassed but also shy

A tree? monster??

wtf how can you even drink to "Do you like someone at this table?" Like the answer is then obviously yes and the answers aren't very broad lol considering there are only 4 people and one of them is your brother. and there's also the guy that everybody is teasing you and him about

What a good first episode! I'm very intrigued both in terms of the romance (it's so cute idk like why do they interact in a way that makes me kinda shy) and the fantasy elements + mystery elements. The straight-up fighting elements are alright but I could do with less. Also, tragic that we're getting copaganda but oh well

Also, Pit Babe and The Sign started in November while Dead Friend Forever started in December. The people who watch these BLs weekly must've been having a ball with so many shows exploring new genres and high-concepts in BL. Also interestingly, both Pit Babe have Pavel and Billy who each have been in BLs before and lead them as one of the main pairs while their partners Pooh and Babe are new to the industry. Ta and the other guys apply a little less since Ta only had small roles before and Dead Friend Forever seems more ensemble cast but kinda similar ig

Ep 2 (Feb 20)

As expected, I have a hard time stopping watching a show when I start even though I have work to do.

Also, while looking for ep 1 gifs, I came across some stuff about the naga (snake) and eagle but I didn't read much into the post but I guess those creatures will feature prominently throughout the show

2-1

aghh I'd seen this hiding under blanket scene in a gif or tiktok or something before it's so aksldfj cute [or was it a kinda different scene? cuz feels like they were more giggly hmm]

Ah, Tharn wants to joing the Special Investigation Unit to investigate his dad's death (and Yai isn't related to him by blood)

Is Captain Akk with them? For now, I'm guessing he also wants answers and that's why he's wanting more evidence + telling Phaya to get evidence + not stopping the little group from investigating

2-2

But now he does seem kinda suspicious...

omg a siren call type thing?

hmm Phaya says that Tharn looks like the girl in his dream... was he sleepwalking when he started following the magical girl?

Oof they got caught but okay again, it seems like indeed the captains are also investigating the cause of death and are not against our main characters

2-3

gorgeous shot

ah, past lives talk again

now we have some real cops on our hands oof

oh wait hah they were taking 5 special investigation students and it just happens to be our 5 characters lol

so cute they're so cute omg

also glad that

I gasped out loud, whoever Tharn loves will die? omg, this show has Everything fr

2-4

ahhh no, that's probably not Phaya's gf, don't mourn, Tharn <- I say as somebody who is mourning

ack, Phaya is no annoying with intercepting the drink from Oat (random guy buying Tharn a drink) agh you're jealous, do you know that?

Wish the lyrics were translated

lol their Spin the Bottle never ends

The drinking obviously means the answer is yes, wtf don't be silly guys

Would Phaya have fr chosen Tharn? ah the questions

AND OF COURSE THEY'RE LONG LOST CHILDHOOD FRIENDS why would they not be? I'd thought they'd mention that Phaya also lives at the same province as Tharn and Yai when it was mentioned earlier in 2-3 (Nong Khai?) but then they didn't but I guess they indeed met each other at kids at that province

Yai in his drunken state still making Phaya give Tharn a piggyback ride and take him to his condo

Ah, this is what the "Billy and Heng playing enemies instead of friends" was about

Didn't mean to watch the Ep 3 teaser but omg Phaya has prophetic dreams or something?

I'm really into like... Billy's physicality? I don't know how to word this, just the way he carries himself, I guess. It's very Boy and I'm envious but it's also attractive

Ep 3 (Feb 21)

Watching this in the dark on my iPad at 2am

3-1

ah how do i feel about a love triangle hmmm like theoretically it could be good idk some passive aggressiveness and jealousy amongst the suitors. also saw something about the lore behind it like heng’s character is the naga who has loved Than forever vs Phaya is some eagle guy who is Tharn’s one true love who is meant to die over and over omg??

15th day of the 11th waxing moon seems an important day, Phaya used to dream of the magical girl only on that day but now he dreams of her more often

3-2

oh lol i straight up thought they were all already in Nongkai cuz that conversation had insinuated they’d all meet at Nongkai for some reason. this makes more sense

oh did Tharn do some people wrong in his past life and they are still after him for vengeance?

lol why is Phaya so surprised about the amulet thing, he had a big hunch from last night

ah, so Tharn has bad karma from his past life and his life is intertwined with Phaya’s who will make him experience bad things but can also free him fr the bad karma

Ah, Tharn gave Phaya the amulet on the night of 15th day of 11th waxing moon and that’s when the dreams used to happen. i guess that’s why Phaya said he needs to go to where the dreams started and came to this temple on this day

the first time the childhood amulet thing came up i was like lol not this childhood friends who forgot each other again trope but this is actually such a good interpretation of it. they met at this festival where Phaya was drowning and Tharn saved him after seeing a vision, similar to how many times Tharn has seen him in a vision + has saved him from drowning whether it be himself or his last girl self. and also the amulet that started Phaya’s dreams

and it’s not like the trope of perfectly fine adult relationship that had random childhood backstory for no reason. this one is that the reason they even have this adult friendship and crush is because they met each other that time and were told they’ll meet again since their lives are intertwined ah Phaya dreamt of the naga often as a child

ah so many things happening. so the naga keeps calling Phaya to the water or is it the girl? and the naga wants to drown him under there but Tharn’s past life girl/Tharn in this life doesn’t allow it?

and these last words are so heavy lol protect each other and undo your bad karmas

3-3

this Naga said No Peace for Phaya

The Naga festival and cave and myths are so cool

3-4

what??? i was like aw at the cheek kiss but then the liplick goodnight kiss happened and i was literally like is this a dream? is it just that Phaya is drunk and so is actually kissing Tharn like he wants to?

On the one hand, who gives a fuck if a serial killer is killing rapists, let it go - so annoying if cops and the justice system can't keep rapists off the streets but can put the people behind killing rapists behind bars agh

On the other hand, killer seems to just be the mastermind and forcing other people to do their dirty work and murder is too big of a thing to force people to do so agh I suppose they should stop them

Also, is this gonna be related to the Lieutenant's death at all or are we forgetting about that one? the methods of killing are different though

Not as many comments, esp in the last 2 parts despite the episode being like over 80 mins or smth cuz I was watching on my iPad and sometimes had my phone with me to write thoughts down and sometimes didn't.

Continues to be intriguing, put out so many different threads and it feels like we got a few answers but so many more questions.

Also, I didn't realize the actress playing Sand is a trans woman but yay, employing trans people let's gooooo and in roles that aren't making a fool of them either!

Ep 4 (Feb 21)

4-1

Noooo okay fuck this killer mastermind I can't believe they made the woman who was sexually assaulted by some dude and then had her case dismissed was forced to kill him under duress

omg the stepson who was raped by his stepfather and was forced to kill him, this killer is literally forcing the victims to kill the perpetrators and it must be so horrifying to kill somebody but, like the woman said, she was glad that he was dead and wouldn't be able to harm anybody

clown mask

ah this investigation itself could be a 12-16 ep procedural kdrama, I wonder how they're gonna deal with this as a side plot in this already high-concept show

Oh yeah, I didn't recognize Surprise (from SCOY) in last ep but he's the IT kid

got food to eat lunch as they're eating dinner but it's so hard to type now

who is this fortune-telling, face-changing, snake-bracelet wearing woman?

4-2

what is going onnnnn

oh kissing??? and caressing

a dream ofc makes sense. since that ep 3 kiss was real i thought may be this was as well

was that tharn in the pic that shattered

lmfao the finger in egg + licking it off + "I like it raw" ??

and then the sausage eating ahh Tharn let Phaya suck your dick, he's going crazy

hehe Phaya caught in his broken bike excuse

Tharn's secretiveness regarding Phaya spending the night makes it seem so much more salacious than it was

oh damn, it was just 3 days ago that Meena was kidnapped and forced to kill that guy?

ah, I don't remember her name but one of the SCOY girls!

fungal spores in their lungs, not gonna lie it reminds me of To Sir With Love mushrooms lol

Ah, I did wonder if somebody in their little quintuple (+ the boss Akk) was gonna betray the team but I suppose one of them could also be behind the mastermind killer

Why'd the criminal lowkey look like Akk?

Anyway, I kinda like that in 1-1 combat, Phaya wins over Tharn but Tharn's always out here saving Phaya because he can see when he's in danger heh

Also funny because the Abbot and the mystery woman was like never let go of Tharn and that Phaya's gonna help Tharn get rid of his bad karma, meanwhile Tharn's protecting Phaya all the time. guess it'll be balanced eventually

Ah, Phaya casually talking about getting stabbed to death and how it'd be solely his fault, nothing to do with Tharn. Meanwhile, Tharn has seen Phaya in near-death experiences like 5 times in his visions and saved him so far but is haunted by the experiences

4-4

Is it Akk and he's covering for himself by saying no fingerprints? Reminds me of Beyond Evil where Park Jeongje's fingerprints appeared in the forensics results but they made it disappear hmmm

pls not Tharn being like k whatever as he's jealous about Phaya and new girl Dao vs Phaya being like lemme Intervene as he's jealous about

Phaya is so annoying omg

Oof, did Tharn tell the doctor guy (man I can't remember Heng's character's name beyond it starting with C and similar to Shortcut) about Phaya's nightmares? Or did Doctor man come to find out about it some other way (since he's also connected to them via lifetimes? Is he sending nightmares and trying to drown Phaya on purpose or anything?)

