Winter 2025 (not) in fandom
Apr. 12th, 2025 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkrosaleenI've spent most of 2025 on a break from fandom, because I was in an emotional funk and dumb fandom arguments were bothering me more than they should have. I spent the past few months reading, playing Stardew Valley, and socializing in the real world, and I feel a bit better now than I did in January. I failed to finish my Candy Hearts treat, but I wrote a few paragraphs of a non-exchange fic, which I consider a win.
This will probably be my last general "stuff I watched" post. I already track everything I watch in my offline journals, and I'd rather keep all my media thoughts in one place. Also, I prefer to use dreamwidth to talk about fandoms I'm actively participating in, not movies I watched and liked and spent thirty seconds browsing AO3 for.
Media Consumed
La Chimera
I watched this because of my crush on Josh O'Connor, and I'm very glad I did. This is a lovely, quirky, funny, achingly sad little movie about a depressed and grieving British archeologist who helps a scrappy group of Italian grave robbers find Etruscan tombs to plunder. Shades of Call Me By Your Name, in both the rural 1980s Italian setting and the themes of beauty and identity and longing for human intimacy. Based on this and Challengers, I can tell that Josh O'Connor is one of those actors who completely changes his physicality and body language for different characters, which is really fun to watch.
The Crown
I also watched this for Josh O'Connor, although his Prince Charles doesn't show up until the literal halfway point of the series. Great cast, great look, fascinating character drama that looks at pivotal moments in 20th century Britain through the lens of the royal family's incredibly messy drama and relationships. Very addictive, and put me in the uncomfortable position of being sexually attracted to both Prince Charles and Prince Philip.
Suspiria (1977)
This was my first Dario Argento movie, and I love the style: bold colors, graphic violence, great dramatic performances, over the top emotions, and a killer prog rock soundtrack I instantly favorited on Spotify. It's extremely light on plot, characterization, and logic, but you don't watch a movie like this for nuanced character drama. It made me want to watch more Argento films, and more giallo films in general.
Suspiria (2018)
This remake is a mixed bag: it's better than the original in some aspects, and worse in others. Starting with the bad, it's too long and most of the old man psychiatrist plot felt inessential and disconnected from the main plot (although the Jessica Harper cameo was lovely). I like that the remake really focuses on the gritty reality and political turmoil of 1977 West Berlin, but it didn't seem to add much beyond a surface-level theme of both the coven and cold war Germany being divided (I am an American who wasn't alive at the time, so it's possible I missed some of the nuances).
The good: this is a fucking spectacular dance movie, where dancing is central to the plot and the characterization and the relationships and the magic system (IMO the biggest flaw of the original is that it has only one brief scene of dancing that could be replaced with a chemistry lab or culinary school without changing any other aspect of the movie). Luca Guadagnino is really good at capturing the power and eroticism of the human body, even in unsexy or disgusting contexts, and the dance scenes and gore scenes in Suspiria really show that. I also liked the greater focus on the witches and their social dynamics, and the twisted but tender relationship between Madame Blanc and Suzie (if I were more into femslash, this would be my new favorite role reversal/older sub + younger dom ship). I loved the radically different ending, and it made Susie's character and the choice to give her a Mennonite background much more interesting.
The Brutalist
I had the chance to see this on a very big screen after it left most theaters, and I'm very glad I did, because some scenes in this movie are jaw-dropping and gut-punching. I wish more of the movie felt that powerful--the quiet dialogue scenes with stationary shots sometimes felt inessential, especially in the second half, and I wasn't wild about the ending and epilogue. But if you have a tolerance for movies about male geniuses who are assholes to everyone around them due to badly managed trauma, I thought this was a nuanced, complex, visually stunning version of that story that doesn't blame or absolve the protagonist.
The King (2019)
I watched this because I was in a medieval mood, and it's a mixed bag: bland dialogue (especially compared to the Shakespeare play it's based on), one of Timothee Chalamet's weaker performances, excellent historically accurate costumes/props/locations, a wonderfully bonkers Robert Pattinson appearance where he threatens Henry with graphic genital mutilation in a thick French accent (and feels airlifted in from a much more interesting movie). My favorite aspect of the movie was the tender relationship between Chalamet's Henry and Joel Edgerton's Falstaff, which is the second time I've shipped a jovial medieval Joel Edgerton with a hot younger man he has a tender friendship with (see: Dev Patel in The Green Knight).
Baby Driver
This movie was created in a lab to appeal to me: extremely prominent and plot-necessary diegetic soundtrack full of seventies rock and funk and hip hop, action scenes and car chases sharply edited to that soundtrack, a cute traumatized twink protagonist who's secretly badass and hyper-competent in his chosen field (it's very hard to find fic I like about this kind of character, who usually gets cast in the "shy sad woobie bottom/sub" role). It reminded me of other fun one-off action movies like Man From UNCLE or Kingsman: The Secret Service, and made me wish I'd been around when the fandom was active in Yuletide. Also, it's insane how much Baby's corded earbuds visually date this movie, to the point where I misremembered it as coming out in 2013 rather than 2017.
