I would like to begin this review by
saying that I realize that the majority
of the initial reviews for this film
have been stellar and I'm about to run
in the other direction but I have ample
proof as to why and I'd also like to say
I'm getting a little tired of some
critics giving a free pass to films that
you know are such such a mess from a
craft perspective a storytelling
perspective but you know again saying
that's okay because they're so
stylistically impressive that's not
enough this isn't a style you know if
someone wanted to make just impress with
style I guess they could do just an art
exhibit but you know that's undercutting
art as well everything is supposed to be
able to have meaning and operate on
different levels and this movie fails to
do so spectacularly okay let's get to my
notes all right so where I had wanted to
start the review was by saying I did not
appreciate being tricked into attending
a satanic cult meeting I was like whoa I
feel like you'd find it's like walking
through a door innocently someone's like
come to this party and you're like I'm
okay and then you're like wow I am so
upset that I'm here this is not how I
intended to spend my evening I hope
nothing follows me home I guess you
could say to some degree the movie
succeeded because it creeped me out
wildly but anyway to make matters worse
not only was I tripped into attending a
satanic cult meeting but it started
without me that's right I think the most
important parts and I suspect the most
interesting parts of hereditary happened
before our movie begins so that was also
very frustrating and as a result I was
reminded when I was thinking about this
movie of what teachers often say to
their students it's not enough to have
the right answer on your exam you must
also show the work now I'd always
assumed as I'm sure many of you did and
that was just to make sure you didn't
cheat however this movie so I guess
that's another point for this movie I
guess if you really want to boil it down
I feel bad because this movie I think
and then the writer director Ari Astor
has have a lot of potential but this you
know someone needs to call him on it's
crap and that's exactly what I'm doing
but anyway this movie made me realize
that you need to show your work not just
to me
sure you're not cheating but so that
it's to ensure that you understand how
to get the right answer you have a
mastery of the craft of whatever is
being tested and in this case it's
visual storytelling and we'll write our
director Ari aster making his feature
film debut it's clearly a master of
style his storytelling skills need just
so much work in fact I'd say they're
almost remedial it's it's not good now
to court now granted if you watch my
reviews regularly you know that I prefer
stories with a strong narrative
structure and make no mistake weaving
those weaving those takes considerable
skill some people like to be like oh
it's more difficult to tell an abstract
story it's cheating to tell a story with
the beginning middle and end first of
all it's not in any shape or form but
two that's why you know screenwriters
are celebrated it's why they give out
awards for it it's why people are so
impressed with 3x structures and payoffs
in the third act etc etc it's it's it's
a commendable skill and one I think that
Ari Astor should not be so quick to
dismiss but that being said I understand
the integrity of more abstract stories
but if you're not gonna work the right
side of my brain like you do with a
strong narrative story you need to work
the left side of my brain with an
abstract story and by that I mean
eliciting a strong emotional response
and my only response to this movie was
that it was a ripoff of Rosemary's Baby
and also the biggest case of the emperor
has no clothes since mother and I
chopped Darren Aronofsky's folly up to
hubris but with a stir again I'm giving
him the benefit of the doubt and saying
it's it's an experience hello I think
there's a little bit of hubris in there
that he felt that he could do abstract
right out of the gate I was talking to a
friend actually recently he pointed out
the Picasso had to learn to paint
traditionally before so famously
experimenting and so I should tell that
story to Ari asked her in fact go back
to mother at least mother was more
original and also its Bible metaphor
provided some sort of spine here you're
not left with burning or compelling
questions but more what the fuck are you
kidding me with this those kind of
questions right like I can't believe
you're trying to pass this off like
accomplished filmmaking and that anybody
would would try and help you with that
now I gave this movie a lot of leeway
while I was watching it some perhaps
that's why I felt particularly cheated
at the end when there was no payoff I
was like I trusted you Ari but because
again it has amazing style throughout so
you're like wow it seems like I'm in the
hands of a master I must be you're not
but calling Stetsons throbbing score is
impressive
visually aster has quite the command of
the camera and top-notch framing
throughout like the movie looks like it
should be really good it's just not in
the family house by the way is a gift
from the location gods Wow a little bit
also like mother plus the miniatures
throughout the film
Tony collects character makes miniatures
for a living that's her art and their
captivating and creepy as intended but I
never felt that the movie brought them
home the miniatures home within the
story itself or as a storytelling device
they just I felt ultimately ended up
being like something to bulk up the
movie right there like there's not
actually a lot here but what if we put a
bunch of miniatures in the film that'll
distract people for a while right and
it's as I believe you know it's again
the emperor has no clothes it's kind of
tricked some people into feeling this is
I think a better film than it is I also
thought by the way the acting was quite
good I've never seen Gabriel Byrne play
a regular nice guy before like I was
like when he first came out I said cuz
that Gabriel Byrne and it was and he's
pretty good at being a nice regular guy
although about halfway through the movie
he did seem to give up on his American
accent he's like I've had enough of this
boy Alex Wolff made me care deeply about
his character which I think might have
been a mistake on the part of Astor you
know the writer/director considering
where he took things and then asked for
toni collette
well she held this crazy story together
as long as she could god bless her
acting heart okay I know also I realized
that in horror movies characters need to
make dumb decisions in order for the
story to progress right although here I
thought the characters made decisions
that were just too dumb the lack of
self-preservation with no reasoning as
to why there was a lack of
self-preservation was infuriating uh and
also I don't wanna give away any
spoilers but let's just say one one
instance is I think the carelessness of
constantly not having an EpiPen around
would be a solid enough case alone to
take these kids away
from their parents so while everyone is
saying the hereditary is the new
Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby I would urge
you to at least watch those films in
addition to this one to better
understand the difference between
genuine filmmaking and flashy imitators
oh yeah I went there if you really like
no I think you couldn't I would like to
say that I'm sure some people in the
comments are like you just didn't get
the movie grace let me connect all the
dots for you I'm I think that my doubts
aren't connecting our connectable enough
I think that they threw out a bunch of
stuff there re Astra threw out a bunch
of stuff there that you can be like oh
did this mean this and is this what you
intended there but if you can't if
there's not a definitive take away or
again a really strong emotional response
it just doesn't work you it's just again
I don't see the craftsmanship here I
think I see an imitator as I said so
that's my review of hereditary I'm
excited to debate it with you down below
thank you for tuning in and of course as
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