Rewatched Black point and tried to pay attention this time lol. Made me understand some things I missed but also raised more questions. Only got a tiny bit more insight on our boy but better than nothing.
- Gusā car has Washington plates, and we see it at the beginning of the movie (at the pier in Alaska), which probably means heās from Washington and not Alaska (I was under the impression he was, and they moved to Washington to escape being caught by the feds, but I guess not. Imho Alaska would make a lot more sense character-wise because it has a reputation of being an extremely depressing place to live despite being really pretty in parts. #1 in the US for suicide, high rates of alcoholism, domestic violence, assault etc. Thereās also a disproportionate population of men compared to women bc a lot of guys came to make easy money by fishing, only to find that it doesnāt pay a lot. Tourism brings in a lot of money in AK too, which also led me to believe they were from there (she mentions Gus became a charter boat captain after being a fisherman). Of course, Washington also gets a lot of itās money from tourism and fishing, but still.)
- Stilllll donāt understand what happened with the money. Obviously a money laundering thing, Gus meant to pick up the money but the feds showed up, so he left but the Chinese mob (?) still had the money so he got it later when he shot that guy on the boat.
- Donāt know why I didnāt put it together but the boat Gus is on is his (The Lucky Mermaid). Natalie calls it āthe ugliest thing youāve ever seenā but it just looks like a normal boat to me ?? But I donāt know that much about boats so who knows. Best guess is when he got it it was ugly and he had to renovate it or something.
- Natalie mentions that when she first met Gus he was a fisherman, then he became a Charter Boat captain. I wonder at what point he got involved with Malcom.
- I also wonder how far up Gus is in Malcomās crime syndicate. He seems to have underlings who call him boss, but his boss is Malcom.
- Gus loves his (dated?) pop culture references. I had to look up who Barney Fife was and what American Bandstand was. Donāt know if itās a common knowledge thing and Iām just out of the loop or if he specifically likes vintage/retro pop culture.
- Also, I knoww heās the stereotypical ābad boyā but ordering āVodka straightā at a bar is crazy work. A) disgusting, and B) points to possible problems with alcohol (heās also seen drinking at the hotel later, and obviously itās linked to DV).
- Natalie doesnāt seem to be involved directly with his crimes, but he tells her about them, and she knows Malcom. Maybe Gus made sure she new enough that she would be an accomplice in the eyes of the law, but not enough that she could actually incriminate him?
- Gusā guys push Natalie around, making me wonder if he knows and allows it or if they just figure they can. Heās obviously the boss of his little group (they literally call him boss) so who knows.
- I missed that Eddy literally killed his own guy by accident during the shootout Natalie orchestrated, A+ henchman work.
- Also, Eddy seems to be the younger (dumber) brother.
- Iām wondering if thereās meant to be a significant age gap between Gus and Natalie (he calls her kiddo, refers to himself as āold Gusā etc), or if itās just the power dynamic. The actors arenāt that far apart in ages but that doesnāt necessarily mean anything.
- Did Natalie mean to kill herself via drowning?? Sheās a fishermanās daughter and she doesnāt know how to swim ??? Was she banking on hypothermia getting her?? I know the Washington ocean is cold but???
- Also, itās so sad how Natalie mentions she had tried to get away from Gus before, and later on he tells her āwe only have our little problems when you runā, meaning it probably happened multiple times :(. Natalie was 100% justified in what she did idc what anyone says.
- Natalie mentions the house is a rental, and I guess it was a summer place that they moved in off-season. Were they only planning on staying a little while?
- I donāt understand the part towards the end after Gus kills Malcom and his men and is about to set off on his boat, even though he knows Natalie ran off with the money at this point. Where was he going? Did he figure she was somewhere else or was he just going to let her go until he heard John was alive and she was with him? This is the question that bothers me the most.
- Gus and Natalie wear almost the same color shirt. Like. Was that intentional? That is such an oddly specific color for it to be a coincidence.
