After finishing the movie, for a moment, I thought I didn't understand anything and missed the deep meaning, but later, after reading several reviews, I realized I hadn't missed much. I also grasped the very simple plot twist in the film. That's when I felt a great disappointment.
Tilda Swinton gives a truly powerful performance, both in the role of the mother and the daughter, and it's a bit of a shame that her performance is not fully utilized. The film's only twist is that the mother doesn't actually exist, but the effort to reconcile with her internally and conclude the story. However, apart from turning the color palette of the seemingly deep film from black to light to reveal this mystery, did the screenplay need to connect that mystery to something?
The mother-daughter relationship is always special and involves different dynamics. Despite Tilda Swinton's tremendous acting in this aspect, the screenplay falls short. Despite trying to create tension with simple sequences and a gray mist, as a viewer, I didn't feel tense. It was intriguing, yes, but without logically connecting it to something, it didn't make much sense.
The locations and camera angles were beautiful, but it seemed like they went overboard with the mist to create an atmosphere, and there was no need for such an exaggeration.
When the woman couldn't sleep in the hotel and got tense, I had imagined a nice harmony of drama in a setting-horror film. However, there is no satisfying conclusion about finishing the book, which the film focuses on, and no beautiful ending regarding the tension of this setting that I mentioned.
In short, I think Metacritic's score of 80 is related to the acting and atmosphere. But thrillers are much more than these two details. It is a straightforward, well-acted, not as deep as it seems, a regular drama thriller with a flat ending.
Tilda Swinton gives a truly powerful performance, both in the role of the mother and the daughter, and it's a bit of a shame that her performance is not fully utilized. The film's only twist is that the mother doesn't actually exist, but the effort to reconcile with her internally and conclude the story. However, apart from turning the color palette of the seemingly deep film from black to light to reveal this mystery, did the screenplay need to connect that mystery to something?
The mother-daughter relationship is always special and involves different dynamics. Despite Tilda Swinton's tremendous acting in this aspect, the screenplay falls short. Despite trying to create tension with simple sequences and a gray mist, as a viewer, I didn't feel tense. It was intriguing, yes, but without logically connecting it to something, it didn't make much sense.
The locations and camera angles were beautiful, but it seemed like they went overboard with the mist to create an atmosphere, and there was no need for such an exaggeration.
When the woman couldn't sleep in the hotel and got tense, I had imagined a nice harmony of drama in a setting-horror film. However, there is no satisfying conclusion about finishing the book, which the film focuses on, and no beautiful ending regarding the tension of this setting that I mentioned.
In short, I think Metacritic's score of 80 is related to the acting and atmosphere. But thrillers are much more than these two details. It is a straightforward, well-acted, not as deep as it seems, a regular drama thriller with a flat ending.