Altered States (1980)
A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ken Russell
Written By: Paddy Chayefsky
Starring: William Hurt, Bob Balaban, Drew Barrymore, Blair Brown, Charles Haid, Peter Brandon, Thaao Penghlis, Dori Brenner, Jack Murdock, Megan Jeffers, Miguel Godreau, Charles White-Eagle
Genres: Drama, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
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Altered States belongs to 39 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
2. Mindfuck (collaborative: moderated by Mockus - 86 stars)
3. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)
4. Certified weird (collaborative: moderated by Dreamer - 47 stars)
5. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
6. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
7. The 100 Greatest Sci-Fi Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 19 stars)
8. Intellectual Sci-Fi (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 17 stars)
9. Drugs (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 16 stars)
10. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
11. Wierd / Mindfuck / Surreal (collaborative: moderated by neurophate - 9 stars)
12. Body horror (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 8 stars)
13. Occult (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 8 stars)
14. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)
15. THE WORLDWIDE CELLULOID MASSACRE: Recommended (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 6 stars)
16. Ekşi Sinema "Alternatif" Top 250 (collaborative - 6 stars)
17. Arthouse Horror (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 6 stars)
18. Filmsite.org - Sex in the Movies, An Illustrated History (collaborative: moderated by afx237vi - 5 stars)
19. 500 essential cult films (not seen) (public: cayh - 5 stars)
20. Dream/Fantasy/Hallucination Sequence (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 4 stars)
21. Alternatif Film Öneri Listesi (public: Ozancan - 4 stars)
22. 501 Movie Directors (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)
23. Cult Movies (Danny Peary) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 3 stars)
24. Science gone awry (collaborative: moderated by djross - 2 stars)
25. Cinemag's Mind Fucking films (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 2 stars)
26. Body deformities / the grotesque (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 2 stars)
27. Horrific transformation (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 1 star)
28. British director (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
29. Midnites @ The Coolidge (collaborative: moderated by TrixRabbi)
30. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
31. us-tv McD 101 Horrors (public: timxyz)
32. Owned (BD) (public: bizarre_eye)
33. 1980: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
34. Movies to See: Drugs (public: Lord Moe)
35. Welcome to the Basement (public: donkeyjelly)
36. Bakış Büyüteci (public: Ozancan)
37. Neuroscience (public: YamilVidal)
38. 1980's (public: Jason212)
39. Unrealism (public: escd)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 9 |  |
Paxton | 68 53rd |
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May be the first movie I've seen with a were-anderthal. The "may be" part of that sentence is worrying.
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| 5 |  |
Moribunny | 55 44th |
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I found a lot to like about Altered States, and that rather highlights my disappointment. Hurt is wonderful, there are some very neat hallucination and psychedelic sequences, and the dialogue is respectable at first even when conjuring scientific lingo. The first half is foreboding and fascinating. Then it gets a bit ridiculous, loses credibility and ends on a really cheap "romantic" note.
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| 5 |  |
djross | 45 34th |
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A scientist meets a great woman, but his obsessive if not grandiose quest for knowledge leads to physiological and psychological changes that threaten to destroy the relationship: in short, a blueprint for THE FLY, but here the surrealism's far wilder and the ending far weaker. Despite what one may be inclined to think, how credit or blame should be apportioned between writer and director remains rather unclear: apparently Chayefsky's contract stipulated that the script could not be altered.
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| 5 |  |
evrana | 53 18th |
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The Fly fo the simian audience...I hated it, but I must admit that the mexican mountain tripping and the primordial soup scenes are quite innovative; hence a rating above 50. But, man, it was really unnerving to watch it as a scientist; not only all the scientists are madly stereotypical but also they act in the utmost possible ridiculous manner! It was so full of pretentious mumbo jumbo that I think I have a permanent frown now.
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| 5 | gtrmp | 60 32nd |
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Tries to be both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and in trying, the film fails to reach either goal.
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| 4 |  |
irvinejump | 30 17th |
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The author Paddy Chayevsky had his name removed from the credits after seeing it. nuff said
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| 4 |  |
Mentaculus | 66 44th |
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The first part is a decent metaphysical pscychodrama, the next part is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the rest is, well, the end of Akira. While the first and last parts work together, the middle one does not, and the film feels disjointed. I want to know what the filmmakers thought while filming the zoo scene, which is one of the shittiest scenes in a decent film, ever.
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| 4 |  |
KramYessev | 42 21st |
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I was lead to believe this would be a "Holy Mountain-esque bizarre imagery/bad acid trip" type of deal. Imagine my disappointment when William Hurt becomes a primate and runs around a city. Still, there is some interesting and thought provoking stuff in here and the Religion hallucination sequence is something I'll never forget.
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| 3 |  |
MartinTeller | 33 3rd |
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Very ridiculous. Hard to believe it was written by the same guy who did Network. Well, there were some good lines, but Blair Brown is no Faye Dunaway (and William Hurt is no Peter Finch). Terrible attempts to copy the 2001 visuals.
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| 3 |  |
doctor7 | 46 28th |
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Intentional or not this plays out like an idiotic and overlong justification to get really God damn high. Maybe in the post-1970's when the concept of the psychonaut still had a glimpse of scientific credibility this might have been interesting but nowadays the thought of someone getting so high they are able to physically change their physical being is simply laughable to me. No, you're not in a new state of consciousness, you're staring at a wall. Still, it's got some cool imagery.
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| 3 |  |
terrymac | 70 58th |
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There is plenty going on here, and I'm not sure how much of it I fully understood; I really enjoyed it, but may be at a loss to fully explain why. Some wild visuals, dated-looking but effective nonetheless, and moments of body-horror intersect some oddly interesting dramatic scenes. The cast handles the material well, even if many moments stretch credibility somewhat. I think you'd have to be in the mood (or wasted) to truly appreciate this, but it is well worth a look.
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| 3 |  |
TheDenizen | 80 84th |
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Balls to the wall acid trip flick about a scientist dabbling with expansion of the conscious mind by experimenting with psychedelic drugs and sensory deprivation. The last half hour is a total mindfuck as reality falls apart and William Hurt morphs into a giant ape creature.
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| 3 |  |
Spunkie | 60 65th |
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Gets overblown minute by minute but at least visually a rarity.
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| 3 | kav | 55 24th |
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Unintentionally hilarious in parts.
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| 3 |  |
Neonman | 88 88th |
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I don't know many semi-blockbuster films that deal so primarily with psychedelic substances (not to mention portray hallucinatory experiences with little cliche and brash originality) -- even when the film gets silly and groovy with very cool '80s visual effects, it doesn't quite lose track. Although the ending is a bit lost on me and not everything quite comes together ultimately, this is still an accomplished sci-fi treat that combines the seriousness and fun of the genre so well.
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| 3 | pompousass | 40 71st |
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The traditional mad scientist dressed up in new clothes, or rather, divested of his clothes and floating naked in an isolation tank. That's just for starters. It's quite nice the way the metaphysical odyssey of this so-called "Faust freak" keeps expanding into new territory, moving through a Dr. Leary psychedelic phase to a Dr. Jekyll metamorphic phase (clever use of a video screen, at one point, to effect the transformation), and well beyond that, to terra incognita and very much infirma.
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| 3 |  |
spleen | 62 29th |
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The steamy Hurt/Brown relationship delivers all the emotional impact of reading the ingredients off a Maalox package. Besides that, Ken Russell really needs to update his stock crucifixion cd's(see also "Lair of the White Worm"). Finally, according to the "science" at work here, our human genetic-coding can be traced back to a land of Stay Puff marshmallow human/hybrids. Sigh.
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| 3 |  |
TrixRabbi | 73 38th |
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That final trip sequence is up there with 2001, but god that ape man stuff is just stupid, ain't it.
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| 3 |  |
loc42 | 60 39th |
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Psychedelic search for meaning in a life which is dominated by positive sciences' empirical data. I think it's important that this movie was made in 1980 when the search for a metaphysical truth or salvation of 70's was defeated by the coming forces of neoliberalism. Even though the experimental hallucination scenes and the overall tone is interesting the plot is so dull and one-dimensional that it ends up being a boring fantasy.
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| 3 |  |
skap | 90 75th |
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The unconscious protruding into the reality in the form of a momentary high speed mutation. Cronenberg and Lynch are not far, but the film commits a mortal sin at one point putting on screen, in all its fakeness, nothing less that a character from the Planet of Apes. The change is so abrupt that if you were watching it on tv, you would think someone accidentally sat on the remote control. It then repents and becomes great again offering the incredibly surreal scene in the tank room.
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| 2 |  |
eveelun | 67 35th |
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Cool concept, but the execution is uneven. The trip sequences are actually pretty well done, a bit funny sometimes, but still intriguing. The physical transformation scenes feel cheesy and forced. The personal drama between Hurt and his wife is similarly bland and unconvincing. It's definitely an interesting watch, but at times it feels dated.
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| 2 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 81 64th |
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Definitely a strange film, but the visual style is fantastic and despite the craziness it is a pretty straightforward exploration of identity with an offbeat romance.
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| 2 |  |
ktappe | 40 15th |
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Badly dated today, this film was probably already slightly dated by the time it came out, as it was a reflection on the drug culture that had actually flourished several years to a decade earlier. Still, it made an impression when it arrived and even as a kid I recall there being two camps of people; those who had and hadn't seen this film. Worth seeing for film buffs and cultural historians, but probably not a good selection for the masses anymore.
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| 2 |  |
Stradivarius | 87 87th |
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A great trip
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| 2 |  |
MArkjp | 80 70th |
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Despite the structure of the story is a bit odd this really has it's moments of true fucking awesomeness. Especially towards the end.
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| 2 |  |
Darren | 40 16th |
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Visually not bad but as a story it's basically the opposite of what I like in cinema.
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| 1 |  |
Actionberg | 70 49th |
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I don't understand why Ken Russell would go to great pains to rush through dialogue by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. It's campy enough to recommend.
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| 1 |  |
JohnnyZombie | 70 31st |
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The trip sequences are pretty crazy, but as a whole the film plays much too straight, failing to really say anything about human consciousness.
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| 1 | nuotio | 60 67th |
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It's hard to imagine Warner Brothers releasing a film like this today. Sort of like a mixture of Cronenberg's The Fly (which made some years later and seems to draw influences from here) and Kubrick's 2001 with religious symbolism and mushrooms thrown into the mix. Russell's editing style jumps quickly from time and space to another which keeps things interesting but also undermines scenes towards the end as things seem to progress too quickly. Hurt does a fine job.
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| 1 |  |
frankswild | 75 63rd |
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I keep changing the score on this movie to make it higher and higher because my memory of it is gets significantly shuffled around between the concept, expectation, and actual experience of watching its execution.
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| 1 |  |
unohav_1 | 60 19th |
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One seriously fucked up film. I had read the book before seeing the movie, and wonder if director had ever read the book. Completely different feel. I believe this would only make sense while high.
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| 1 |  |
Jarmann | 68 36th |
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Tries to be both horror and psychedelic and kinda fails in both areas although there are some nice, trippy scenes.
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| 1 | meerkat | 70 33rd |
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The screenplay makes this almost good. Paddy Chayefsky was brilliant and you can tell what he wanted this film to be. He based the screenplay on his novel, and, due to his theater background, had full control. Ken Russell could not change any of the lines. Instead, he directed them strangely and added very weird over the top visuals. In some cases they're effective, but overall, I say see Network or The Hospital. Or read the novel. (Apparently Chayefsky wrote a scathing multi-page letter to Ken
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| 1 |  |
Luna6ix | 83 83rd |
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Original, and pretty damn unnerving. William Hurt was pretty good, but the plot is the best part here.
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| 1 |  |
Detox | 76 53rd |
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Jesus! Every single one of those scientists was annoying as hell! They talked all this nonsense (well, more or less) and shouted and ran and just drove me nuts! But this was a pretty good ride, like Cronenberg on shrooms.
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| 1 |  |
elmakebabi | 75 77th |
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Not the best example of storytelling but Altered States is full of meaning!
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| 1 |  |
janus | 70 51st |
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I went into this cold and was not on board with the turn to horror. Russell, however, believes in the material every step of the way; despite its flaws, it's hard not to be taken in right until what feels like a premature ending. All the psychedelic effects sequences are knockouts, and the story, while not especially deep or cerebral, aspires to be more than just an excuse to showcase them. The cast do a good job rendering the script's appealing angst. It's a trippy film for the devoutly sober.
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| 1 |  |
ABUNCHOFCATS | 90 85th |
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An absolute banger of a movie. The hallucination sequences are legitimately amazing stuff. The actual slasher/monster sequences are incredibly corny but a really fun turn from the nightmarish first half. Really weird movie that has to be seen at night with the sound up.
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| 1 |  |
tinysausage | 58 12th |
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The first act is good, and there are some great psychedelic sequences, but this just gets more and more hysterical by the minute. Everyone except for Hurt overacts to the point of irritation. It wants to be the 2001 of drugs; it is not.
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| 1 |  |
hellboy76 | 67 58th |
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Bizarre sci-fi/horror film. I think I need to re-watch it as I remember it becoming increasingly erratic.
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| 1 |  |
witzelsucht | 6 19th |
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The science is a load of sketchy babble at best, but Russell's crazy dream sequences and grotesquerie make it worth seeing.
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| 1 |  |
3dRevelation | 62 26th |
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Altered States begins with too much philosophical BS IMO, the middle picks up steam with the trips and experiments, and it ends unsatisfactorily. There's some nice shots here and I tend to like William Hurt, but most of this is nothing more than middling. The science isn't very smart either.
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| 1 |  |
DesertPunk | 50 16th |
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It came down to either Altered States or Vertigo for tonight's movie, and Altered States won. There has never been a worse decision.
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| 1 |  |
backwardsuit | 72 56th |
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Vigorous sensory experience with very interesting ideas although it treads along the knife edge of ludicrousness (manages to get away with it cause of the overall pulpy flavour). The emotional side really failed to engage me but other than that it's a full on cinematic assault and the trip sequences are really good.
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| 1 |  |
IeuanDP | 70 58th |
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This kind of incessant abstraction and pontificating would normally piss me off, but it doesn't feel like lazy exposition at all. It lends a frenetic energy and agitation to the whole film (despite most of the 'action' centring around sensory deprivation tanks). Some of the VFX hasn't aged well (obvious comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey), but it's still great.
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| 1 | Namlod | 78 61st |
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While perhaps disjointed at times, this film is an interesting look into the human mind. It makes the viewer think about things that are larger than themselves and Ken Russell achieves this all through religion-inspired symbolic imagery. All of this is only enhanced by William Hurt's gripping performance, bringing a new life to the already riveting film.
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| 1 |  |
PianoSama | 65 45th |
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The most interesting aspect of this for me was the dynamic between Eddie & Emily, how it explores the way we can hopelessly devote ourselves to someone who will never love us back in quite the same way, but it's easier to just live with that pain than try to fill the void with someone else. I really felt for Emily, & wished she was a more consistent presence. The story beyond that went a bit over my head to be honest, but there's enough fun stuff like the zoo scene to make for a decent watch.
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| Average Percentile 51.9% from 1311 Ratings |  |