Rebecca 2020

It's been like four days since I've seen this movie and I can't really remember it LMAO, so take that how you will. I haven't seen the Oscar winner or read the book, so I was flying in blind— I think that's why I was able to enjoy it as much as I did. That, and I think Lily James and Armie Hammer are very pretty people to look at ~respectfully~... The movie seems to jump around from genre to genre as it tries to unravel itself for the gothic horror it wants to be, and it's kind of a fun roller coaster, but it's a pretty slow one. How does a slow roller coaster even work...I don't know.

This movie definitely plays out like a soap opera. There's a ton of pieces missing, but if you're willing and open to do it, you can easily get invested in the characters and gasp at every dramatic little thing, filling in the gaps yourself. I think Lily James was absolutely amazing in her role as a timid naive middle-class girl, and Kristin Scott Thomas was fun as the antagonist; I'd say at some points she almost manages to touch the nerve that Dolores Umbridge sets aflame, HA. Worse than Voldemort, that one is. Did I like this movie? For sure! Would I rec this movie? Meeeehhhh. HAHA.

What a crazy film. It was hard watching someone you're rooting for just be stomped on over and over again. There are some really interesting elements in the film but it is definitely a bit all over the place. The movie felt like it was 2 hours long, which is something that you dont notice in some films.

The protagonist is a woman working as a companion for an old rich lady when one day the lady suggests that she be seated with Mr. De Winters, a rich widower who is holidaying in France. Protag catches his eye and they start a whirlwind romance eventually marrying to stop the lady from taking protag with her to New York. Back at the Manderley estate there are remnants of De Winters deceased wife everywhere, and now protag feels like she will never fill the shoes of the deceased wife.

This movie throws struggle after struggle at the protagonist who seems to constantly suffer at each point and breaks down in tears. She is manipulated by almost everyone around her, gaslighted, bullied and psychologically abused and through this she never seems to grow until the final arc of the movie. I admit that the unravelling of the mysteries were really good and looking back so many of the reactions of characters make sense in a different light and are much more chilling.

I liked the dynamic between the two protagonists. It sas obviously a bit strained and way too stressful. I did feel like it was all a bit over the top, but I think it was worth a watch. The music is pretty decent, maybe a bit too loud compared to the volume of the rest of the film.

I truly feel like I've wasted two hours of my life. I saw the trailer and thought 'cool a new thriller.' The trailer is set up like the movie in two seemingly separate parts. It starts of like a love story and it reminded me of every Disney movie in which the princess falls for the handsome prince and I heard the wise words of Elsa 'you can't marry a man you just met'. The movie then takes a darker turn and it leads you to believe you're going to be watching a thriller from that point on.
It still is a love story and the only thriller aspect is the dreams that the new Mrs. de Winter is having. The story itself remains flat, dull and a drag. This story could've been told in half the time. Mrs. de Winter is such a bad character, she lacks backbone, lets herself be bullied by all of the staff and her husband - who has no time for her whatsoever and leaves her in the hands of the staff. Everyone worships Rebecca and in the end it turns out she is God-like to almost everyone except her husband who hated her so much that he shot her but that wasn't even a way to get revenge turns out because Rebecca was already dying and thus got her ending quick as she wanted. Oh and she also slept around a LOT, even with her cousin (gross). When Mrs. de Winter finds out her husband is a killer (for whatever reason and however mean Rebecca was, he DID kill her) she all of the sudden changes from his scared little baby bird into a woman who is ready to blackmail and play private investigator for her shitty husband who up until that point had been neglecting her ever since they got to the Manderly (a house he left like a shrine to the wife he so hated because Mrs. Danvers so obviously had an obsessive crush on 'her' Rebecca and she decides what goes and what not I guess?). So the last part of the movie goes by faster than the blink of an eye in which Mrs. de Winter does whatever she can to save her hubby from jail and it ends with them happily together living their best lives all around the globe, madly in love. WHAT?!
I heard there is a book that this movie is based on, I wonder if that sucks as much as this? But my God, this movie was genre upon genre and not a single one was done right. Good casting though and I liked the cinematic choices they've made but the story all together was simply off putting and it felt like a cheap rip off from to many stories that they then flung together as one. No.