There are many problems with the whole film. First of all, it is mixed between reality and unreality (unreality does not refer to the surreal of the plot, but to the unreasonableness of the plot), and it seems a bit nondescript. Second, it's probably the most embarrassing movie I've ever seen.
Most of the film's story takes place in Romania, but from the characters (the director's secretary, colleagues, and the German boss who is also in Romania, etc.) to the environment (bathrooms, shopping centers, etc.), everything in the film is in Romania. Both are objectified and used as a vehicle for directors to articulate their arguments about workplace feminism and capitalist systems of exploitation. It makes the film seem insincere, like a scholar endorsing the correct knowledge learned in class. The materialized characters lead to a rigid storyline, which ultimately led me to be at a loss as a spectator. I felt that what happened in this film might be very important to the director and heroine, but it was not necessary to me, so there was only embarrassment left in front of the camera, and I could only feel embarrassed. Even if I occasionally see abrupt cold humor, it only deepens, not softens, the embarrassment.
This kind of self-indulgent self-expression is actually a kind of petty bourgeois egoism. The petty bourgeoisie are not at the center of suffering themselves, but out of concern or fear of suffering, they desire to make suffering as their own responsibility by amplifying their presence in suffering. The anxiety of the daughter in the film may represent the director, or the anxiety the director sees, but it is not a real workplace anxiety. It is just a kind of imaginary, plausible, and deliberately packaged (and embarrassingly packaged) plot, which may "reflect the real" anxiety. Because it is expressed in a perverted, narcissistic way, it - although it may be confusing to the film festival judges and some "art film fans" who are also petty bourgeoisie - fails to make a real reality ordinary People feel empathy, let alone see the light of day.
So what is the point of this movie? Amuse yourself?
(Towel City)
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