Ah, so Doctor is decidedly a troublemaker/antagonistic and not accidentally so

omg Phaya is really angry (and violent :/)

AI to construct a face under a mask and hood, be serious girl, this cannot possibly be accurate

Okay, if this last murder is being done by the killer himself to avenge his sister who was raped and committed suicide, I think we should let him play it out. arrest him afterwards lol

I hope they clarify next ep that Tharn didn't tell the doctor about the dreams because he would never do that

Next ep has 5 parts woah and is gonna be like ~80 mins of runtime, these are pretty long episodes but don't feel that long and I don't feel the need to speed it up (except I think I did 1.1x once and also wanted to skip some of the gratuitous butt shots/that dream shower scene lol though I didn't)

I was kinda avoiding watching the dream sex scene (watched it in mini on the corner of my screen lol) and so I didn't have too many thoughts except once Phaya wrapped his palm around Tharn's neck. But going through people's gifsets, I've seen a few mentions of how we know this is a manifestation of Tharn's desires, whether it be the choking kink lol or liking getting pushed around dommed and that it's fun to actually get to see his fantasy like that. honestly a FAVE aspect when I think about it that way like aw his desire to be manhandled

Ep 5 (Feb 21)

I'm hungry and want to get dinner but am afraid that there'll be too much genetelia talk and will lose my appetite... maybe I'll gauge how gross it's gonna be first

Also, accidentally thought Ep 5 aired on Dec 24 and so ended up looking at tumblr posts made on Dec 23 (actual date it came out) and so was spoiled that the forensic guy was scheming with the murderer guy for this serial killing

5-1

oof shoulder check

okay I lied, I got too hungry and got dinner but am now gonna be unable to type for at least part 1 probably cuz food hands

okay I'm done eating and gotta say that hmmm too violent

Phaya is just too physically violent in his anger, especially the fact that he deliberately punched the wall beside Tharn's head and also accidentally backhanded him but didn't apologize. like I know we're meant to catch the range of emotions in his face, including guilt and apology for accidentally hitting but he purposefully doesn't apologize and yeah, nope

oh this fucker, why can't they just use this rapist as bait to catch the killer, why does he need to be protected. innocent man my ass

hm, the smaller black van is gonna get crashed into by a big white truck and the killer is seen with the van... is the rapist guy gonna be in the van when it crashes?

yess tomato tomato!

5-2

Man, they really had to have these killers force other people to do the first 3 murders in order to gain the audience support to stop the killer because like... what even is the reason for stopping them? If the cops and judicial system are gonna be useless, I think the little team should def kill this man as he's the reason their younger sister or gf is dead. should've teamed up to kill those other fuckers too tbh instead of involving the victims

let's kill him quickly (and painfully) before the cops come to stop you!

"I promise you that I will not let you die so easily" I get your need for torture but there are cops hunting you right now so hm

nah, not the amulet!

oh? is this guy naga too? the water magic thing?? also I think I saw a gif of Phaya fighting the killer and he had firey wrapped-up palms?

5-3

omg? Tharn taking the knife for Phaya and then somehow having red magic that defeats the blue man killer?

and he got a trinket? did Tharn get it from inside the killer? Was the killer wearing it?

oh hohoho Phaya saying he'll do everything Tharn says is really doing it for me

"The laws you worship and look up to can never keep those bastards behind bars for long" tell 'em. need these fuckass cops to be brought down a peg and get a sense of reality

rolled my eyes at Phaya's "There's the justice you're looking for. It might show up late but it will always come in the end." you cannot be this naive

that video the sister before she died was so fucked man i'm so sad now

stupid ass pep-talk from Captain Akk or whatever "I don't want a loser on my team" okay kys

enough copaganda, let's go back to the fantasy and romance and stuff because this story arc was so sad

Ah, so the car crash vision hasn't manifested yet

Or is that related to his parents death??

5-4

Ah, wearing the amulet again

pls Phaya prepping to make his moves

plssss both of them in their little fantasies

"I want to do just as you did to me" What? You wanna blow him? I acc have no clue why I'm so on the Phaya giving Tharn a blowjob train

not even little fantasies, incredibly long fantasies for both of them like okay Enough

but so funny like okay at least the first fantasy was Tharn dreaming but then he was getting off on that dream again the next morning in the kitchen while cooking and now here's Phaya with his fantasy while awake and mid-conversation

and also hilarious that Tharn's fantasy was like hand around neck + shower while Phaya's is... Tharn blowing on his wound like 40 times lol

Phaya's foiled plans

Oh, that's the gif I saw. Bandaged hands + black smokey magic from Phaya while grabbing Doctor by the shoulder??

lol Phaya speaking to Doctor as if he has any right to control who hangs around Tharn and to what degree. you forget yourself

"Until your time in done" ???

Ohh Phaya burned? Doctor's shoulder omg

not the sponge bath lmfao

lkasdfj the quick 123

Ah, Phaya being the bolster tonight

Phaya's taking advantage of sleeping Tharn fr but lol sure. I wonder if Tharn's also kinda awake lol

Phaya's dream: Freen magic woman -> Tharn and behind Phaya, very big eagle man (which is supposed to be him I guess?)

What happened this ep? Most of the beginning was focused on catching the killer, then the fantasy & staying over at Tharn's place, then being cute toward grandma. But stuff that happened in the middle: the killer can't remember what happened in the cellar but he def had magic (blue) and so did Tharn (red) - which he used to defeat the killer, Doctor and Phaya face-off where Phaya had black? coloured magic which burned Doctor - I wonder how much doctor knows? about the myth/past life stuff, the temple man (Luangpur?) told Tharn that Doctor and Phaya shouldn't meet. Then finally, the dream where we get Freen magic lady, kinda confirmation that she's indeed Tharn (this life), and also a visual of that tall eagle man. Also, from gifs, I realized that the amulet or whatever Tharn used to defeat the killer was his own, he tore it from his neck

Ep 6 (Feb 22)

6-1

I love the eagle fr I'm obsessed w the beautiful Naga from ep 1 too

ahhh lesbians !!!!!!!!!! hehehehehe

I don't care that much about this side couple and their backstory, let's hurry it up

lmfaooo okay funny but I would've murdered someone if all my papers went into the water like that

SCOY mention

huh?? Tharn dated someone and they died?

5-2

Why did Dao's actor become worse at acting? :( I think the script here is just bad because why would a character just recite these things? and they made her cross some lines with her "advice" about Phaya like you guys may be close but you can't say that you think he should quit his work lol

the triangulations lmfao I'm glad that even though Dao seems to care for Phaya a lot, she doesn't necessarily like him like that?

heh Nee coming to sus out if Phaya and Dao were ever a thing

and Phaya clocking that Nee and Dao are into each other lol

I like their little sibling relationship full of teasing but also Nee trying to guide Phaya into grandma's good graces

Dang, what's this painting the man thought was sold at the gallery about?

Okay, in this universe, it's just like ours where the stories of Naga and Garuda are thought to be myths/legends. I kept getting confused how much regular people believed because everybody seemed to believe whatever the monk said but that involved a lot of fantastical aspects + the Naga festival, so I wasn't sure what people in general believed (not just what Phaya and Tharn who are like reincarnations or smth of magical creatures believe lol)

6-3

pls let Tharn and Phaya have scenes together this section

oh man Phaya’s tendency to just do instead of speak and also drag Tharn around is kinda… agh

dang Doctor straight up said he’d seerate the two of them even if it means Tharn dies

oof punch but can’t quite blame Tharn

6-4

art something or other, who is this suspicious guy?

Was too sleepy to write anything for 6-4 but I have half-baked thoughts about the punch ig. On some YT comments and tiktok comments, I saw people annoyed at Tharn for not believing Phaya and people were calling him too stubborn and naive. I do think he should've taken Phaya's warnings/dreams more seriously cuz like girl, you're always seeing visions of him in danger so it can't be that much of a stretch to think he dreams of you in danger c'mon. But I also think Phaya is kinda too vague and doesn't explain properly like he can't just expect to burst in and physically drag Tharn away from Doctor who he has known for years and years and trusts; in contrast, Phaya and Doctor fought and Phaya even physically pushed him or whatever. So I get Tharn being like wtf... and also Phaya being desperate.

I hope they make up next ep (properly. through conversation and honesty and understanding) so that we can get them together again though bc we barely had them together this ep and unfortunately unlike Pit Babe ep 11 where the other characters were able to carry the ep w/o much Babe or Charlie, I don't care as much about the characters here.

Ep 7 (Feb 22)

7-1

As a mix of Death's Game murder artist + last ep's ending where Tharn saw someone (I'm assuming this guy) in a room maybe killing someone with red everything, I thought this guy (Art?) was gonna kill his (ex?)-lover. I still think that's the case cuz of the ending with all the red paint probably hiding the blood but lol at first, I literally thought the guy was asking to be killed and used to Art's painting lmfao but nah he wasn't that devoted, mans was getting married to someone else anyway

Anyway, cool idea, will be cooler once we realize he killed him

7-2

My biggest rip is that Wi can actually act while Dao's actress cannot, so I wish the actresses were switched or Nee's love interest was Wi

hm, so the VIP is the Minister Montree and we didn't get any visions or anything but Inspector Akk kinda makes me think he's behind Lieutenant Tam's death and I wonder if Tharn thinks he's behind his parents' death or at least the coverup. I also just realized is this the guy they were saying has ties to drug stuff that Lieutenant Tam was investigating and the rapist from last ep is tied with him too but they can't interrogate the rapist about him?

lol they talked about this after I wrote allthat

hmm Art said "That's too evill" before maybe puncturing the guy with a pen... so did that man himself suggest it?

