Category: Film Analysis

  • Asteroid City Explained | What the Alien Really Means

    ACTOR/ALIEN I don’t play him as an alien, actually. I play him as a metaphor. That’s my interpretation. ACTRESS/SHELLY Metaphor for what? ACTOR/ALIEN I don’t know yet. It soon becomes clear in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City that there’s a link between Augie Steenbeck’s late wife and the Arid Plains Meteorite. Just as Augie’s wife was…

  • Barbie is Genius Marketing

    Just as Will Ferrell’s character was initially opposed to the idea of ‘ordinary Barbie’, Mattel were at first sceptical of Gerwig’s feminist rendition of Barbieland, until they realised that it would make money. I’m not just talking about the box office, I’m talking about the eye-watering profits Mattel stood to make from toy sales. The…

  • What Succession Teaches Us About Power

    Succession’s ending explained why almost every character in the show has relentlessly pursued the position of CEO through four whole seasons. Shiv, Roman and Kendall as well as the entirety of senior management are terrified of being betrayed. Their only salvation, it seems, is to become the most powerful person at Waystar. In this video…

  • The Problem with All Quiet On The Western Front (2022)

    After a year in the trenches, Paul Baumer is lost. He has witnessed childhood friends killed, maimed and driven mad by shellfire. He has felt debilitating hunger, fought grotesque rats that feast on corpses, and sheltered in the barren mud from incessant artillery. He has grown from an innocent schoolboy into a battle-hardened soldier with…

  • Aftersun explained – What the rave really means

    Aftersun’s repeated image of a strobe-lit dance scene is beautiful, dramatic and deeply ambiguous. Many viewers have offered their own interpretations of what Calum and Sophie’s slow-motion journey through this rave could mean. I’ve seen it described separately as “a sensory metaphor for Sophie coming to terms with her emotional baggage”, a representation of the…

  • Why Everything Everywhere All At Once Won Best Picture

    There are a thousand reasons why Everything Everywhere All At Once deserves to win awards. But if I was to choose just one, I would say that it’s the film’s refreshing take on the meaning of life. Many see the meaning of life as the process of attaining or achieving something extraordinary; whilst others believe…

  • Babylon Explained – Hollywood Uncensored

    If you take a moment to look past all the drug-fueled orgies, snake fights and elephant excrement, there is actually a much deeper meaning in Damien Chazzelle’s Babylon. The film is a fascinating insight into the search for meaning and identity at a time of unprecedented social change. Not only did the 1920s and early…

  • Why Hollywood Can’t Eat the rich

    The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion and many other films that have been released in recent years promise to serve up a scathing criticism of the 1%. Collectively, they have become known as ‘Eat the Rich’ movies, promising to criticise capitalism and analyse the class divide in society. However, none of these films are…

  • The Banshees of Inisherin Explained – The Futility of Civil War

    At midnight on the 27th of June 1922, two artillery pieces were wheeled through the soft midsummer rain on Dublin’s cobbled streets. They took up their positions along the river and set their sights on the highest court in Ireland. For days, The Four Courts had been the centre of a tense stand-off between the…

  • The Menu Explained – What the Cheeseburger Really Means

    Chef Slowik is an internationally renowned cook in charge of an exclusive restaurant on a private island. He’s able to charge $1250 a head, freely experiment with his dishes and command an adoring staff. At first glance, it seems as if he has reached the absolute pinnacle of his craft, achieving everything an aspiring restaurateur…