Can you care for the metaphors? Sort of.. For the most part

Rating: 6/10 (29 September 2017)

Hmm. This is a difficult one to talk about. I really understand why it's so divisive among people. I saw this in the cinema and at a point a person sitting two rows behind loudly said: "This is the stupidest movie I've seen". I have to agree that it's a strange movie but could it make me care for what was going on? Yeah, kind of actually.. For the most part. I enjoyed some things about it, but that's mainly whenever it goes in a more minimalist and subtle direction. The brutality/chaos is affecting to a point, but you can only go so far before the disturbing elements go on your nerves and you get lost. I'm standing in the middle with this movie. I cannot rate this in a proper way. Not yet at least. Everything about the story is a metaphor. That's clear as day and that's also what can make the movie a little difficult to get through. When you have characters who are merely supposed to be representations of a metaphor it's easy for it to turn out very hollow. But, the actors give a huge effort in making their characters seem as alive as possible which is what helps carry your interest. They do appear as real and emotional people. It's just sometimes annoying when the metaphor becomes so clear that it makes them out to be vessels and not actual people to care for.
The first half of the movie is atmospheric with tension filled chunks sprinkled throughout. There's a somewhat grounded feel to it, so it's for sure the part of the movie that most audience members will like because it's easy to follow. The second half goes of the rails into an extreme, savage and fierce zone. I enjoyed the quietness at the beginning, but it got carried away quickly. Yet, I could still care for the lives of our metaphorical characters. I can't help but to feel bad for them when you understand the frustration that's going on. At a point you really want to chase these annoying intruders away. That element of intrusion and overstepping boundaries came across in a great way. The extreme brutality in the later half got so beat into my head that I began to check out. It was just metaphor after metaphor. I understood what it wanted to say, but it was to such an extreme that it got distracting and took me out of the immersion. If it hadn't been so overly clear as to what it was representing I would have had a more interesting experience. Because when you know that this character is just supposed to be this, then the impact isn't felt the same way. I'm sorry, but that's what held the movie back for me. It's essentially a re-telling of a certain thing which I'm not gonna give away if you haven't seen it. And if/when you understand what it's re-telling then everything becomes all the more predictable.
So, what made it work? Many things that happened still came across as extremely frustrating in the right way. I found it easy to side with Jennifer Lawrence' character yet it didn't judge all the wrong decisions Javier Bardem's character made. You get that all he wants is to do good, but he has trouble knowing when enough is enough. Lawrence wants to live in peace in the house without annoying people overstaying their welcome. The motivation was understandable on both sides, so that was good. It's possible to throw the metaphorical thing out the door and follow the narrative that you see on screen. It can sort of work, but then again it gets so obvious at the end. I felt both annoyed and emotionally devastated when the film ended. I liked it and not liked it at the same time. So, it's a weird reaction. Should you see it? Sure. I know it will make you feel something. Whether it's confusion, happiness, sadness or anger - It's all understandable. There's no wrong opinion.