I wish the camerawork focused on the art and dance better since it went on for so long

7-3

"To me, a guy named Kao, is already dead" oh man

Why is Phaya as a guest restraining the woman when there are so many cops who came to volunteer or whatever lmfao

Anyway, I thought they were gonna maybe pretend this was also part of the exhibition before he accidentally cut her (with the same pen that killed Kao? and was maybe gonna stab Montree with?)

Is Doctor doing some sort of dark influence/magic on Art? and the way he's physically touching Art on his thigh and then his chest over his heart and then hugging him... no.

okay atp Tharn Has to be kinda suspicious of Doctor knowing about Phaya's dreams/conditions and why he's using it against Phaya (and publicly too) and idk the way he's undermining Phaya like that... is he trying to make other people think of him as hysterical? As if he'd have an outburst similar to Art? but then Phaya almost becomes violent - strengthening Doctor's position...

ah yes, just casual handing over patient records to the cops <3 esp because Art isn't like... actually in jail or anything, idek what they're holding him based on. just cuz of a public outburst and possibly suspicion of maybe a reason behind Kao being missing? like c'mon cops are so fucking shit

bruh why are these cops just saying anything and everything about the case in front of the doctor? dumbasses

7-4

Tharn can see into a painting like this?

The Art and Kao hallucination (?) is so eerie, everything about this is so eerie, I really like it

omg so Kao was really selling the art and betraying Art

I love love love the spliced scene from that night and the same scene in a white room as Tharn and Phaya watch it (I'm assuming Art is recounting it?)

crazy ass pen to be able to rip somebody's throat open and kill them just like that

Oh, so they don't think Art has something to do with Kao's disappearance... but does that man disappearance of Kao the alive man (maybe he ran away abroad with Montree lol and that's how Montree had known to whisper to Art about it being the pen that hurt Kao) or his dead body?

okay at least the pen didn't kill Kao the way they were insinuating lmao I was like tf kinda pen

7-5

I actually cannot, Phaya and Doctor must be Stopped

oh confession ahhhhhh <333

lmfao I'm watching the shower scene in mini on the side lol too much for me

It Continues like okay Enough i'm like watching in mini with 1 eye only enough enough enough i'm so embarassed/shy I think after barely watching anything for so long and then only recently starting watching shows again that have NC scenes (kinda Law of Attention, Pit Babe, and now this) means that I've lost a lot of the tolerance I've built up against it lmfao

Ep 8 (Feb 22)

5 episodes left and they're each fairly short compared to some other ones (each is less than an hour I think?) so I hope they have proper time to wrap everything up in a satisfying way, esp with all the fantasy going on

8-1

omg? The book flipping to Doctor's face to make it seem like he's watching it all was creepy enough last ep but now he tried to kill Phaya via magic dream?? and only stopped because the monk woke Tharn up

I hope Tharn starts actually thinking about the Doctor critically now

They're so cute, I'm glad we can have cute Phaya and Tharn back for a bit because they were really upset with each other for the past 2 eps (and then resulting sex scene but that's still not cuteness yknow)

8-2

Having Phaya promise to not leave... sad if he does end up getting hurt/leaving/whatever and ironic if it's Tharn instead

Wait I'm so confused? Was the Doctor somehow shrouding Tharn and that's why Phaya couldn't see him?

omg even making Phaya see an illusion of Tharn, then once Phaya gets in the water, taking control of him

8-3

oh we finally get to see the past

Also this other world reminds me of Midnight Museum a bit

hm Tharn plays the past "sister" Wansa? I'd expected Freen... but maybe they don't wanna have to have Billy and Freen in such romantic situations etc

I'm South Asian but not Indian or Hindu, so it's very interesting to see these costumes/myths which are vaguely familiar but I'm not fully aware of because idk much about Hindu concepts beyond like the most well-known gods and festivals

ngl I'm slightly confused still but sure

The amlet is Wansarut's original SOUL? damn girl

ENOUGH of calling Wansarut her nong sao/younger sister. Tharn isn't a girl in this life at least, so say nong if you must why are you saying your sister and Phaya are in love when Tharn's now your brother agh

Bad CGI but I forgive because all the Thai show CGI has looked like this I think?

8-4

Kao died in the waters... I wonder if Doctor had something to do with it with his evil water magic since he knew Art and stuff and used Art as a way to get into the investigation...

oh never mind, killed somewhere else and dumped here

why not at least say Yai follow that man with me!

ohhhh that car crash vision was actually a flashback of him and his parents

ah, the scene with Tharn screaming while holding Phaya's still body

I commented about the gender thing like why are we doing Tharn as a girl bc it was kinda... why are we actually just pretending the character who is seemingly the bottom [I mean they're vers to Me but idk about canon lol] and sexually submissive is the girl fr instead of having an actual woman play Wansarut but then I saw a post that said that actually she takes on a female form under water but took on a male form above ground and yay gender fuckery and i'm like okay nice sure, I love gender fuckery.

I wish we got... slightly more time and a more coherent story that Showed the past life story better. I think this show is good with broad themes and parallels and characterization but kinda struggles sometimes with specific moments/scenes, which can make it kinda confusing or unsatisfying - this scene of the past life kinda feels like that to me.

Ep 9 (Feb 23)

9-1

yep Tharn is def gonna be like fuckkk ppl whom I love with die because I love them (and i mean in this case Doctor is making that true) and probably gonna withdraw and breakup after Phaya wakes up

since that Eye Contact moment with Montree’s bodyguard in ep 7? or whatever art gallery, it’s been clear this guy is suspicious and behind some stuff

Montree got Tharn parents killed and wants to kill him now

9-2

Okay so at least Inspector Akk seems to be on the hood side and also knows way more about the case like Korn (the bodyguard?) was behind this

who is Akk talking to?

The disparity between Ning and Dao’s actinng skills is just too much, why didn’t they make Dao be played by Wi the art gallery woman or Marys the forensic officer who are both better at acting ahhh

9-3

huh? why doesn’t Phaya have the Naga amulet? it came off in the water or something?

this is just silly what is even happening

wtf Chart? is that even a fr tattoo? Montree got someone else to get the tattoo/join the gang to throw ppl off his own trail or what

9-4

hopefully a real break from the cop stuff even though ig Tharn’s gonna investigate on his own

I wish Phaya would explain more to Tharn rather than being so cryptic

plssss man snuck out of her hospital to not only meet his past life love but also to have sex despite nearly dying for a few days

aw I wish this NC scene was longer, I’m kinda better at hanging these soft and loving sex scenes more than the crazy shot Horny desperate ones I think?

Also, Phaya kissing down from Tharn's chest and staying kinda on stomach in a similar fashion to how Tharn did it to Phaya during the shower sex scene... I'm gonna take it to allude to Phaya finally sucking Tharn's dick, I've waited for this moment for multiple episodes

Ep 10 (Feb 23)

10-1

Okay, discussion, good! And Phaya didn't tell Tharn about the Doctor but that's because the Abbott told him not to, so it's okay IMO

And it's a cute scene with the cuddling and just so domestic with how casual it is

Phaya was so desperate to make sure Tharn was okay (and also thirsty for that dick...) that he forgot to bring his phone or inform his grandmother and sister like omg

10-2

Phaya is so cute puppy as he's apologizing

Yai shut uppppp the music and vibes makes it seem like Grandma's gonna be okay but what if she wasn't and you outed them D:

pls the Grandma being like "Give me a second" before asking Phaya what the important thing he wants to say is aklsdfj so funny

Awww so supportive and cute T-T

Khem suspecting Inspector Akk of being in cahoots with Montree

SCOY and Gap mention

10-3

dang, is someone in the unit gonna betray them again? We already had Wit or whoever

ah, Tharn overhearing Phaya and the abbott about Doctor... Can I hope he won't do anything stupid lol

lmfao the grandmas complaining, so true

Tharn wants to quit his job after solving his father's case and just stay with his grandma? girl I wish I was rich omg

10-4

agh, Korn and Khom are same person then right? Cuz they're not consistent in naming

oof, Ning dead

lmfao I saw a post w the pic of the "A tiger-man is not real" line by Phaya with caption whatever you say bird-man like so true

everything converging in Nongkai i suppose

Ep 11 (Feb 23)

One episode until hopefully tomorrow morning it's ep 12? Cuz then it's perfect timing. Otherwise, it'll suck lol

11-1

Is the tiger-man and the person died related to this Montree drug ring

Is the instructor knowing about the visions gonna backfire or anything?

So many times people just overhear things lol like Ep 4 Phaya overhearing Tharn and Yai talking about the visions, Ep 10 Tharn hearing Phaya and Abbott talking about Doctor and stuff, and now Khem overhearing Phaya and Tharn discuss his footprints lol

No I get Tharn cuz it's like why does my lover claim to be so jealous of this guy who I've known for years and trust? To Tharn, it feels like Phaya doesn't trust Tharn

oh oops, he doesn't believe Phaya even he's told directly anyway, which I feel like is theoretically understandable like wtf are you even saying Phaya but if you believe the rest of it with past lives and naga and garud, then this is like yeah sure i suppose that makes sense lol + I thought he overheard Phaya and Abbott but no I guess??

ooh cool shot about the grandma to the flashback

omg ?? Doctor in child Tharn's room talking about how they'll be together when the times comes um ??

