The Beast (Bonello, 2023)

One of the most interesting movies of the decade so far, certainly that I've seen in a while. I've never read Henry James' Beast in the Jungle though I'm familiar with the story and this is strikes me as an enthralling and obviously ambitious interpretation of it. This kind of genre-spanning speculative stuff is extremely my shit - to a certain degree I felt this basically combined my three exact favorite types of movies (period romance about a doomed & repressed love, Hitchcockian domestic psychological thriller, & deeply sad dystopian sci-fi) - but more than that the way this identifies a specific sort of indecipherable anxiety, and allows it to unravel across decades and across lives, just really vividly resonated with me. I'm surprised I've seen some LB reviews say this is boring for stretches or that only some of its timelines work; I was if nothing else engaged throughout and felt each third of it was more or less equally effective. Lea continues to impress me in everything & George MacKay is insanely funny in the 2014 part in particular. 

Yep, she continues to be impressive and idiosyncratic in her role selection. In many ways the actress of the decade so far. 

A lot like France, The Beast relies heavily on what she can do with her face & she pulls it off. 

DYING to see this.

Absolutely loved it. If it's not quite perfect, it's certainly the most interesting and ambitious new release I've seen in a while. I can definitely see the Lynch comparisons, and while it's most reminiscent of Lost Highway, I was also reminded of that knocked-off-my-feet feeling that I had after my first viewing (and every viewing since) of Mulholland Drive. It's remarkable how focused Bonello keeps the narrative, as he tackles so many things - AI and art, gender dynamics, environmental disaster, loneliness, trauma - which could have made for an aimless mess in a lesser filmmaker's hands. Some of his directorial touches seemed a bit indulgent at times, and I wish the 2044 sections had slightly more development and world-building, but I'm still so impressed at how many of his targets Bonello manages to hit dead centre. He's helped by Lea Seydoux, who had never fully wowed me until now, but is just mesmerising here, and George MacKay, once again proving his insane range. 

A great movie buoyed mightily by the phenomenal work of Léa Seydoux - perhaps the most exciting actress working today - and George MacKay. It's such a wonderfully ambitious movie, in some ways remind me of the sweep of Cloud Atlas though this one is much more specific in its focus. I would agree with some criticisms I've seen, though, that the film is uneven as I thought the 2014 segment had much more in-depth characterization than either 1910 or 2044. Not sure if part of that is due to Bonello having more to say about the more contemporary moment than anything else or if he found that story's climax the most investing, but it does leave the whole piece feeling slightly misshaped for me. I wonder how I may feel upon rewatch.

I don't think the film was trying to make a commentary about incels at large so much as basing that element very specifically on Elliot Rodger.