When I was at the movie theatre they were advertising a romcom where the premise was that unmarried people are only legally allowed to have sex once a year and that one, that one made me put my head in my hands.
Lol for anyone curious: I watched it early and there ARE gay people in it, which I was absolutely not expecting (casually too, like her roommate is gay and they don't make a big deal out of it or treat it like a joke). They also do actually explain the worldbuilding which I wasn't expecting either (government partnered with big tech and forced everyone to get implanted with biosensors and that's how they enforce it btw). Felt like a romcom that was set in a political satire of the USA
The biosensors track levels of dopamine (and other bodily chemicals that they listed and I forgot but are related to sex), and if yours spikes when in vicinity of another person's sensor while those chemicals are also spiking, then the police are notified. There's a sign (I think in the police station?) showing what's legal and what's not, and masturbation IS legal! I don't think mutual masterbation is though, because you'd be within range of someone else.
Sexting and cybersex would be legal, yea. Also Iirc they mention in the movie that birth rates have declined, especially since wearing a condom is legally required on that one night a year where it's legal for singles to bang (It's also only been a law in this universe's USA for 3 years so I imagine they haven't plummeted too far just yet). I think the idea is that they want to push more people towards getting married and having children while married, which some people are noted to have done, but most people hate the mandate so bad they've refused and are just waiting/fighting for it to be repealed lol
Like I know you didnāt write the movie (probably) and Iām trying not to shoot the messenger but what in the motherfucking fuck. Iām sure you also remember Covid: the government asked people to wear a mask to go to the grocery store and there were riots. How the fuck would you mandate condom usage?
Lol I WISH I had a part in making this movie just to be able to say I did! There's a scene in the movie where the main girl asks a cop why she enforces the mandate and the cop says that her pension is at risk if she doesn't, so it sounds like unlike covid, the government mobilized the police to enforce the mandate.
When I was at the movie theatre they were advertising a romcom where the premise was that unmarried people are only legally allowed to have sex once a year and that one, that one made me put my head in my hands.
Lol for anyone curious: I watched it early and there ARE gay people in it, which I was absolutely not expecting (casually too, like her roommate is gay and they don't make a big deal out of it or treat it like a joke). They also do actually explain the worldbuilding which I wasn't expecting either (government partnered with big tech and forced everyone to get implanted with biosensors and that's how they enforce it btw). Felt like a romcom that was set in a political satire of the USA
The biosensors track levels of dopamine (and other bodily chemicals that they listed and I forgot but are related to sex), and if yours spikes when in vicinity of another person's sensor while those chemicals are also spiking, then the police are notified. There's a sign (I think in the police station?) showing what's legal and what's not, and masturbation IS legal! I don't think mutual masterbation is though, because you'd be within range of someone else.
Sexting and cybersex would be legal, yea. Also Iirc they mention in the movie that birth rates have declined, especially since wearing a condom is legally required on that one night a year where it's legal for singles to bang (It's also only been a law in this universe's USA for 3 years so I imagine they haven't plummeted too far just yet). I think the idea is that they want to push more people towards getting married and having children while married, which some people are noted to have done, but most people hate the mandate so bad they've refused and are just waiting/fighting for it to be repealed lol
When I was at the movie theatre they were advertising a romcom where the premise was that unmarried people are only legally allowed to have sex once a year and that one, that one made me put my head in my hands.
Lol for anyone curious: I watched it early and there ARE gay people in it, which I was absolutely not expecting (casually too, like her roommate is gay and they don't make a big deal out of it or treat it like a joke). They also do actually explain the worldbuilding which I wasn't expecting either (government partnered with big tech and forced everyone to get implanted with biosensors and that's how they enforce it btw). Felt like a romcom that was set in a political satire of the USA
The biosensors track levels of dopamine (and other bodily chemicals that they listed and I forgot but are related to sex), and if yours spikes when in vicinity of another person's sensor while those chemicals are also spiking, then the police are notified. There's a sign (I think in the police station?) showing what's legal and what's not, and masturbation IS legal! I don't think mutual masterbation is though, because you'd be within range of someone else.
When I was at the movie theatre they were advertising a romcom where the premise was that unmarried people are only legally allowed to have sex once a year and that one, that one made me put my head in my hands.
