I really love movies, so I'm thinking about making this a regular thing on the blog. I watch way too many of these things and not sharing my favorites would be a crime!
Last night I watched Sucker Punch -- please, please, please don't let the poor reviews scare you away from this one... I've decided that the people who don't like this movie are in two categories: gross men who were disappointed in the lack of nudity and people who don't like thinking for themselves. The entire movie is up for interpretation, and that's one of the things that I love most about it... that and the fact that Emily Browning takes 'Girl Power' to a whole new level -- she is officially my hero of the week.
Two things that made the movie for me: Bjork (and the entire score of the movie in general... AWESOME!) and the creepy feel of the asylum... I was a psyc. major so anything having to do with creepy mental institutions and human experimentation really catches my attention!
The movie is about a young girl who has been sent away to an asylum by her abusive step father. She quickly learns to escape reality by retreating into her mind, and the line between reality and fantasy is definintly blurred from beginning to end. When she arrives at the asylum, she is told that she will undergo a lobotomy in 5 days. She meets several others girls and they all must work together to retrieve 5 items that are needed to break free from the facility -- something nobody has ever been able to do.
The really cool thing about this film is it's several imaginary worlds in one... meaning, it's hard to tell when historically the story is taking place, and the entire setting is very dream like. I hate to compare it to this, but it has a very 'video game' feel to it... but I was surprised that this drew me in even more rather than turning me off. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the film, unable to even leave to go to the bathroom (I don't usually like action movies like this, and my plan was to eat popcorn and sleep for 2 hours).
I was worried about how I would feel about this film, because I knew going in that the main character (and the other girls in the asylum) are raped -- the asylum turns into a brothel at the beginning of the film. I think many of you will be happy to know that you do not see any sex scenes and it's amazing how you don't really see these young girls as sex objects at all, but rather a group of really strong, powerful women (hence group 1 that I mentioned earlier not liking the movie). This allowed me to completely enjoy the movie, because watching young girls have sex with old men really isn't my thing...
The feminist undertones in this film really blew me away, and I left feeling like I could accomplish nearly anything. I found myself rooting for this group of girls, and emotionally relating to each of them in different ways. The ending totally caught me off guard, and for me this is what made the movie so incredible. I would compare the ending to movies such as Shutter Island or Inception (yes two Leo movies... sorry, he's hands down my favorite actor!) in the sense that you will undoubtedly leave this movie and continue to think about it long after you leave the theatre.
If you've seen this movie, I'd love to hear what you thought about it! If you haven't seen it yet, what's the best movie you've seen lately?
Thanks for the review! My hubby wanted to see this movie and I just didn't know if it was going to be worth it. Now I can't wait =)
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