Deepfocuslens
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IT ENDS WITH US First Viewing
🕑 Added 2024-08-26 23:56:54 +0000 UTCYeah...I saw it. Couldn't resist. It is pretty much what you would expect based on the backlash. But let me tell you...if there had been no media backlash at all, and I had walked into this blindly basing all my knowledge of this on Blake Lively's marketing aesthetic...I would feel very jipped. Not only is the advertising tonedeaf...but it's intentionally misguiding you. And no...not in an interesting way. Not like the trailer for BARBARIAN, which cleverly misguided you to build the suspense. No...this is just pure manipulation. You'd think the movie is a romantic feel-good film where the big theme of it is florals. But flowers as a symbol in the film, are peripheral at best. Really the only ties to it are the fact that Lively's character name is Lily Bloom (yes...that's not a joke), and she owns a flower shop. That's it.
IT ENDS WITH US is a glorified lifetime movie/soap opera, indulgently stretched to an over two hour runtime. It's far too long, and to be honest, I was more offended by how soft and watered down the actual domestic abuse depictions felt in the film, compared to the marketing itself. It felt like this was made by someone who doesn't have a clue about domestic abuse or how to interpret it. It was like watching a Disney film version of an abusive relationship, which was kind of funny in and of itself, even though it shouldn't have been. The soundtrack is hilarious. It's some weepy Bon Iver type shit the whole time. A "White Girl Coffee Shop" playlist, basically.
I will say for Lively...she would've been a great 90s romantic comedy gal, and we'd all adore her. Despite her vapid behavior as a celebrity, it's clear she has the instinct and the charisma to play these sappy scenes naturally, where you believe her and like her. I know she preferred to take the wife/mom route as a woman much like Gwyneth Paltrow, which is perfectly fine but...if she wanted to, she could likely turn in a powerful performance with the right guidance. The problem is, in the case of this film...she absolutely could not be bothered to turn in a vulnerable or emotional performance, once the material begins to get dark after act one. She does not embody any of the trauma of her characters past, and how it is turning her into something she never intended in the present. There's an attempted rape scene as example. Her performance was so lazy and phoned in, and it felt as if she just wanted to just get it over with...so we could shift to another pointless montage with Cigarettes After Sex playing over it to fill the time.
She did not come to play in these scenes, and that in itself felt offensive to me. She only emphasized the stuff she knows is light and fluffy that are within her range, and refused to address the elephant in the room, hoping we all wouldn't notice. It shows in her behavior in the interviews, as I had mentioned in the previous post about this. The moment someone brings up abuse...she shifts the conversation to her haircare line or some ditsy sarcastic quip. All of that behavior, shows in the final product. This is Lively's film, not Baldoni's. Even when Lily must face such difficult decisions in the climax of the film...Lively is treating the scenes as if she's deciding which ice cream flavor to buy lol. She's "Abuse Barbie" I guess.
But yeah, the film sucked but it was totally worth it for me, to finally see it for myself. I enjoy the bad movies when it comes to stuff like this. As I suspected...neither Baldoni or Lively need to be directors. The material is tasteless enough. Anyone wanting to make material like this into a film...I question your motives. I think they are both full of shit lol.
Comments
Vejay S.
From what I understand Baldoni has the cinematic rights to the books. It seems unlikely considering the issues he has with Coleen & Blake.
Deepfocuslens
Absolutely. Even the director came out recently and talked about the backlash. Everything he says is so manufactured. He takes the material seriously, and that's the problem.
Vejay S.
Man this movie was just a mess and not worth that hype and interest it attracted. I feel like if you wanted to use a existing book to convert to an adaptation to raise awareness about DV this was not it.
Shane Palamara
Even Blake’s character being a florist named Lily Bloom is an eyeroll. This is just Gossip Girl 2.0 but they’ve grown up now so it has to be something more serious.
Deepfocuslens
See...I know very little about the author. But after seeing this film I started to feel more interested in her than any of them. Not in a good way. In a...wtf is wrong with you....type of way haha
Deepfocuslens
At least Twilight is funny.
Shane Palamara
When I found out the author was using the popularity of the novel and film to promote her own products, I knew it was a bad sign. Both her and Blake are completely tone deaf and if they really respected the material, this whole situation would be very different.
Wolfman Brandon
Apparently, the book has a sequel and this has made over $240 million so far on a $25 million budget so you can count on the sequel adaptation coming. Sounds like it's gonna be this decade's Twilight.
Deepfocuslens
I should say...I havent read the book. But I've done some research on it, and I've talked to people who have actually read it, that I trust. And yes...it's what you're saying.
Deepfocuslens
yeah I know. The source material is gross. Hence why I said that anyone wanting to make a real film that is an honest depiction of domestic violence....would never go for anything as cheap as this. This is why I said both she and Baldoni are full of shit. And the author is full of shit too.
vince2k
The book of the same name has been extremely polarizing as well, also because of its depiction of abuse. If you hate the movie you'd probably hate the book, tho from what I remember, that book was based on the author's mother's experience with abuse.
