That Horrible Pen

  “Watch Only Lovers Left Alive | Prime Video.” Amazon , https://images.app.goo.gl/vFAAFGsvFMzgJVvD9. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021. This post contains spoilers for both the film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and The Dead Don’t Die (2019). Since this piece discusses both of these films and Paterson (2016) and draws comparisons between them, I recommend reading this post and this post first before reading this new one, though I do summarize some of what I’ve said before below as it becomes relevant.                 In terms of a straightforward review, I thought Only Lovers Left Alive was very good. Insofar as “objectivity” is even a thing, it is probably safe to consider this film one of director-writer Jim Jarmusch’s good ones. While there are a lot of different elements that contribute to a good film, I will highlight the casting here. The casting is excellent—Tilda Swinton would be my first (and maybe only) pick to play an agele...

  Whoever said money can’t solve your problems Must not have had enough money to solve ‘em.                                         Ariana Grande, "7 Rings" (2019)     “The Neon Demon (2016).” IMDb , Amazon Studios, 2016, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1974419/mediaviewer/rm143201792/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020.   This post contains spoilers for The Neon Demon (2016) and both versions of Suspiria (1977 and 2018). Consider this a content warning also for brief discussion of sexual assault and necrophilia and for general unpleasantness.                 There’s media we interpret, and then there’s media that asks us to interpret it. Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon (2016) is one of those pieces that asks. It’s constructed in such a way that it clearly announces its intenti...