Lol for anyone curious: I watched it early and there ARE gay people in it, which I was absolutely not expecting (casually too, like her roommate is gay and they don't make a big deal out of it or treat it like a joke). They also do actually explain the worldbuilding which I wasn't expecting either (government partnered with big tech and forced everyone to get implanted with biosensors and that's how they enforce it btw). Felt like a romcom that was set in a political satire of the USA
on my first watch i was so in naim's head that i didn't fully understand that from ryan's perspective he is experiencing the entity in a completely different way than naim. he doesn't share in naim's guilt at being the reason the entity was introduced to their lives, and in my opinion i think he's a lot less caught up in the "wrongness" of being queer than naim is. even when he and hunter are waiting for the deliverance healer to do the ritual, he's unfazed, making fun of the church goers for being gullible, snickering at the priest, outwardly unaffected. it's not until the ritual has real consequences that he starts to show genuine fear, and avoid naim if only because he knows the town will do the same ritual to him if they suspect why they're talking. even when he's attacked by the entity, and they learn more about what exactly it is that has been done to them, ryan's relationship with the entity remains so much less damning. when jessica tells them that it comes when they're alone, that it will never leave them, that it will only get worse, ryan just goes. ok fine. we'll figure this out together. he's so much more willing to try than naim, so much less shackled by the guilt and fear that naim struggles with throughout the entire film. not to say that he isn't scared, of course he is. but ryan continually pushes back on naim's defeatist attitude. I know it's scary but I want to try. I don't want it to look like some other dickhead, I want it to look like you. and at the end, naim leaving his mother behind and seeing ryan at the bus stop is him finally letting go of the strong hold the guilt and the fear has on him and meeting ryan where he's at. I can live with the fear, if it's with you. If it's with you, I'm willing to try.
I wrote down my thoughts as soon as I could after watching because I wanted to ramble about this movie very badly in here. These are some of them:
- The fact that this entity works so well because the teenagers canāt even tell ātrusted adultsā about it. Religion has a hold of this community, everyone knows everyone, youāre effectively trapped in a nightmare and you canāt talk about it because then theyāll find out that who you desire most is another boy. Naim tells someone and the lady not only doesnāt believe him, she immediately betrays his trust. He tries multiple times to get his momās help but she refuses to listen and the twist being that Naimās own mother knew all along and let it happen? I was flabbergasted. She kept saying how fear is something you need. Live your life in fear, who in this community hasnāt heard that one before. It was absolutely revolting to watch. No adult actually cares, they seem to know about this practice and allow it. Even if they didnāt know, as long as the ācureā worked I donāt think they would mind. Would the police even care? Itās wild.
- It works like a chain of outing. One kid tells on someone and then another kid tells on someone else and it keeps going and going. When your church rewards you for exposing your peers, either because you were raised homophobic as hell or youāre trying very hard not to give yourself away, I can imagine how terrifyingly effective that ends up being. Izzie appears to be on their side only to lead them into being hate-crimed ffs š
- Naim in NO WAY knew that a whole ass demonic entity would end up cursing them just because he snitched on Ryan and Hunter, please give that boy so much grace. Heās like 17 or something? At most he thought they would make them stop seeing each other! Which is what his impulsive teenage self wanted because he felt hurt! Not even Hunter and Ryan were too worried when they brought them to the church for the ritual, thinking it was going to be some bullshit spectacle. Naim also clearly doesnāt have experience with living in a place like this before and itās so apparent. Small towns make you turn on each other by design, I wonāt stand for anyone calling Naim a villain when the clear villains are right there! Like the Deliverance Healer and all the adults? I know there will inevitably be some people who dislike Naim for outing them, I understand it as your first emotional reaction, but that in no way should be what you come out of the movie with. Hopefully Iām fighting ghosts and no one hates my boy š
- Hunter talks about how the ritual actually worked for a couple of people, who ended up having kids and living the ānormalā life. I was gagged again by how the concept of conversion therapy via demonic entity works so well. The entity makes you afraid of the person you desire most, it drives a wedge between you, tainting your love. Naim licks Ryanās ear in one scene and as the audience your heart is fluttering, but then on the very next scene the entity bites Ryanās ear in the exact same spot, leaving him bleeding and terrified, and your heart breaks for these two who canāt have one good thing. The entity uses that growing affection to learn how to best manipulate you. It gets better at imitating touch the more time you spend with the person, like the girl said. Eventually the only way to save yourself is to cut the other person off and that is so viscerally tragic.
- Ryan said āI want it to look like youā and I knew this was a true horror-romance. They choose each other at the end, they choose loving and staying together in spite of everything. Itās not like all their problems have been solved now, because sure they have lighters to defend themselves with and they may develop some countermeasures, but the entity remains. They will have to keep living with some modicum of fear for the rest of their lives and work through the feelings of hurt and betrayal between them. And yet! And yet they have each other. They have that sweet, sweet love that no one can take away from them anymore. Their entities will keep looking like them as yet another symbol of their affection. Those people didnāt succeed in making them give up their love and that is so important to me.
