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The Witch is the first that comes to mind, but it's hard to pick a favorite.
Interesting, The 2015 Robert Eggars VVitch? I liked it and wanted to love it, but the ending sorta fell flat for me. Literally just the last, like, five min. The entire buildup, all the way through the peak of the climax were all really good. But those last few minutes just…sorta flubbed the landing in my opinion. I still like it a lot, but I feel like
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After she kills her mom and black Philip talks to her…it just suddenly got cheesy. And the bonfire, the actual appearance of the devil who just looked like a goddamn pirate? Why did they have to do that? I loved the sort of ambiguity, I loved that it could’ve been their religious paranoia in some respects. They could’ve used the natural tricks candlelight plays on our eyes to make it look, out of focus, like black Philip was talking to her. Leave it ambiguous as if her trauma was making her see things. Why make the actual devil appear? Why not leave some room for interpretation? It was very frustrating because the execution of the rest of the movie was goddamn near flawless.
Valid criticisms, and I agree there are changes that could make it better.
!The reason I loved the movie was the tragic symbolism each character's arc represents.
- The father was incapable of anything besides chopping wood, but brought his family out into the wilderness in harms way. He is ultimately crushed under the wood that he chopped.
- The oldest son is trying to become a man, and also grapples with his awakening sexuality. After venturing off into the woods 'alone' to hunt for his family, he is lured by the womanly charms of a witch.
- The twins are careless, as children are. They antagonize their older sister and cause general hardship to the family. The hurt they cause is less intentional, comparable to the seemingly random act of violence when they are killed.
- The mother is so hell bent on seeing her daughter as the source of evil, a danger to all of them, a witch. Not only does this push Thomasin to make poor decisions later, it also leads to the mother ultimately being killed by her daughter who she could only see as a monster.
- Thomasin is arguably the most innocent character. She implores her family to see her as anything but an evil witch. Her righteousness rewards her with no choice but to embrace the devil and become a witch.!<
I agree the last couple minutes had some choices I wouldn't have made, but they didn't bother me because they felt at least internally consistent with the world of the film. Of course it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.
Yeah, definitely agree with you on all those points. I loved so much of what they did, truly appreciate the character development, and mostly the execution of the period, the vibe by actually shooting only on gray, overcast days? It was so goddamn well done, it honestly blows my mind how they even managed to achieve it. And with so little money! $4m to do a period piece. Honestly unbelievable they managed to achieve what they did. The acting, the look, the historical accuracy, the themes—literally everything about it.
Which is what made those last few minutes so jarring for me. It just stood out so much more in stark contrast to how well everything else came together. Kinda just took me out of the moment at the most crucial time. But you’re still right, it’s great and relatively only a small part failed to do what they wanted. So still a triumph. Just makes the shortcomings sting a little more.