Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and (unfortunately) Armie Hammer
Two heavy movies, plus culture notes about a certain alleged(?) cannibal(?) fetishist(?)
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal, two films about finding silence after what feels like the end of the world
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04:05 Promising Young Woman, available for rental now and out in theaters soon, is talked about as a revenge fantasy, but it's more about how to sit with the terrible reality that what happened happened.
What does justice even mean in a deeply misogynistic world? There’s this protagonist Cassie’s (played by the excellent Carey Mulligan) version, which is all-demanding, all-consuming, to the point of destruction. There’s the conclusion that I May Destroy You comes to, which points out that it’s hard to feel a sense of justice or peace; sometimes, all you can do is learn how to sit with the fact that you truly cannot get what you want in the aftermath of the violence.
Interestingly, Promising Young Woman could’ve ended in an entirely different way from what’s shown in the final cut: originally, filmmaker Emerald Fennell wrote an ending that was even bleaker, but perhaps more reflective of real life, without the bittersweet sense of catharsis that the final version does bring.
This film is both entertaining and unsettling, bubblegum pink and dark as fuck. Rape revenge fantasies can feel empty, considering the lack of real justice for most victims in reality, but this take is surprisingly refreshing.
20:52 Sound of Metal, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is a uniquely immersive look at the experience of losing one's hearing but gaining something else.
Big props to sound designer Nicolas Becker, who recreated some sonic illustration of what it’s like for this character to go from perceiving the full crash of his drums to suddenly hearing little more than muffled noises, to the metallic distortion of the cochlear implants, to the beauty of the final moment of still and silence.
There’s some valid criticism from deaf viewers, some of whom feel the film is too prescriptive, particularly in its portrayal of the choice between the deaf community/sign language vs. hearing world/cochlear implants as mutually exclusive, when that’s not necessarily the case. Deaf writer Sara Nović also points out for Mic that there are deaf musicians, so it’s not like protagonist Ruben (Riz Ahmed) has to automatically forfeit this passion.
But Ruben’s experience thus far, including the decisions made and the ultimate conclusion, seems to track with his own emotional journey, including his history with addiction, relationships, and restlessness. This is a film made to enlighten hearing audiences, to be sure, but it also works as a work of quietly moving cinema.
P.S. Congrats, Riz and wife/author Fatima Farheen Mirza, who had a meet-cute while writing at the same table in a cafe! I’m sick!
32:51 Plus, culture notes about what's going on with the Armie Hammer stuff (sorry).
Trust us, you don’t want to know, but we’ll tell you anyway.
Honestly I can’t stand devoting more mental energy so I’m just going to leave a bunch of linked headlines here in chronological order:
“Armie Hammer’s ex Courtney Vucekovich: He wanted to ‘barbecue and eat’ me”
“Armie Hammer Quits JLO And Ryan Reynolds Film, Says Rumors About Leaked Messages Are ‘Bull’”
“Armie Hammer ‘Genuinely Sorry’ for Referring to Lingerie-Clad Woman in His Video as ‘Miss Cayman’”
Also:
Okay fine here’s one more thing:
Bonus links
BREAKING AS OF MY WRITING THIS NEWSLETTER: “Gone Girl! Ana de Armas poster is thrown in the TRASH outside Ben Affleck's home in LA amid split... after his children were seen playing with the life-size cut out last summer”
On Bridgerton: What is Lady Whistledown’s business model?
Netflix’s movie-a-week thing we talk about in the intro “banter” portion of our episode!!!
Okay bye!
— Jenny
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Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu