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I have a question about the ending for you, or anyone who's seen Thelma...
WARNING: "Ending" spoilers below
Why did she kill her dad? He didn't seem like a bad guy, or was he suppose to be bad?


WARNING: "Ending" spoilers below
I personally thought it was a biblical parallel more so than anything else. Like the desire of the flesh, the world vs religion or God. How they simply can't coexist. Her father did give me some creep vibes but I was definitely not expecting death. That's why I'm a bit split on the ending, on a symbolic note it makes sense, but in its narrative it's very odd.



WARNING: "Ending" spoilers below
I personally thought it was a biblical parallel more so than anything else. Like the desire of the flesh, the world vs religion or God. How they simply can't coexist. Her father did give me some creep vibes but I was definitely not expecting death. That's why I'm a bit split on the ending, on a symbolic note it makes sense, but in its narrative it's very odd.
I like that idea that you suggested, makes sense to me.



WARNING: "Ending" spoilers below
Why did she kill her dad? He didn't seem like a bad guy, or was he suppose to be bad?
WARNING: "Thelma" spoilers below
The dad wanted to keep her sedated for the rest of her life, in order to keep her powers suppressed. She wouldn't have any autonomy at all, and would end up like her grandmother, in care and drugged out of her mind until there's nothing left of who she was.

Since the film deals with themes of self-discovery, the parallel is that she is breaking free from the influence he has had over her, and making her own choices.



WARNING: "Ending" spoilers below
Her father did give me some creep vibes but I was definitely not expecting death. That's why I'm a bit split on the ending, on a symbolic note it makes sense, but in its narrative it's very odd.
WARNING: "Thelma" spoilers below
I thought his death made perfect sense as part of the narrative.

Since you mentioned symbolism, it's possible to see his death as a metaphor for Thelma completely cutting ties with him if you prefer that perspective. It's actually possible to view all of the film's more fantastic elements as allegories for Thelma's growth as an individual, rather than taking them at face value, similar to Pan's Labyrinth.



WARNING: "Thelma" spoilers below
The dad wanted to keep her sedated for the rest of her life, in order to keep her powers suppressed. She wouldn't have any autonomy at all, and would end up like her grandmother, in care and drugged out of her mind until there's nothing left of who she was.

Since the film deals with themes of self-discovery, the parallel is that she is breaking free from the influence he has had over her, and making her own choices.
That's how I saw it as well.



WARNING: "Thelma" spoilers below
The dad wanted to keep her sedated for the rest of her life, in order to keep her powers suppressed. She wouldn't have any autonomy at all, and would end up like her grandmother, in care and drugged out of her mind until there's nothing left of who she was..
WARNING: " About Spoiler" spoilers below
I got that too...But then that makes her evil as her powers were dangerous as she killed her little brother. The movie reminded me of the old Twilight Zone with Billy Mummy, the one where he wishes people away into the cornfield



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Thelma


**BASICALLY ALL SPOILERS**

From reading about Thelma, I thought I would really like it. It started promisingly; it certainly looks good and sets up some interesting mysteries and character conflicts, a possible romance. It was well acted and I sympathised with Thelma a lot. I was enjoying watching it and I think it was well made.

Unfortunately, it starts to lose the plot towards the end.

Towards the end the movie flips our expectations and sympathies, so the parents are no longer controlling nuts she needs to break away from, they are actually trying to keep the rest of the world safe from her dangerous powers. Which is actually kind of interesting. Then she breaks free, kills her dad and continues to coerce the girl she likes into a relationship. So evil, horror ending. Or is it? It seems to be presented as some kind of triumphant her taking control of her powers, and she does heal her mum.

And it seems some viewers think this is some kind of great movie about “being your authentic self” as I’ve seen people describe it on letterboxd. Yeah, if “being your authentic self” means murdering half your family. Priorities, millennials.

It sort of makes sense allegorically, in a "let the past die kill it if you have to" (thanks Star Wars) sort of way, but not narratively. Taken literally, how can we root for her given what she did to the baby and her father? She shows no remorse but just rails at the unfairness of its impact on her.

I found it was too creepy and unpleasant for me to really be immersed in from the point of the first flashback with the baby, it was too horrible.

The plot actually reminded me a bit of Frozen… girl with powers accidentally harms her younger sibling and her parents tell her to ‘conceal don’t feel’. If, instead of horrifically killing her father she’d just magicked up a sparkly dress and sung a song about letting it go, I might have liked it better. Also, there could have been trolls.

So all in all I have mixed feelings about it.



Ultraviolence sent me a link to The Saragossa Manuscript but it didn't work, so how are you guys finding this? If you have a link please let me know. I've looked and looked and couldn't find one.



The copy I had was in three parts, and I had to manually resync both the audio and subtitles, so you probably don't want to watch it that way. I've been looking for you, but the only place I've found to stream it online doesn't have any subtitles.

Siddon and Thursday have managed to watch it. Maybe one of them can help?



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The film I'm struggling with is Assassination, as it doesn't seem to be available on DVD or streaming in the UK at all.



Ultraviolence sent me a link to The Saragossa Manuscript but it didn't work, so how are you guys finding this? If you have a link please let me know. I've looked and looked and couldn't find one.
Sent you one that works for me and has subs.



I sent a link from the Bay
He doesn't torrent if you mean Pirate, also insane that you're still using that. I sent him an Openload one which should work, normally has when i've sent those.



We don't have one locally, but in other provinces there's a big retail chain called The Bay (or Hudson's Bay), so that's the first thing I thought about. But yeah, Pirate Bay makes more sense.



We don't have one locally, but in other provinces there's a big retail chain called The Bay (or Hudson's Bay), so that's the first thing I thought about. But yeah, Pirate Bay makes more sense.
I thought he meant eBay at first, loved the idea of sending Citizen into an auction rather than just giving him a link to buy it. haha



movies can be okay...
La Famille Bélier (2014) by Eric Lartigau

This is a film I usually would never even glance at, so it's a great thing that it was nominated, since I'm all for as much variety as possible, and what do you know, it's not as horrible as I expected it to be. In fact, the movie was actually pretty decent, but only because of its musical aspects in the story. The comedic aspects aren't a complete failure, but they still weren't able to get the proper reaction out of me. I mean, the most it got out of me was a "that's cute" comment, attached to a smile.

Yes the story has been done to death already, yes there are amateurish aspects to the directing, and yes this is no Tarkovsky's "Mirror" that's for sure! It still is what it has to be in the eyes of the targeted audience, and even then, I still managed to walk out of it with enough enjoyment, so that's more than what I was initially asking for. Moreover, there's one particularly impressive scene that caught me off guard, but only because the rest of the film is so passable in comparison.
__________________
"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke



If I'm counting right, I think that review puts us at 100 even.

There is a little over 8 weeks left to the HoF, so at the recommended pace everyone is going to want to have around 7 films watched already. If you're behind a bit, you don't have to panic yet. There's still plenty of time to catch up without having to watch more than 2 films a week.