- The entity actually stopped when Naim caressed it? Can I hear everyoneās theory about this? Because itās probably the thing Iām most curious about. Can itā¦ feel affection? Does it have a need for it? I donāt even know man.
- The way Hunter and Ryan can only communicate through aggression is such a contrast to Naim and Ryanās relationship. Their repression manifests as hurting each other, while Naim and Ryan are hesitant but they donāt want to hurt each other. They want to explore and be soft and sometimes playfully rough, and itās clear enough that their relationship is just instantly deeper and stronger. Iām sorry Hunter š Ryan was already seeing the entity as Naim, who Iām sure he met fairly recently compared to you (I think they may have grown together?)
- The tragedy of Hunter is very obvious to me however. Being the pastorās son in a church like that? Yeah I would also develop some psychosexual tendencies. They didnāt need to show me his head ugh
- I love how they made a point of Naim being constantly scared. Heās scared of the snake, heās scared of heights, and heās scared of letting Ryan give him a handjob, jolting as soon as he looks at his reflection while in the middle of the act. Fear is a central theme of the movie, āthey wanted us to be scaredā. Naim has to overcome so much to reach that moment in which he is able to confront the entity head-on, and a big part of that journey is thanks to Ryan and how much Naim cares for him. Itās what leds him to investigate the situation in the first place, to confess his involvement in the whole thing and to try to save Ryan. Heās able to finally let go and offer himself to the pleasure at Ryanās hands in that bus scene, growing a little with each experience. At last, he confronts the entity and we see him look completely at peace on that final scene, heading to who knows where with Ryanās head in his shoulder.
- Frank Ocean needle drop was perfection šÆ
- Sustained long shots are one of my favorite filmmaking techniques and thatās basically 60% of this movie so I was delighted by the cinematography.
- Maybe Iāve gotten better at horror than I thought because I wasnāt really scared, I was just sad and appalled all the time lol. I think part of it is that I had already spoiled myself on all entity Ryan appearances except for one (which did get me to jump a little).
- I need so many post-canon fics cuz Iām pretty sure they wonāt be making a sequel for this (fingers crossed though) and Iād like to read Ryanaim live as happily ever after as they can after all that.
- The one scene the five people at my screening laughed at was Naim asking the cashier to stay with him while looking completely out of his mind, tbh I also chuckled and I think that was the intention anyway lol
- Ryan is such a fascinating character, I really thought for a second he might leave Naim to be beaten after that revelation, but he didnāt. Everything is told from Naimās perspective so Ryan remains a little mysterious throughout it. I wish this was adapted from a book so I could just go and read all his inner monologues.
- It couldāve done with a longer runtime and a bigger climax but I understand budgeting and itās incredible this was made in the first place. I loved it all the same. Unlike some reviews Iāve seen, I donāt think I needed the entity to be explained more than it was. A final appearance from the Deliverance Healer is what I felt missing but tbf that only makes it creepier, the idea that heās still out there, just cursing more gay people oh god
- itās not quite like It Follows, now that I think about it. In It Follows the entity has to walk the distance and it shows up regardless of if youāre alone or not.
- Joe Birdās talent truly is shedding tears while still looking pretty af, Stacyās talent is looking fantastic while covered in blood <3
- Naimās name being from the actual Leviticus is such a neat detail that I need everyone to know.
Okay, at this point Iām just rambling, I have so many more thoughts to write down but I seriously need to do a second viewing first! Please give me all your analysis and essays too, Iām so excited now that everyone in the U.S will be able to watch it soon
if you are a parent, or may become one, or you are otherwise likely to arrive in the situation of caring for a child while they eat, promise me this: if a child doesn't like a certain food or food group, you will ask them WHY. and specifically, you will pay attention to either confirming or ruling out "it makes my mouth itch" or "it makes my stomach hurt," both of which are medically important info that children may not provide unprompted. which i know because this PSA has been brought to you by "i spent my entire childhood and much of my early teens eating peas and lentils while wondering why everyone else liked the Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation so much, like were they a bunch of legume masochists or something, before i finally realized that Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation was in fact a sinister demon appearing only to me, and her true demonic name was: Legume Allergy"
the murdle puzzle books are so cute bc wdym it's actually a super queer universe with nonbinary criminals and gay detectives and that love to say ACAB every chance they get and constantly critique capitalism. detective logico i am charmed by you
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