I saw PYW the other day at my local AMC theater. My wife and I were very pleased with this dark comedy. It juggles serious and bizarre and comedic elements with aplomb, and I had forgotten how talented Carey Mulligan is. If you are looking to be entertained at the movies, this is a winner! B+
We saw it for the second time in the theater last night (completely alone) and agree, it is a pitch black comedy. But it also has moments that moved us to tears - particularly Alfred Molina's turn as a lawyer. It would be a terrible "date night" movie - particularly for those in a relationship not based on mutual respect. I didn't see a better film in 2020. I can say right now that it will get an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, lead performance by an actress, best direction and possibly best film.
Since this is available on streaming have more people watched it? It honestly is the best film I saw last year, and I'd hate for it to disappear without a trace.
I watched it over the weekend and found it very interesting, though I wasn’t as taken with it as you. It had some noticeable flaws, in my opinion... Spoiler: Her Notebook I found her note book - and the concept of her visiting a club "every week" - to be too unbelievable. After one of her dates, they show the notebook detail: she's MANY pages into the book and there are over 150 marks in it. Even if that's the only page of the notebook, that would mean she's done this >150 times? How big is this city she's in? She's managing to do this without people recognizing her from "last week"? Am I being too literal here? Maybe, but it was an item for me... Spoiler: Road Rage The scene where she's resting her head on her steering wheel and the driver behind her gets enraged she isn't moving. Again, this may be me being overly literal, but since it's my critique, I think that's fair game. The shot is of her profile in the car. If cars were to pass on the other side of the road, we'd see them, but none do. So we're supposed to believe the guy behind her doesn't just pass her on this nearly deserted road? I would have. It's not like oncoming traffic is a worry. Additionally, when she gets out of her car with a golf club, he just stays there, continuing to yell at her? If I'd been yelling at a driver and that driver got out of their car and started coming towards me with a golf club in hand, regardless of how cute she might be, I'd drive off! But not this guy. She takes out his right rear light - he stays. His left rear light - he stays. Then he continues to yell at her as she walks SLOWLY towards the front of his car and does the front windshield. Only THEN does he drive off. Just took me completely out of the film with that. If they'd made the road busier or had some logical reason for him to stay (maybe she fools him with flirting?), I could buy it, but not as presented. Still I did enjoy the film and subscribed to this thread to see what others might say. I'll also note I saw so few 2020 films that I don't think I have a "best film" yet, but for the reasons above, this one wouldn't be it, for me.
I would love to see it, but will not pay $20 to stream it as I am one person. I am sad to miss it, but that’s the way it goes these days.
I know you're being very careful, but I think I can assure you that you'll have a good chance of being able to see it in a completely empty theater, especially on a week night.
Good points, ones that I'd not thought about. Spoiler Honestly, the odds of her going to the homes of all of these guys and surviving were pretty low.
I am up before 5 am for work. No movies for me at night, I’m out like a light! Theaters around here are only open Friday to Sunday now anyway. Edited to add: That’s not quite true. One of the 3 AMCs around here is open on weekdays for one screening a day - in the evening. And all the other theaters in the area have gone out of business. Theaters are dead here.
Yeah I think in hindsight there are many plot points and scenes you could pick apart as unrealistic and unlikely to be possible. It doesn’t change how much I enjoyed the film which I don’t think was set in the “real” world.
I’m probably far from the target demographic, but nonetheless I watched it... and I’ve got some thoughts. Firstly, this didn’t feel like a film. It almost felt like a TV show that was haphazardly slapped into a movie format. The previous events have nearly nothing to do with the next scene. And besides the romantic subplot, all of the other before the video comes up could pretty much be put in any other order and it would have little to no effect on the story. Until the video comes up there are no consequences or stakes that follow through. Secondly, the way they didn’t address the volume of sexual assaults and just expected us to believe it without any thought was questionable at best. The book had at least 100 pages done, and each page was completely filled. So not only are there supposed to be hundreds and hundreds of men in this bar who are willing to do this, but none of them ever talked to their buddies about her or recognized her? Also (and this maybe super nit picky) she only does this once a week, but she’s easily got 800-1000 crosses in her book. So she’s would have to be doing this for like 15+ years. And considering we see her 30 birthday and this was only spurred on after Ninas suicide sometime during or after Med school. The timeline makes zero sense. Thirdly, this movie makes the predators cartoonishly evil in order to make her actions justified every time. But what’s up with the truck scene? Sure, dude was loosing his cool and he picked the confrontation. But I think we can all admit stopping completely in a live lane and then smashing up a car are objectively worse that cursing at someone. It felt so random and pointless. Lastly, the ending. What was that ending? It felt incomplete. Like after he’s arrested, there was supposed to be a 5 minute summary of the impact of her actions on the people’s lives around her. Why what she did matters and how the people have reacted to it. But nope, him getting arrested is the end of the story. No fallout, no consensus, no nothing. Overall to me the movie just felt disjointed without a clear focus or purpose. What was the point? Rape and Sexual assault are bad? Really? Sure there were some clever scenes and I can’t deny it was well made both visually and with the soundtrack. But it just doesn’t work on a fundamental level for me. There are no consequences.
I was looking forward to this but according to imdb it doesn't have a UK release date. I know the cinemas are unable to open for now but surely a premium streaming release makes sense because a large number of us wouldn't be comfortable spending time in busy enclosed spaces anyway?
Caught it at the drive in last month. Didn't go far enough in some ways (the main character pretends to be blackout drunk, goes home with men who want to take advantage of her, only for her to shame them?), but I'm also glad they ended it where they did, if that makes sense. Reminded me quite a bit of Heathers in many ways--not nearly as nihilistic as that film, but damn close. As a movie, pretty sad indictment of our culture of sexism, though much of this film was arch and unbelievable.
I got three of them right. And, while I haven't seen everything nominated for an Oscar yet, I didn't see a better film last year. I still need to see Mank and The Sound of Metal.
Addressing all the various spoilerized points: Spoiler I think it's a mistake to view this film from a literal "real world based" POV. It's just too arch...
But as I note above: Spoiler I don't think the film intends us to take it literally. Better to just go for the ride and not break down how "realistic" it is!
No, it's clear Cassie does more than just "shame" the guys. The writer/director made a conscious choice not to show the ramifications, but clearly ramifications exist. Spoiler Remember after she visits the Alfred Molina character and there's a mean-looking dude outside? She calls him off but it's clear that if she didn't, he planned to royally eff up Molina's character. Does this same guy eff up all the men she meets? Did she save him just for the ones whose actions led to Nina's suicide? Does she get revenge on the nightclub dudes in other ways? Don't know, don't care. It's still clear that she doesn't just wag her finger at the nightclub dudes and that's it...
With the caveat that I've not seen a bunch of this year's Oscar noms since I have no streaming options, "PYW" is my fave of the bunch. Just a top-notch film all around, one that manages a deft mix of comedy, drama, thriller, horror and satire in one fell swoop. And Carey Mulligan deserves the Oscar. I don't need to see the others to know that! Promising Young Woman [Blu-Ray] (2020)
You can't really expect me to read the whole post, can you??? Sorry! I like this movie so much that I find myself getting annoyed by the negative comments so I had to lash out at someone, even if they didn't deserve it!
