gvlchev

To be honest, it's my first watch and I'm writing this shortly after I left the cinema, so maybe not the most objective opinion, but definitely left with with mixed feelings(mostly bad ones). It couldn't succeed in engaging me enough in the story to develop any sort of feeling towards any of the characters. Despite of the talented cast(saving it in a way from a total crash after the first half) and ambitious, some would even say pretentious, beginnings, for me, it felt short in building a solid foundations, which could have been a mean of explanation for what happens in the end.

But on the bright sight, it has a nice soundtrack(not sure it's always used well enough - which is also not so bright. Excuse me, had a bad day).

Let's not be all critical. It has moments that have the capacity to intrigue you, but in overall I couldn't sense the integrity. Expected more of 80s erotic thrillers' vibe. Definitely not a thriller and on the erotic part, pretty sure I felt more interested in Winnie and Miller's wife than the Jenna Ortega's Cairo(which I guess wasn't the writer/director's initial intension.

Some better examples from last year: 1.of peculiar teacher-student relationships - About Dry Grasses 2.of successful writer wife-unsuccessful writer husband - Anatomy of a Fall

Ps- the smoke doesn't help to build mysteriousness.

My type of cinema. In every aspect. Mostly in the first half, but don't get me wrong, it's a great film that I only regret for not have the chance to see on the big screen. Of course, we talk about one of my favorite genres and directors, so maybe not the most unbiased opinion. The opening scenes in Paris gave me this Le samurai vibe mixed with the peculiar way of representing the inner world of the killer so typical for Dexter. His neat practices and habits which make him so successful in his job in the solitude of the workplace(which is ironically an office), placed by chance or not in the city of Jean-Pierre Melville's famous hit-man character, make you feel actively involved with every sense in the story. This effect is achieved not without the help of the Dexter's alike explanation of what he's doing and why. At some point I started to question if this explanation was rather a desperate try to justify his way of living in the face of his appearing consciousness. The fail of this reassurance is so well represented by the constantly emerging obstructions. Then the biggest miss gives us the opportunity to see the real talent of Fassbender who is building perfectly this complicated inner crisis. The rest doesn't need any explanation you just have to see it and enjoy it.

My initial thoughts were that I needed more depth in the story, but today after I slept on it, I believe that this is a beautiful well-crafted film with a perfect script(full of references and language of a high quality novel) which is more than enough for me. Definitely recommend and I'll personally watch it again.