10-2

Oh, I just realized that the man who Inspector Akk was speaking with was actually probably Chart. like he's there to infiltrate and give info to Akk (and that's also why he hasn't resigned as a cop maybe)

sorry everytime Phaya's exasperated about the Tiger Man, I want him to be more real. like girl you believe you are a Garud reincarnated who is in love with Naga princess reincarnation and have been lovers in the past lifetime(s) and also that a current Doctor is actually a Naga like right now in his own current lifetime. your boyfriend has visions and you have dreams.

10-4

Dang, the cliff falling and surviving should’ve been more exciting I feel like? kinda feels like History 3: Trapped when Tang Yi and Shaofei got out of the forest out of screen lol

ah im really into the last scene bc it’s once again giving vers switch framing with the way that Tharn’s palm is not Phaya’s neck this time + That is sitting slightly taller than Phaya who has to look up at him

I feel like even with a 15 min longer ep they could’ve made part 4 more emotionally charged on-screen idk i might be nitpicking also, so funny cuz I thought Ep 12 was gonna be airing at 11am or so but then I finish watching this ep at like 9:04 or smth and see The Sign ep 12 live premiere schedule recommended on my YT feed and part 1 is airing right now cuz apparently the ep is releasing at 9 ig

Ep 12 (Feb 24)

Accidentally read a couple words of BLupdate's tweet for the ep and apparently Doctor sacrifices his soul? interesting ig

12-1

Doesn't trust anybody but does trust Chart lol

Okay but atp someone (else) from their unit Has to betray them right? Like Inspector Akk has mentioned it so many times

extremely hilarious to have Phaya who was limping around moments ago and Tharn go in guns blazing in casual clothes while all the other cops are in full gear and bulletproof vests etc

Do any of these gunshots from either side injure/kill anybody at all lmfao

oh finally some ppl (villainous) just drop dead from the shots lol

12-2

agh, Yai and Sand are honestly so cute >.<

So funny for Phaya to be talking about protecting Tharn like yes agree but throughout the show, Tharn has definitely protected you much more lol

Ah, I'm noticing the lighting choices after reading posts about it like the bokeh effect for Phaya and the concentrated warm colours for Tharn

Okay, I can watch this subdued and softer version of sex scene more than the desperate/erratic first one

okay lol ended up skipping last minute or so though heh

10-3

omg gorgeous, beautiful shots and directing and acting for Phaya finding Tharn gone and the whole desperate sequence with the grandma, Yai, the Abbott etc

Ah, Phaya saying that even if hadn't remembered their past lives and past loves, he still would have loved Tharn in this current life, exactlyyyyy that's what I wanna hear

The endless number of times (well, 3) Tharn runs in front of Phaya to protect him

12-4

noo he was taken to the Naga cave and is gonna recover, trust. maybe the Doctor is gonna sacrifice his soul or something to save him, who knows heh

From the flashbacks here and in part 3, I do miss the earlier days when we knew there was Lore but didn't know it yet and they were just cute and such. I very often feel this with paranormal fantasies where the earlier parts of knowing there's something happening but not yet knowing and slowly discovering is my favourite part - when things are simple, yet intriguing

wait I have a question, did Khem die or what? like is he just in the hospital?

Also, Billy in this hospital room looks a bit like Saint?

omg I was like who is that with the long hair but it's Phaya, I guess it has been many months

ah, I was wondering if it'll be 15th days of 11th waxing moon again for Tharn to come home and yeah, guess it's been a whole year fr

man, I wish the meeting again had a bit more fanfare because the despair was done so well, c'mon

Ah, so Doctor didn't die, just gave Tharn his Naga soul to keep him alive but I guess that doesn't kill the Doctor, idk. and he's letting them love each other now

Aw cute but again, anti-climactic and not enough relief, not enough time, not enough emotional impact. I wish they had maybe shown some of Tharn's time there (though that might've taken a bit away from Phaya's desperate situation? idk)

Update: lol I didn't realize there was a little after-credits scene with Saint cameo and season 2 bait

no fr what is that ending, Tharn stayed with Doctor for a year on purpose? and Doctor decided to just get over it? And so Tharn appears all casually over the hill a year later? Seriously needed a stronger ending.

Overall:

I think I liked the first few eps and the potential of the series and the possibilities more than I liked the actual series oof. Since everybody freaking loved this, I also had high expectations.

I just went through the gifs I'd reblogged (I reblogged A Lot cuz I thought I'd end up liking the show more than I ended up liking. went and deleted a bunch bc I was like why did I even reblog this one, what's the point) and I really did like more of the show's gifs from the earlier eps (whereas I enjoyed the analysis and stuff more in the later eps). Don't even feel like reblogging any ep 11 or 12 stuff now though, except maybe the checking under bed sequence. It was also just clear from how invested I was in an episode while watching because in the earlier eps, I was paying more attention and watched an ep in one sitting whereas in the latter half, I would pause in the middle of a section to go on my phone or even just stop watching the ep after a section, do stuff and then come back to finish.

I thought there would be more focus on the romance and fantasy and past lives aspect and less on the cop activity. Like there was no need to spend That much time on the rapist killer case nor Art and Kao's case, we could've spent that time on something like following up on what Lieutenant Tam had learned and the drug case/Tharn's father's case more directly along with more of the actual past lives and fantasy and such. In fact, we got so little about their past lives, I thought there were 4 cycles or something?

I don't know man, I feel like they didn't choose the correct things to show on screen? This sucks because they clearly put in So Much Effort and tried so many new things for BL, so I wish I had loved it more and was more attached.

I think most of the fight scenes and stuff were confusing and not choreographed very well and some interactions/moments/explanations needed to like have more time dedicated to them. However, some moments were just shot/directed so beautifully like ep 11 when grandma is going through the flashbacks of seeing Doctor with Tharn as a child and uni student etc from that single room and ep 12-3 when Phaya wakes up to find Tharn gone, looks under the bed, and the whole sequence after that. (Unfortunate that the reunion scene was so meh).

So many parallels and gifsets of parallels, I keep having to remember my parallels tag is for across different shows while compilation in the tag for same show. I enjoy the parallels and the thought put behind them. It also shows like the cyclical nature of Phaya and Tharn's lives, and it would've been even more impactful if we saw more of their past lives (the original one or the 2 that occurred in the middle apparently).

Highly doubt I'm gonna think of the characters again, I somehow stopped being attached to them about halfway through. Really wanted to give it at least a 7 for trying so many things but don't think it earned it sadly. They tried so many things, as shown in the list of tropes below, but I don't think they satisfyingly merged them or chose the correct things to focus on on-screen.

Running list of tropes: A mix of romance and fantasy lol

Monsters and Cryptids: Sea Monster (naga?), the woman Freen is playing, that tree dude (whatever happened to him? Was that Doctor or something?). Update: the monsters/dieties are the main characters themselves

Police training/cop academy

Murder mystery + a Serial Killer murder mystery + drug ring bust

Tharn seeing the future/people in danger (specifically often seeing Phaya in danger)

Past lives/reincarcation/soulmates

The person Tharn loves will die

Childhood friends (who Tharn gave the locket to). Update: just a fated childhood meeting more like

Does Spin The Bottle count lmao

Love triangle

Lesbians, let's go

Rating: 6.5/10

#ep by ep commentary #the sign

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project1939 · 5 months

Text

Day 87- Film: Moulin Rouge

Release date: December 23rd, 1952.

Studio: Romulus Films

Genre: Drama

Director: John Huston

Producer: John and James Woolf

Actors: Jose Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon, Colette Marchand

Plot Summary: This is a snapshot of the life of famous French artist Toulouse-Lautrec. We see him grow up crippled, hang around Paris’ seedy nighttime haunts, work as an artist, and drink to numb the pain of being disabled.

My Rating (out of five stars): *** ½

This is another film that falls into the “mixed” category for me. There are some things I really liked about it, and some things that just didn’t work. I don’t know that I would wholeheartedly recommend seeing it, but it’s worth seeing if you have some interest in Toulouse-Lautrec or Paris of the 1890s.

The Good:

The art. We see a lot of Toulouse-Lautrec's artworks- finished works, things in progress, and lots of shots of him looking at things that inspired him. We even get moments of the people in some of his paintings and drawings coming to life. That was my favorite part of the film.

The color. Supposedly Housten wanted the film to look like Toulouse-Lautrec directed it, and he was very specific in his use of color. This is technically Technicolor, but you might easily not guess it. The brightness of the normal colors was dimmed down and there was often almost a watercolor feel to it. I prefer the more vivid bright Technicolor, but I really liked this in the context of this film.

The effects to make Ferrer look much shorter generally worked. Obviously there was no CGI back then, but the film did pretty well, considering all the constraints of the era.

The overhanging sense of tragedy and despair. This wasn’t a film that tried to romanticize his life- for the most part (we’ll get to that!). The despair contrasted well with the life and vivacity in his work.

There was some glimpse of the reality of his lifestyle. We never directly hear that one of the women he is around is a prostitute, but it’s hard not to infer it.