This will probably be my last general "stuff I watched" post. I already track everything I watch in my offline journals, and I'd rather keep all my media thoughts in one place. Also, I prefer to use dreamwidth to talk about fandoms I'm actively participating in, not movies I watched and liked and spent thirty seconds browsing AO3 for.
Media Consumed
La Chimera
I watched this because of my crush on Josh O'Connor, and I'm very glad I did. This is a lovely, quirky, funny, achingly sad little movie about a depressed and grieving British archeologist who helps a scrappy group of Italian grave robbers find Etruscan tombs to plunder. Shades of Call Me By Your Name, in both the rural 1980s Italian setting and the themes of beauty and identity and longing for human intimacy. Based on this and Challengers, I can tell that Josh O'Connor is one of those actors who completely changes his physicality and body language for different characters, which is really fun to watch.
The Crown
I also watched this for Josh O'Connor, although his Prince Charles doesn't show up until the literal halfway point of the series. Great cast, great look, fascinating character drama that looks at pivotal moments in 20th century Britain through the lens of the royal family's incredibly messy drama and relationships. Very addictive, and put me in the uncomfortable position of being sexually attracted to both Prince Charles and Prince Philip.
Suspiria (1977)
This was my first Dario Argento movie, and I love the style: bold colors, graphic violence, great dramatic performances, over the top emotions, and a killer prog rock soundtrack I instantly favorited on Spotify. It's extremely light on plot, characterization, and logic, but you don't watch a movie like this for nuanced character drama. It made me want to watch more Argento films, and more giallo films in general.
Suspiria (2018)
This remake is a mixed bag: it's better than the original in some aspects, and worse in others. Starting with the bad, it's too long and most of the old man psychiatrist plot felt inessential and disconnected from the main plot (although the Jessica Harper cameo was lovely). I like that the remake really focuses on the gritty reality and political turmoil of 1977 West Berlin, but it didn't seem to add much beyond a surface-level theme of both the coven and cold war Germany being divided (I am an American who wasn't alive at the time, so it's possible I missed some of the nuances).
The good: this is a fucking spectacular dance movie, where dancing is central to the plot and the characterization and the relationships and the magic system (IMO the biggest flaw of the original is that it has only one brief scene of dancing that could be replaced with a chemistry lab or culinary school without changing any other aspect of the movie). Luca Guadagnino is really good at capturing the power and eroticism of the human body, even in unsexy or disgusting contexts, and the dance scenes and gore scenes in Suspiria really show that. I also liked the greater focus on the witches and their social dynamics, and the twisted but tender relationship between Madame Blanc and Suzie (if I were more into femslash, this would be my new favorite role reversal/older sub + younger dom ship). I loved the radically different ending, and it made Susie's character and the choice to give her a Mennonite background much more interesting.
The Brutalist
I had the chance to see this on a very big screen after it left most theaters, and I'm very glad I did, because some scenes in this movie are jaw-dropping and gut-punching. I wish more of the movie felt that powerful--the quiet dialogue scenes with stationary shots sometimes felt inessential, especially in the second half, and I wasn't wild about the ending and epilogue. But if you have a tolerance for movies about male geniuses who are assholes to everyone around them due to badly managed trauma, I thought this was a nuanced, complex, visually stunning version of that story that doesn't blame or absolve the protagonist.
The King (2019)
I watched this because I was in a medieval mood, and it's a mixed bag: bland dialogue (especially compared to the Shakespeare play it's based on), one of Timothee Chalamet's weaker performances, excellent historically accurate costumes/props/locations, a wonderfully bonkers Robert Pattinson appearance where he threatens Henry with graphic genital mutilation in a thick French accent (and feels airlifted in from a much more interesting movie). My favorite aspect of the movie was the tender relationship between Chalamet's Henry and Joel Edgerton's Falstaff, which is the second time I've shipped a jovial medieval Joel Edgerton with a hot younger man he has a tender friendship with (see: Dev Patel in The Green Knight).
Baby Driver
This movie was created in a lab to appeal to me: extremely prominent and plot-necessary diegetic soundtrack full of seventies rock and funk and hip hop, action scenes and car chases sharply edited to that soundtrack, a cute traumatized twink protagonist who's secretly badass and hyper-competent in his chosen field (it's very hard to find fic I like about this kind of character, who usually gets cast in the "shy sad woobie bottom/sub" role). It reminded me of other fun one-off action movies like Man From UNCLE or Kingsman: The Secret Service, and made me wish I'd been around when the fandom was active in Yuletide. Also, it's insane how much Baby's corded earbuds visually date this movie, to the point where I misremembered it as coming out in 2013 rather than 2017.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 05:26 pm (UTC)I can concede that the original is a more important movie and probably a better one, but the remake is the one that lives in my heart.
Also, I just want to say I do enjoy hearing your thoughts on movies and media! I like seeing what other people are reading and watching and comparing thoughts. :)
no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 07:28 pm (UTC)I appreciate the thought! <3 These posts take a lot of time and energy to write because I'm so wordy, lol. There might be a shorter/easier way to write these posts, I'll think on it.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 07:49 pm (UTC)No pressure!! I totally understand picking the platform that works best, which is why I am not on letterboxd, haha. I just wanted you to know that the ones you have posted, I have enjoyed. <3