Starphanluke
Member
Just got back from this. Before I begin, I should note I loved this, but I'm also a raging cinephile and a film student so... I may have a different perspective than most audiences.
Anyway, my screening was more crowded than I expected, but that quickly changed. Two couples left about halfway through the movie, and another and a man by himself about 3/4 of the way through. At the closing credits, those who were left erupted in laughter, and got up to leave immediately.
Listening to them all talk outside the theatre, I realized that none of them seemed to get the (what I thought was obvious) allegory. I literally heard someone say "I don't understand the whole last hour."
It seems, at least to me, that the problem is that the movie is going right over the audience's head. And that's not to call people stupid, it's just such a thick film.
Anyway, the minute the crystal "heart" was broken by the couple I knew what was going on. Cane and Able (or whatever the sons' real names were) showed up it was just cemented. I'm just shocked some people still didn't seem to understand by the ending- I thought, by that point, the movie was slapping you over the face with it.
Edit: Maybe it's because I was raised Catholic and assumed it was common knowledge, but I thought the Poet "marking" the followers with black ink on their forehead would be the moment the religious subtext clicked with people. It did not.
Anyway, my screening was more crowded than I expected, but that quickly changed. Two couples left about halfway through the movie, and another and a man by himself about 3/4 of the way through. At the closing credits, those who were left erupted in laughter, and got up to leave immediately.
Listening to them all talk outside the theatre, I realized that none of them seemed to get the (what I thought was obvious) allegory. I literally heard someone say "I don't understand the whole last hour."
It seems, at least to me, that the problem is that the movie is going right over the audience's head. And that's not to call people stupid, it's just such a thick film.
Anyway, the minute the crystal "heart" was broken by the couple I knew what was going on. Cane and Able (or whatever the sons' real names were) showed up it was just cemented. I'm just shocked some people still didn't seem to understand by the ending- I thought, by that point, the movie was slapping you over the face with it.
Edit: Maybe it's because I was raised Catholic and assumed it was common knowledge, but I thought the Poet "marking" the followers with black ink on their forehead would be the moment the religious subtext clicked with people. It did not.