Some witticisms in the script. There were lots of good quips and snappy comebacks that I found enjoyable.

It looked more modern than nearly any film I’ve seen so far from 1952. If you had showed me a clip out of context, I would probably guess it was from the mid to late 1960s. The color looked a lot like later versions, and the subject matter was more adult in a lot of ways as well.

The Bad:

Zsa Zsa and lip synching! I’ve never really understood Gabor’s appeal at all, and I found her annoying in this. Then add in the atrocious and obvious lip-synching, and I hated it. I wanted to fast forward through all her singing scenes.

I didn’t always like Ferrer’s portrayal. He played it really guarded and kind of emotionally blank at times. Sometimes this worked, given Toulouse-Lautrec's need for self-protection, but sometimes I wished he showed more emotion. This was true for a lot of his line delivery as well.

His mother in the film was younger than he was! It was crazy. They also didn’t seem to know how to properly age the actress who played her. Instead of going for wrinkles, they seemed to decide, “Let’s make her skin more and more grey! Put more circles under her eyes! She should look like a zombie!” It didn’t work, and it was distracting.

The way they tried to make it all about women. Most films- especially of this era- base everything around a love story. Toulouse-Lautrec didn’t have a “normal” romantic life, given his deformity, and it felt like the film was just shoving women at him to try and make his love life more traditional in the biography sense. Couldn’t they make the film more about other areas of his life?

The romance? I’m not sure if Myriamme Hyam really existed, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t. It just wasn’t believable. I didn’t buy it in the movie, and I wouldn’t buy it in real life either. The actors also didn’t have much chemistry, I felt.

Some of the fictionalizing tried to put too nice of a bow on things. Of course, there were no obvious prostitutes, and we never hear about the syphilis he had that contributed to his death. Did he really find out just before he died that his art was going to hang in the Louvre? And did his father openly admit he was wrong about his son’s work? Some of it seemed a little too rosy.

#project1952 #1952 #project1952 day 87 #100 films of 1952

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denimbex1986 · 9 months

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'Christopher Nolan is no stranger to blowing things up. From Inception’s snowy alpine fortress to Tenet’s airport collision, he’s always been one to create as many thrilling moments as possible through in-camera effects. But no one explosion could ever be as crucial to a Nolan film as Oppenheimer’s landmark Trinity Test - a faithful recreation of the world’s first-ever successful atomic bomb detonation.

But, for a director with a long-held passion for practical effects, it was actually one of the rare occasions from his previous films where he embraced CGI methods that made it clear to him that Oppenheimer’s cinematic centrepiece would have to be created without the use of computer graphics.

“At the end of Dark Knight Rises, there's a nuclear explosion, the point of which is very, very different from the explosion we knew we had to portray in the real-life Trinity test”, says Nolan. “So we used computer graphics to do the explosion in Dark Knight Rises. But, strange to say, in that sequence, it was the release of tension. It was actually put further away and made to feel safe.”

“But when I came to Oppenheimer and I thought, okay, how do we portray the Trinity test? That first atomic device being detonated. That's not going to work because computer graphics, they're extremely versatile, and the detail that can be achieved and the variety of imagery that can be achieved is obviously unparalleled. But the results tend to feel a little anodyne, a little safe. It's very difficult to have computer graphics convey threat, which is why they have to be used very carefully in horror movies, for example. It's difficult to make CG threatening.”

“So I first showed the script to Andrew Jackson, my visual effects supervisor, and said, I don't think that tool's going to work for us. So let's see if we can produce all of these effects using analog methods, from the very first imaginings that Oppenheimer has of the quantum world, of atoms, and how they would be interacting with strong force between them. Waves, particles, the duality of that.”

It's difficult to make CG threatening. “ The scene set prior to the detonation in the vast New Mexico desert is one filled with tension. Each member of the cast is on top of their game displaying a range of excitement, fear, and dread. It’s a breadth of emotion that needed to be carefully balanced by Nolan and reflected in the blast itself. So many of his previous stunts and set pieces were designed in order to thrill and entertain the audience, turning their world upside down like a semi-truck flipping over in downtown Gotham.

Oppenheimer called for a different type of effect. One more akin to a moment of tragedy from something like There Will Be Blood than the heroic action of Top Gun: Maverick. It’s meant to be a horrifying moment that leaves theatres solemnly quiet as opposed to whooping with glee.

“Well, it's useful that you use the word horrific in the same breath as entertainment, which seems contradictory”, Nolan explains. “And of course, it's a little uncomfortable talking about the word entertainment in regard to something so serious. But horror is a valid genre in cinema, the same way as drama, romance, comedy, or anything else. Movies can be anything. And when we speak of entertainment in movies, we're not necessarily talking about fun, laughter, and happy things. We're talking about engagement. We're talking about being riveted by a very tense and dramatic story. And possibly appalled, possibly horrified.”

“That's engagement and that is the stuff of entertainment”, states Nolan. “And so for me, everything about Oppenheimer's story was about engagement. Everything is about being in his head and using the IMAX format, which we've used for action in the past, we knew it would give us the vast desert, the weather coming in, the storms, the Trinity test itself, with its beauty and horror in equal measure. That contradictory impulse. And it's there in the story structure as well, the build and the Trinity test, and then what comes after. This is a film about consequences. And we want it to be unsettling.”

The Manhattan Project was one of great secrecy at the height of World War Two. It’s surprising, then, that so much archival footage of the events exists. This was a luxury that Nolan happily took advantage of, pouring over the available films to grasp an accurate sense of what Los Alamos looked like at its bustling peak.

Being true to life is one thing, however, and something Nolan values highly, but that also needs to be balanced with making sure it's still a cinematic spectacle to behold."

"It was incumbent on us to be guided by, and not contradict, the documented reality, but to be expressive of it in our own way. “ “It's a tricky balance with something as well documented as the Trinity test”, says Nolan. “It's very inside baseball as they say, but for filmmakers to look at the cameras they developed, the way they shot those tests. It's really remarkable, brilliant stuff. Shooting at frame rates far beyond what we can do now. All kinds of incredible technology, but archival footage is inherently distancing. We needed to be in the texture of the film with all of the imagery we created. So it was incumbent on us to be guided by, and not contradict, the documented reality, but to be expressive of it in our own way.”

"I think it was fortunate for us that the bulk of the documentation of the Trinity Test is in black and white. So at the very least, by bringing color to it, we're being forced to make it our own. And a lot of what we did, in both the shooting, and then, in particular, in the editing of the sequence is really based on firsthand accounts. It's more about what people said about it than what the photographs or the film of it said.”

One thing that couldn’t be legitimately reproduced was, obviously, the atomic blast itself. Multiple techniques were experimented with by Nolan’s special effects team led by Scott Fisher and Andrew Jackson to recreate the sparking flashes and fiery flurries of the explosion. Ping-pong balls were smashed together, paint was hurled across walls, and luminous magnesium solutions were developed.

By filming these events super-close up at variable frame rates they combined with Director of Photography Hoyte Van Hoytema’s sweeping IMAX cinematography to create in-camera effects that fill the screen with a power that such a monumental event demands.

“Some of what we were shooting was main unit. Some of it was being shot with Andrew Jackson, our visual effects unit”, explains Nolan. “And so we were seeing it in pieces. And I do remember one particular set of dailies that we watched that these guys had shot, that really captured a feeling of immensity.”

"We try and grow that thread to its ultimate release, this kind of vibrating energy that follows through the whole film. “ “Scott Fisher's work on the special effects, combining magnesium flares with gasoline, and black powder explosions, and things. There were some extraordinary things to look at just to eye. But watching the dailies, you were seeing it develop with my editing brain on, and then with Jen Lame, the editor in the edit suite, you just start visualizing combinations, and experimenting with combinations of imagery to give the feeling of what this must have felt like to watch this. And what that gave me in the edit suite was this thread, this connecting set of analog techniques that confuse scale, from the particle world of quantum mechanics, to the vast universe, astrophysics, et cetera, and all the points in between.”

“We try and grow that thread to its ultimate release, this kind of vibrating energy that follows through the whole film, to its ultimate release in this incredibly destructive event”, Nolan continues. “And so some of what they did was absolutely tiny and magnified, sort of miniature, as it were, or even beyond that really, microscopic. And some of it was absolutely vast and required intense concentration on set.”

“We were out there in the desert of New Mexico, just like the scientists of the Manhattan Project. We built the bunkers, we built the tower. We're out there at night preparing for these very large-scale explosive events that have to be conducted safely and with great care. So there's a tension, there's an anticipation in what we are doing as filmmakers that I think helps the actors, helps everybody understand, gain some small understanding of what must it have been like to be there that night, that early morning at the Trinity test.”

The end results are there for all to see. The moment the Trinity Test explosion lights up the screen is a stunning example of practical effects work. A worthy rendering of one of history’s most pivotal events, the scene never once forgets to take its eyes off of the people responsible for it - with Cillian Murphy’s face one that mirrors most who’ll watch it, one of awe, in the very literal definition of the word.

“There was a definite feeling of what we are seeing is both beautiful and dangerous, in equal measure”, states Nolan. “And that's what we had asked for. So we always knew that the sequence would be a collage rather than one iconic shot. If there is an iconic shot, I think it's the profile of Oppenheimer seeing it.”