- Why is the Sheriff even in this?? She is so useless. At least thereās another female character, so thereās that I guess. But still. Go girl give me nothing.
- For the most part I forget this movie was from the y2k era, then Iāll be reminded when I see one of Gusā guys looking like a bootleg Backstreet Boy.
- Pretty sure the place Malcom tortures people in is Bamberton, which was a ghost town with an abandoned cement factory in Vancouver. I canāt verify because the only info I can find is that the movie was filmed in Vancouver. This is completely useless information but I want to share it on the off chance someone finds it interesting.
Anyway, that was way longer than I intended it to be but this objectively mediocre y2k movie has given me brainrot.
always interested in your thoughts + hope you enjoyed the holidays!
This pair strikes me like they've been continuously on the run so much that they frequently go about changing cars, vehicles, home addresses, cities, towns, settlements, safe houses and registration plates (maybe even illegally?) making it genuinely harder to track where they were originally from at first glance or where they're exactly headed, which was kind of the point for a pair of criminals. They're meant to be slithery.
Not to be a hopeless romantic, but after Natalie left Gus, I think he was so disillusioned and genuinely heartbroken that it become of secondary interest what happens to most things and the plot reflects that. He undoubtedly wanted that money, sure, but the plot just veers from it because he's about to spiral bad for what he perceives as the ultimate betrayal.
The 'Luck Mermaid' is a normal looking, average boat, but have you ever just not loved someone? Have you ever not loved someone the degree everything they do is just annoying and subpar in your eyes whether you want to have such feelings or not? Their every project and effort comes off as ugly, something worth criticism or dismissal? Well, that is Natalie towards Gus. By extension, that's her stance towards the boat too. Her sentiment towards the man and the vehicle just festered or perhaps it was always festered.
This is meant to answers two questions at the same time, but it is unsurprising that a man who has made a career out of something surrounding nautical or maritime transport would eventually get involved with criminality, perhaps initially starting small, via smuggling, transporting illegal goods, arms or even people simply because it brings in a bigger profit or maybe even because Gus was made an 'offer he couldn't refuse' by Malcolm at one point, if you catch my drift. Maybe a mix of both. It was simply lucrative. Profitable. Gus had a great many dreams (a new wife too?) he did the math, so he went along with it.
I know even less about Barney Fife and American Bandstand. š
I think a lot of things in Gus's life simply didn't turn out the way he figured it would've and it leads to this bitter, jaded, cynical disposition he has and rampant alcohol consumption, to be honest.
Once more, to answer two questions at the same time, Natalie strikes me as the typical gangbanger's long suffering, suppressed spouse that has very little agency in the grander scope of things; she is at that weird, polarizing space in the hierarchy of things where she is protected (not from Gus, though) but still isn't important, influential or informed enough in the syndicate where Gus's men would respect her and not push her around. After all, she is a woman in a criminal gang --- a usually highly toxic and masculine circle.
I think they're close in age, but simply do this as a power dynamic thing.
Natalie strikes me like someone weirdly checked out and oddly depressed from the very beginning, so her having suicidal ideations isn't really surprising to me and to chime in on the question right below this one which I'll skip because the two mesh into each other, the fact that Gus is shown blurring lines of consent with Natalie and downright raping her, she seems to have just cause. And this is only what we see him do.
I imagine the pair has several of these rental places, boat homes, storages, unassumingly suburban, getaway spots and various safe houses scattered here and there and everywhere in the area, according to their needs or the circumstances.
They're the messy, toxic couple that are insanely chaotic, but when you meet them in public, they literally wear matching colors, matching button up shirts, matching jackets and even matching jewelry. š¤
You're right, this movie is painfully 2000's and I love it.
Honestly, him torturing people in an abandoned cement factory in a ghost town is eerie and amazing information, because this means Gus mingles around these ghost towns around Washington State frequently. Might even have hideouts in similar places.
