i fw this movie so hard bro. i was having such a shitty day so i went "ykw lemme watch this queer horror movie". hana said the horror element wasn't that pronounced, so i felt more comfortable watching it on my own despite being jumped two times lol. i loved the small-town vibe of this film. it made me realise that i watch movies that take place in a busy city setting or in a pretty populated environment, so the sparseness of this town they were in made the space more intimate. i know this movie is australian but the aesthetics of this movie are so midwest grunge/emo i loved it. i think i like neon's productions too. i haven't watched many but i liked this one as well as anora (despite its polarising reception). i love queer stories that deal with religious guilt and internalised homophobia and this story delivers on both ends. the main duo give such good performances—i was so immersed i wasn't even judging their acting by a time. also somewhere around the midway point of this movie, i found myself desperately wishing for a happy ending instead of a tragic death. i was genuinely rooting for these two, man. the narrative is so good at presenting homophobia; the entity is quite literally a manifestation of that, something they desire the most but also what they end up learning to fear. and isn't that an interesting thought: that fear is learned? the church deadass CREATES that fear, exemplifies it even, when it didn't even exist to that degree before. ryan's weird throwing shit foreplay with the other brunette dude and making out with him was weird, like why are u getting with another guy when u like naim, but he's also an interesting character because we don't really see the story from his pov, which makes his part of the narrative very mysteriously interesting to me. i don't think we ever see his home situation, his feelings for naim run evidently deep, and he's such an expressive guy while still being a somewhat closed book. AND NAIM. lol the first thing he did when he found out his situationship was cheating on him was out his ass. like, why. what was he hoping to achieve from that. a form of petty revenge maybe, but perhaps he was giving into his own homophobia in a way too, albeit misguided. this movie is so beautifully intimate. true spiritual sibling to The Summer Hikaru Died bro. i'm so glad it had a good ending. speaking of, naim's mother is a right bitch. that selfish fuck. i hate her sm. KNOWINGLY doing that to your own child? not giving af when he's literally terrified and trying to ask you to help him? i'm so glad naim left her at the end. she was the one who gave him up to that dude to be cursed w that shit. ALSO FUCK THAT COUNSELOR FOR OUTING NAIM. WHAT AN ASSHOLE. PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY MY ASS THAT WOMAN IS A DISGRACE TO THE PROFESSION AND SHOULD BE IMPRISONED.