“And I think part of the unsettling quality of the film is due to, you do feel engaged, you do feel you understand Oppenheimer, you're on that journey with him. You're not judging him. And so when you're then made to feel differently about things or question things you've already seen, it is a little uncomfortable. It's a little unsettling. And I'm hoping that the film leaves people with sort of an uneasy feeling.”

Oppenheimer will be released in cinemas from July 21st.'

#Oppenheimer #Christopher Nolan

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soliloquyepistolary · 1 year

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What does AJ represent?

In the dream, there’s a beautiful house that I’m in, it belongs to a stranger that I don’t know. It’s a very old style house, like the ruins of a medieval castle that got remodelled into a modern home. I’m in her bedroom and I am looking out of a huge window that seems to take up the space of an entire wall. The view is absolutely incredible. It's so beautiful. It's like somehow the room is perched on a rock or a stone slab and forms its own island. I can see the beach and the beautiful blue sky. The horizon feels so open and inviting, the energy so pristine and light. I can see water lapping up around us. There are two white lotus flowers nestled gently upon the water on the bank where the water meets the sand. All of this is making me so emotional, my heart is swelling with happiness. I am crying my eyes out, I keep sobbing because I can’t believe it. It’s picture perfect, but it’s real. The lady who owns the house is probably around 40, she is standing and watching me as I cry with a small smile on her face. I think she gains a bit of a new perspective since she obviously comes from old money and probably takes what she has for granted. As the are waves gently crashing around the square of her bedroom, I wonder if what happens when the sea level rises and if there’s a flood and tsunami risk.

I leave her house and I realise it’s on a street in Alphington. I looked around and recognise a bunch of other street names that are in Alphington, I see the characteristic green street signs with capital letters. It doesn’t look or feel like real life at all, it's like a beautiful dream rendition. It feels like I’m in Switzerland where everything I look at is picture perfect. Even the sky seems higher than usual, like there is no 'ceiling' to this reality. The sky is a light blue and it's so bright and sunny. The energy here is so light and happy. It feels like Earth but it also feels like heaven. All the houses are so beautiful, I start to think that I've walked into a wealthy-person area but it's more than that. Everything is so idyllic looking. I walk past some kind of small market or fair that is happening on a patch of grass. There are food stalls, possibly even a sausage sizzle. But suddenly a fire breaks out of nowhere, it seems to just randomly appear out of thin air, landing on the people and spreading from person to person very quickly. An event that seemed like calamity just appeared like that. But even as I am observing, I feel the fire is fake somehow. It looks like CGI fire, like poorly done special effects on a movie. The people are reacting like it’s real but the peculiar way it is setting people alight and then spreading from person to person seems unbelievable. This isn't how the physics of fire works at all. And then I just 'know' that it's only a fire drill. The people are running away and their skin is burning. But I don’t hear any screams. It's like the people aren’t really there anymore, they’re NPCs. They're reacting the way they're supposed to and that's it. This observations occurs in seconds and for a bit I am stunned with what has suddenly happened but I quickly regain my composure and run to a hose tap that is off to the side and turn it on. There is lady who is close by to me and I can tell her hand is burnt so I put the running water on her hand and I am thinking about how this needs to happen for 10 minutes to reduce the worst of a skin burn. I don't know that I see any burn on her skin though. I use my phone to call triple 000. The lady on the phone doesn’t seem very phased when I tell her where we are and what has happened. I tell her it would have been nice to know that we were having a fire drill, a heads up that none of this is real. So that we didn't need to overact like this and assume that it was real. So I must have known it was fake the whole time even though I was playing the part that it was a real fire. She didn’t say anything back I don’t think she even sent any firefighters

Jacob is leaving as our irrigation teacher and two other things shown to me that signify this reality is ending

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rebellum · 1 year

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Make me uncomfy that people don't seem to realise how obviously cgi that tornado gif going around it

Like, I guess I get it, for people who aren't used to tornados? Or who aren't interested in them? I've only seen 1 tornado irl and the rest on videos.

So I guess it's like if I saw idk bubbling magma or something, I may not know if its cgi.

But, also, it's SO CLEARLY FAKE. Very very obviously. Homies are going to watch the polar express and be surprised it's not filmed in real life.

#i mean people did in the past #fuck when i first saw it i thought it was real for a minute #but also i was a child and the polar express had GOOD cgi for when it came out #now people are more used to seeing good cgi and should be able to tell the difference

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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The Green Knight and Medieval Metatextuality: An Essay

Right, so. Finally watched it last night, and I’ve been thinking about it literally ever since, except for the part where I was asleep. As I said to fellow medievalist and admirer of Dev Patel @oldshrewsburyian, it’s possibly the most fascinating piece of medieval-inspired media that I’ve seen in ages, and how refreshing to have something in this genre that actually rewards critical thought and deep analysis, rather than me just fulminating fruitlessly about how popular media thinks that slapping blood, filth, and misogyny onto some swords and castles is “historically accurate.” I read a review of TGK somewhere that described it as the anti-Game of Thrones, and I’m inclined to think that’s accurate. I didn’t agree with all of the film’s tonal, thematic, or interpretative choices, but I found them consistently stylish, compelling, and subversive in ways both small and large, and I’m gonna have to write about it or I’ll go crazy. So. Brace yourselves.

(Note: My PhD is in medieval history, not medieval literature, and I haven’t worked on SGGK specifically, but I am familiar with it, its general cultural context, and the historical influences, images, and debates that both the poem and the film referenced and drew upon, so that’s where this meta is coming from.)

First, obviously, while the film is not a straight-up text-to-screen version of the poem (though it is by and large relatively faithful), it is a multi-layered meta-text that comments on the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the archetypes of chivalric literature as a whole, modern expectations for medieval films, the hero’s journey, the requirements of being an “honorable knight,” and the nature of death, fate, magic, and religion, just to name a few. Given that the Arthurian legendarium, otherwise known as the Matter of Britain, was written and rewritten over several centuries by countless authors, drawing on and changing and hybridizing interpretations that sometimes challenged or outright contradicted earlier versions, it makes sense for the film to chart its own path and make its own adaptational decisions as part of this multivalent, multivocal literary canon. Sir Gawain himself is a canonically and textually inconsistent figure; in the movie, the characters merrily pronounce his name in several different ways, most notably as Sean Harris/King Arthur’s somewhat inexplicable “Garr-win.” He might be a man without a consistent identity, but that’s pointed out within the film itself. What has he done to define himself, aside from being the king’s nephew? Is his quixotic quest for the Green Knight actually going to resolve the question of his identity and his honor – and if so, is it even going to matter, given that successful completion of the “game” seemingly equates with death?

Likewise, as the anti-Game of Thrones, the film is deliberately and sometimes maddeningly non-commercial. For an adaptation coming from a studio known primarily for horror, it almost completely eschews the cliché that gory bloodshed equals authentic medievalism; the only graphic scene is the Green Knight’s original beheading. The violence is only hinted at, subtextual, suspenseful; it is kept out of sight, around the corner, never entirely played out or resolved. In other words, if anyone came in thinking that they were going to watch Dev Patel luridly swashbuckle his way through some CGI monsters like bad Beowulf adaptations of yore, they were swiftly disappointed. In fact, he seems to spend most of his time being wet, sad, and failing to meet the moment at hand (with a few important exceptions).

The film unhurriedly evokes a medieval setting that is both surreal and defiantly non-historical. We travel (in roughly chronological order) from Anglo-Saxon huts to Romanesque halls to high-Gothic cathedrals to Tudor villages and half-timbered houses, culminating in the eerie neo-Renaissance splendor of the Lord and Lady’s hall, before returning to the ancient trees of the Green Chapel and its immortal occupant: everything that has come before has now returned to dust. We have been removed even from imagined time and place and into a moment where it ceases to function altogether. We move forward, backward, and sideways, as Gawain experiences past, present, and future in unison. He is dislocated from his own sense of himself, just as we, the viewers, are dislocated from our sense of what is the “true” reality or filmic narrative; what we think is real turns out not to be the case at all. If, of course, such a thing even exists at all.

This visual evocation of the entire medieval era also creates a setting that, unlike GOT, takes pride in rejecting absolutely all political context or Machiavellian maneuvering. The film acknowledges its own cultural ubiquity and the question of whether we really need yet another King Arthur adaptation: none of the characters aside from Gawain himself are credited by name. We all know it’s Arthur, but he’s listed only as “king.” We know the spooky druid-like old man with the white beard is Merlin, but it’s never required to spell it out. The film gestures at our pre-existing understanding; it relies on us to fill in the gaps, cuing us to collaboratively produce the story with it, positioning us as listeners as if we were gathered to hear the original poem. Just like fanfiction, it knows that it doesn’t need to waste time introducing every single character or filling in ultimately unnecessary background knowledge, when the audience can be relied upon to bring their own.

As for that, the film explicitly frames itself as a “filmed adaptation of the chivalric romance” in its opening credits, and continues to play with textual referents and cues throughout: telling us where we are, what’s happening, or what’s coming next, rather like the rubrics or headings within a medieval manuscript. As noted, its historical/architectural references span the entire medieval European world, as does its costume design. I was particularly struck by the fact that Arthur and Guinevere’s crowns resemble those from illuminated monastic manuscripts or Eastern Orthodox iconography: they are both crown and halo, they confer an air of both secular kingship and religious sanctity. The question in the film’s imagined epilogue thus becomes one familiar to Shakespeare’s Henry V: heavy is the head that wears the crown. Does Gawain want to earn his uncle’s crown, take over his place as king, bear the fate of Camelot, become a great ruler, a husband and father in ways that even Arthur never did, only to see it all brought to dust by his cowardice, his reliance on unscrupulous sorcery, and his unfulfilled promise to the Green Knight? Is it better to have that entire life and then lose it, or to make the right choice now, even if it means death?

