Was going to double feature this with Nosferatu today but our local indie announced a showing on NYE followed by a discussion with Nicole Kidman. I managed to snag a ticket, which was normal price ($9!), before they sold out and I’m psyched.
I really enjoyed this in the theater…but the more I think and read about it, the less it holds up. It was a fun watch, at the very least!
Had a lot of fun with this. Didn’t expect it to be so funny. The Q&A with Nicole Kidman was really wonderful. She talked a lot about wanting to use her power in the industry to lift up women directors and as well as other newcomers that are writing stories that normally wouldn’t get picked up by a normal studio. She came off really sweet and very gracious. Also, I knew she was Aussie but tend to forget since the accent doesn’t come out much in her films but it really does in person, ha.
They showed us 6 months of consequence free mild-fetish romping and then said it was actually only 8 days in December.
Didn’t care much for this. I love Kidman so much though. But this felt tame and also felt like the script could have been tightened up, it just never comes together, throws a few themes at the wall but isn’t really sure what to explore so it never really goes anywhere. Most of it seems underdeveloped, though Kidman/Dickinson have great chemistry. There’s also a great George Michael needledrop. if you want bourgeoisie New York Kidman just watch Eyes Wide Shut or Birth.
I would pay full price admission to watch 2 hours of the intern dancing shirtless to different perfect needle drops. I think the amount of genuinely funny moments in this insulate it from a lot of the harsher critiques about its lack of subversive or titillating content. It may not be super hot or wild but it’s not basic and boring and dry in the absence of that.
weird one. felt too tame given all the hype ahead of time and tonally inconsistent throughout but some great performances
I’ve thought about it quite a bit since and while I don’t think it works as a movie I do think it has some moments and scenes that have absolutely stuck with me since. The “Father Figure” scene for sure is one of my favorites of the year. Basically any one on one scene with Kidman and Dickinson is chemistry heaven. But yea the automation visuals and the tacked on fem boss stuff doesn’t work for me at all here and kind of distracts from the stuff that does work.