Suspiria (2018) | 100 Movies Bucket List

 

I'd heard of this film and seen the poster before it was on the bucket list, but I had no idea what it was about and had no desire to watch it. When I saw it on the list I assumed it was referring to the 1977 version, so I was really surprised that the modern one was considered a classic.

I have mixed feelings about this film - there was more bad than good.

The dance studio setting is really interesting. We get the chance to see the characters at different levels of intensity; it's an intimate, almost claustrophobic setting, and we feel like we're in the studio with the characters. It gives us the opportunity to really get to know them.

Tension is created really well in the film. From the very beginning the audience is immediately on edge, and the tension doesn't let up for almost the whole runtime.

The actors are really great in these roles. They all bring a different but complementary performance that hugely impacts the overall tone of the movie.

Speaking of the tone, it's purposely an uninviting one. There's a theme of belonging in the film - who belongs where, who should be doing what - and the audience is told constantly that we don't belong, as the characters also are.

An issue with this for me, is that it made me care about the characters less than I might have otherwise.

And because I didn't care about the characters, I struggled to care about their world too. As time went on the dance studio became less and less enigmatic. 

I didn't find the story particularly gripping. There are definitely moments where it's interesting but as a whole there wasn't enough interest to make me genuinely invested.

The performance scenes were great. Even if you're not a fan of contemporary dance, you can easily see the effort that has gone into creating these pieces.

I also feel like it didn't need to be as long as it was. There were definitely moments and scenes that didn't feel necessary to the overall plot, and left the film feeling bloated and, honestly, slow to get through.

So by the time the ending came around, I was waiting for it to be done.

Overall, there were definitely some good things about the movie, but ultimately it didn't really work for me.