Likewise, Arthur’s kingly mantle is Byzantine in inspiration, as is the icon of the Virgin Mary-as-Theotokos painted on Gawain’s shield (which we see broken apart during the attack by the scavengers). The film only glances at its religious themes rather than harping on them explicitly; we do have the cliché scene of the male churchmen praying for Gawain’s safety, opposite Gawain’s mother and her female attendants working witchcraft to protect him. (When oh when will I get my film that treats medieval magic and medieval religion as the complementary and co-existing epistemological systems that they were, rather than portraying them as diametrically binary and disparagingly gendered opposites?) But despite the interim setbacks borne from the failure of Christian icons, the overall resolution of the film could serve as the culmination of a medieval Christian morality tale: Gawain can buy himself a great future in the short term if he relies on the protection of the enchanted green belt to avoid the Green Knight’s killing stroke, but then he will have to watch it all crumble until he is sitting alone in his own hall, his children dead and his kingdom destroyed, as a headless corpse who only now has been brave enough to accept his proper fate. By removing the belt from his person in the film’s Inception-like final scene, he relinquishes the taint of black magic and regains his religious honor, even at the likely cost of death. That, the medieval Christian morality tale would agree, is the correct course of action.

Gawain’s encounter with St. Winifred likewise presents a more subtle vision of medieval Christianity. Winifred was an eighth-century Welsh saint known for being beheaded, after which (by the power of another saint) her head was miraculously restored to her body and she went on to live a long and holy life. It doesn’t quite work that way in TGK. (St Winifred’s Well is mentioned in the original SGGK, but as far as I recall, Gawain doesn’t meet the saint in person.) In the film, Gawain encounters Winifred’s lifelike apparition, who begs him to dive into the mere and retrieve her head (despite appearances, she warns him, it is not attached to her body). This fits into the pattern of medieval ghost stories, where the dead often return to entreat the living to help them finish their business; they must be heeded, but when they are encountered in places they shouldn’t be, they must be put back into their proper physical space and reminded of their real fate. Gawain doesn’t follow William of Newburgh’s practical recommendation to just fetch some brawny young men with shovels to beat the wandering corpse back into its grave. Instead, in one of his few moments of unqualified heroism, he dives into the dark water and retrieves Winifred’s skull from the bottom of the lake. Then when he returns to the house, he finds the rest of her skeleton lying in the bed where he was earlier sleeping, and carefully reunites the skull with its body, finally allowing it to rest in peace.

However, Gawain’s involvement with Winifred doesn��t end there. The fox that he sees on the bank after emerging with her skull, who then accompanies him for the rest of the film, is strongly implied to be her spirit, or at least a companion that she has sent for him. Gawain has handled a saint’s holy bones; her relics, which were well known to grant protection in the medieval world. He has done the saint a service, and in return, she extends her favor to him. At the end of the film, the fox finally speaks in a human voice, warning him not to proceed to the fateful final encounter with the Green Knight; it will mean his death. The symbolism of having a beheaded saint serve as Gawain’s guide and protector is obvious, since it is the fate that may or may not lie in store for him. As I said, the ending is Inception-like in that it steadfastly refuses to tell you if the hero is alive (or will live) or dead (or will die). In the original SGGK, of course, the Green Knight and the Lord turn out to be the same person, Gawain survives, it was all just a test of chivalric will and honor, and a trap put together by Morgan Le Fay in an attempt to frighten Guinevere. It’s essentially able to be laughed off: a game, an adventure, not real. TGK takes this paradigm and flips it (to speak…) on its head.

Gawain’s rescue of Winifred’s head also rewards him in more immediate terms: his/the Green Knight’s axe, stolen by the scavengers, is miraculously restored to him in her cottage, immediately and concretely demonstrating the virtue of his actions. This is one of the points where the film most stubbornly resists modern storytelling conventions: it simply refuses to add in any kind of “rational” or “empirical” explanation of how else it got there, aside from the grace and intercession of the saint. This is indeed how it works in medieval hagiography: things simply reappear, are returned, reattached, repaired, made whole again, and Gawain’s lost weapon is thus restored, symbolizing that he has passed the test and is worthy to continue with the quest. The film’s narrative is not modernizing its underlying medieval logic here, and it doesn’t particularly care if a modern audience finds it “convincing” or not. As noted, the film never makes any attempt to temporalize or localize itself; it exists in a determinedly surrealist and ahistorical landscape, where naked female giants who look suspiciously like Tilda Swinton roam across the wild with no necessary explanation. While this might be frustrating for some people, I actually found it a huge relief that a clearly fantastic and fictional literary adaptation was not acting like it was qualified to teach “real history” to its audience. Nobody would come out of TGK thinking that they had seen the “actual” medieval world, and since we have enough of a problem with that sort of thing thanks to GOT, I for one welcome the creation of a medieval imaginative space that embraces its eccentric and unrealistic elements, rather than trying to fit them into the Real Life box.

This plays into the fact that the film, like a reused medieval manuscript containing more than one text, is a palimpsest: for one, it audaciously rewrites the entire Arthurian canon in the wordless vision of Gawain’s life after escaping the Green Knight (I could write another meta on that dream-epilogue alone). It moves fluidly through time and creates alternate universes in at least two major points: one, the scene where Gawain is tied up and abandoned by the scavengers and that long circling shot reveals his skeletal corpse rotting on the sward, only to return to our original universe as Gawain decides that he doesn’t want that fate, and two, Gawain as King. In this alternate ending, Arthur doesn’t die in battle with Mordred, but peaceably in bed, having anointed his worthy nephew as his heir. Gawain becomes king, has children, gets married, governs Camelot, becomes a ruler surpassing even Arthur, but then watches his son get killed in battle, his subjects turn on him, and his family vanish into the dust of his broken hall before he himself, in despair, pulls the enchanted scarf out of his clothing and succumbs to his fate.

In this version, Gawain takes on the responsibility for the fall of Camelot, not Arthur. This is the hero’s burden, but he’s obtained it dishonorably, by cheating. It is a vivid but mimetic future which Gawain (to all appearances) ultimately rejects, returning the film to the realm of traditional Arthurian canon – but not quite. After all, if Gawain does get beheaded after that final fade to black, it would represent a significant alteration from the poem and the character’s usual arc. Are we back in traditional canon or aren’t we? Did Gawain reject that future or didn’t he? Do all these alterities still exist within the visual medium of the meta-text, and have any of them been definitely foreclosed?

Furthermore, the film interrogates itself and its own tropes in explicit and overt ways. In Gawain’s conversation with the Lord, the Lord poses the question that many members of the audience might have: is Gawain going to carry out this potentially pointless and suicidal quest and then be an honorable hero, just like that? What is he actually getting by staggering through assorted Irish bogs and seeming to reject, rather than embrace, the paradigms of a proper quest and that of an honorable knight? He lies about being a knight to the scavengers, clearly out of fear, and ends up cravenly bound and robbed rather than fighting back. He denies knowing anything about love to the Lady (played by Alicia Vikander, who also plays his lover at the start of the film with a decidedly ropey Yorkshire accent, sorry to say). He seems to shrink from the responsibility thrust on him, rather than rise to meet it (his only honorable act, retrieving Winifred’s head, is discussed above) and yet here he still is, plugging away. Why is he doing this? What does he really stand to gain, other than accepting a choice and its consequences (somewhat?) The film raises these questions, but it has no plans to answer them. It’s going to leave you to think about them for yourself, and it isn’t going to spoon-feed you any ultimate moral or neat resolution. In this interchange, it’s easy to see both the echoes of a formal dialogue between two speakers (a favored medieval didactic tactic) and the broader purpose of chivalric literature: to interrogate what it actually means to be a knight, how personal honor is generated, acquired, and increased, and whether engaging in these pointless and bloody “war games” is actually any kind of real path to lasting glory.

The film’s treatment of race, gender, and queerness obviously also merits comment. By casting Dev Patel, an Indian-born actor, as an Arthurian hero, the film is… actually being quite accurate to the original legends, doubtless much to the disappointment of assorted internet racists. The thirteenth-century Arthurian romance Parzival (Percival) by the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach notably features the character of Percival’s mixed-race half-brother, Feirefiz, son of their father by his first marriage to a Muslim princess. Feirefiz is just as heroic as Percival (Gawaine, for the record, also plays a major role in the story) and assists in the quest for the Holy Grail, though it takes his conversion to Christianity for him to properly behold it.

By introducing Patel (and Sarita Chowdhury as Morgause) to the visual representation of Arthuriana, the film quietly does away with the “white Middle Ages” cliché that I have complained about ad nauseam; we see background Asian and black members of Camelot, who just exist there without having to conjure up some complicated rationale to explain their presence. The Lady also uses a camera obscura to make Gawain’s portrait. Contrary to those who might howl about anachronism, this technique was known in China as early as the fourth century BCE and the tenth/eleventh century Islamic scholar Ibn al-Haytham was probably the best-known medieval authority to write on it extensively; Latin translations of his work inspired European scientists from Roger Bacon to Leonardo da Vinci. Aside from the symbolism of an upside-down Gawain (and when he sees the portrait again during the ‘fall of Camelot’, it is right-side-up, representing that Gawain himself is in an upside-down world), this presents a subtle challenge to the prevailing Eurocentric imagination of the medieval world, and draws on other global influences.

As for gender, we have briefly touched on it above; in the original SGGK, Gawain’s entire journey is revealed to be just a cruel trick of Morgan Le Fay, simply trying to destabilize Arthur’s court and upset his queen. (Morgan is the old blindfolded woman who appears in the Lord and Lady’s castle and briefly approaches Gawain, but her identity is never explicitly spelled out.) This is, obviously, an implicitly misogynistic setup: an evil woman plays a trick on honorable men for the purpose of upsetting another woman, the honorable men overcome it, the hero survives, and everyone presumably lives happily ever after (at least until Mordred arrives).

Instead, by plunging the outcome into doubt and the hero into a much darker and more fallible moral universe, TGK shifts the blame for Gawain’s adventure and ultimate fate from Morgan to Gawain himself. Likewise, Guinevere is not the passive recipient of an evil deception but in a way, the catalyst for the whole thing. She breaks the seal on the Green Knight’s message with a weighty snap; she becomes the oracle who reads it out, she is alarming rather than alarmed, she disrupts the complacency of the court and silently shows up all the other knights who refuse to step forward and answer the Green Knight’s challenge. Gawain is not given the ontological reassurance that it’s just a practical joke and he’s going to be fine (and thanks to the unresolved ending, neither are we). The film instead takes the concept at face value in order to push the envelope and ask the simple question: if a man was going to be actually-for-real beheaded in a year, why would he set out on a suicidal quest? Would you, in Gawain’s place, make the same decision to cast aside the enchanted belt and accept your fate? Has he made his name, will he be remembered well? What is his legacy?

Indeed, if there is any hint of feminine connivance and manipulation, it arrives in the form of the implication that Gawain’s mother has deliberately summoned the Green Knight to test her son, prove his worth, and position him as his childless uncle’s heir; she gives him the protective belt to make sure he won’t actually die, and her intention all along was for the future shown in the epilogue to truly play out (minus the collapse of Camelot). Only Gawain loses the belt thanks to his cowardice in the encounter with the scavengers, regains it in a somewhat underhanded and morally questionable way when the Lady is attempting to seduce him, and by ultimately rejecting it altogether and submitting to his uncertain fate, totally mucks up his mother’s painstaking dynastic plans for his future. In this reading, Gawain could be king, and his mother’s efforts are meant to achieve that goal, rather than thwart it. He is thus required to shoulder his own responsibility for this outcome, rather than conveniently pawning it off on an “evil woman,” and by extension, the film asks the question: What would the world be like if men, especially those who make war on others as a way of life, were actually forced to face the consequences of their reckless and violent actions? Is it actually a “game” in any sense of the word, especially when chivalric literature is constantly preoccupied with the question of how much glorious violence is too much glorious violence? If you structure social prestige for the king and the noble male elite entirely around winning battles and existing in a state of perpetual war, when does that begin to backfire and devour the knightly class – and the rest of society – instead?

This leads into the central theme of Gawain’s relationships with the Lord and Lady, and how they’re treated in the film. The poem has been repeatedly studied in terms of its latent (and sometimes… less than latent) queer subtext: when the Lord asks Gawain to pay back to him whatever he should receive from his wife, does he already know what this involves; i.e. a physical and romantic encounter? When the Lady gives kisses to Gawain, which he is then obliged to return to the Lord as a condition of the agreement, is this all part of a dastardly plot to seduce him into a kinky green-themed threesome with a probably-not-human married couple looking to spice up their sex life? Why do we read the Lady’s kisses to Gawain as romantic but Gawain’s kisses to the Lord as filial, fraternal, or the standard “kiss of peace” exchanged between a liege lord and his vassal? Is Gawain simply being a dutiful guest by honoring the bargain with his host, actually just kissing the Lady again via the proxy of her husband, or somewhat more into this whole thing with the Lord than he (or the poet) would like to admit? Is the homosocial turning homoerotic, and how is Gawain going to navigate this tension and temptation?

If the question is never resolved: well, welcome to one of the central medieval anxieties about chivalry, knighthood, and male bonds! As I have written about before, medieval society needed to simultaneously exalt this as the most honored and noble form of love, and make sure it didn’t accidentally turn sexual (once again: how much male love is too much male love?). Does the poem raise the possibility of serious disruption to the dominant heteronormative paradigm, only to solve the problem by interpreting the Gawain/Lady male/female kisses as romantic and sexual and the Gawain/Lord male/male kisses as chaste and formal? In other words, acknowledging the underlying anxiety of possible homoeroticism but ultimately reasserting the heterosexual norm? The answer: Probably?!?! Maybe?!?! Hell if we know??! To say the least, this has been argued over to no end, and if you locked a lot of medieval history/literature scholars into a room and told them that they couldn’t come out until they decided on one clear answer, they would be in there for a very long time. The poem seemingly invokes the possibility of a queer reading only to reject it – but once again, as in the question of which canon we end up in at the film’s end, does it?

In some lights, the film’s treatment of this potential queer reading comes off like a cop-out: there is only one kiss between Gawain and the Lord, and it is something that the Lord has to initiate after Gawain has already fled the hall. Gawain himself appears to reject it; he tells the Lord to let go of him and runs off into the wilderness, rather than deal with or accept whatever has been suggested to him. However, this fits with film!Gawain’s pattern of rejecting that which fundamentally makes him who he is; like Peter in the Bible, he has now denied the truth three times. With the scavengers he denies being a knight; with the Lady he denies knowing about courtly love; with the Lord he denies the central bond of brotherhood with his fellows, whether homosocial or homoerotic in nature. I would go so far as to argue that if Gawain does die at the end of the film, it is this rejected kiss which truly seals his fate. In the poem, the Lord and the Green Knight are revealed to be the same person; in the film, it’s not clear if that’s the case, or they are separate characters, even if thematically interrelated. If we assume, however, that the Lord is in fact still the human form of the Green Knight, then Gawain has rejected both his kiss of peace (the standard gesture of protection offered from lord to vassal) and any deeper emotional bond that it can be read to signify. The Green Knight could decide to spare Gawain in recognition of the courage he has shown in relinquishing the enchanted belt – or he could just as easily decide to kill him, which he is legally free to do since Gawain has symbolically rejected the offer of brotherhood, vassalage, or knight-bonding by his unwise denial of the Lord’s freely given kiss. Once again, the film raises the overall thematic and moral question and then doesn’t give one straight (ahem) answer. As with the medieval anxieties and chivalric texts that it is based on, it invokes the specter of queerness and then doesn’t neatly resolve it. As a modern audience, we find this unsatisfying, but once again, the film is refusing to conform to our expectations.

As has been said before, there is so much kissing between men in medieval contexts, both ceremonial and otherwise, that we’re left to wonder: “is it gay or is it feudalism?” Is there an overtly erotic element in Gawain and the Green Knight’s mutual “beheading” of each other (especially since in the original version, this frees the Lord from his curse, functioning like a true love’s kiss in a fairytale). While it is certainly possible to argue that the film has “straightwashed” its subject material by removing the entire sequence of kisses between Gawain and the Lord and the unresolved motives for their existence, it is a fairly accurate, if condensed, representation of the anxieties around medieval knightly bonds and whether, as Carolyn Dinshaw put it, a (male/male) “kiss is just a kiss.” After all, the kiss between Gawain and the Lady is uncomplicatedly read as sexual/romantic, and that context doesn’t go away when Gawain is kissing the Lord instead. Just as with its multiple futurities, the film leaves the question open-ended. Is it that third and final denial that seals Gawain’s fate, and if so, is it asking us to reflect on why, specifically, he does so?

The film could play with both this question and its overall tone quite a bit more: it sometimes comes off as a grim, wooden, over-directed Shakespearean tragedy, rather than incorporating the lively and irreverent tone that the poem often takes. It’s almost totally devoid of humor, which is unfortunate, and the Grim Middle Ages aesthetic is in definite evidence. Nonetheless, because of the comprehensive de-historicizing and the obvious lack of effort to claim the film as any sort of authentic representation of the medieval past, it works. We are not meant to understand this as a historical document, and so we have to treat it on its terms, by its own logic, and by its own frames of reference. In some ways, its consistent opacity and its refusal to abide by modern rules and common narrative conventions is deliberately meant to challenge us: as before, when we recognize Arthur, Merlin, the Round Table, and the other stock characters because we know them already and not because the film tells us so, we have to fill in the gaps ourselves. We are watching the film not because it tells us a simple adventure story – there is, as noted, shockingly little action overall – but because we have to piece together the metatext independently and ponder the philosophical questions that it leaves us with. What conclusion do we reach? What canon do we settle in? What future or resolution is ultimately made real? That, the film says, it can’t decide for us. As ever, it is up to future generations to carry on the story, and decide how, if at all, it is going to survive.

(And to close, I desperately want them to make my much-coveted Bisclavret adaptation now in more or less the same style, albeit with some tweaks. Please.)