Miller's Girl

To be honest, it's my first watch and I'm writing this shortly after I left the cinema, so maybe not the most objective opinion, but definitely left with with mixed feelings(mostly bad ones). It couldn't succeed in engaging me enough in the story to develop any sort of feeling towards any of the characters. Despite of the talented cast(saving it in a way from a total crash after the first half) and ambitious, some would even say pretentious, beginnings, for me, it felt short in building a solid foundations, which could have been a mean of explanation for what happens in the end.

But on the bright sight, it has a nice soundtrack(not sure it's always used well enough - which is also not so bright. Excuse me, had a bad day).

Let's not be all critical. It has moments that have the capacity to intrigue you, but in overall I couldn't sense the integrity. Expected more of 80s erotic thrillers' vibe. Definitely not a thriller and on the erotic part, pretty sure I felt more interested in Winnie and Miller's wife than the Jenna Ortega's Cairo(which I guess wasn't the writer/director's initial intension.

Some better examples from last year: 1.of peculiar teacher-student relationships - About Dry Grasses 2.of successful writer wife-unsuccessful writer husband - Anatomy of a Fall

Ps- the smoke doesn't help to build mysteriousness.

A poetic cinematic experience that follows Cairo Sweet, a student fond of literature, looking for experiences to write for a writing assignment, and her teacher Jonathan Miller, in a story full of blurry lines.

The social commentary in Miller's Girl is accomplished in a tasteful gothic dreamlike style with a script that gives just enough information to let the audience fill in the blank spaces.

The film's greatest asset is depicting desire as something that has to be realized yet deludes its owner every time its reach is closer to fulfillment, making the situation ambiguously complex. This is rendered brilliantly throughout the film, especially in the dialogues the protagonist has with herself. An open door that lets us in in the melancholic naivety of what it means to be young and flawed in a world that values perfection above all, yet it is found nowhere, and that crave for independence from inherited beliefs, and the natural thrill and anxious ache for the unknown and uncharted territories.

A more complex movie than it first appears, the acting from the entire cast was outstanding. At times I found the characters actually made me feel uncomfortable on their behalf and it took me a while to realise that this is exactly what was intended. The entire movie is a study of the emotional struggle of crossing boundaries and this required an impressive intensity from both Ortega and Freeman. In exactly the same vein, Miller's wife, played by Dagmara Dominczyk, was a masterclass in how to develop a character from superficial attractiveness into gin-soaked malignance - an outstanding performance.

I've no doubt that some will find the movie "slow" and "meandering", but if you are prepared to invest in it, the cast will repay you with a moving (and slightly terrifying!) emotional journey that will stay with you for a long time. A feat which few works can manage.

A creative writing assignment yields complex results between a teacher and his talented student.

I note many poor reviews and I'm unsure why that is. The acting is great from every single member of the cast.

The dialogue is meaningful and well thought out.

The plot echoes what is happening around the world right now with thousands of teachers and students: some will get caught and some won't. But it's real and so it's great to see the inner workings of the process, by such great acting and story telling.

There's even a bit in there about how women in fact have all the power in the world, they just don't realise it.

There's an insightful comment too about how "We know where the line is and don't cross it." Except some do, and when they have it's too late to walk it back.

I was surprised at Ortega's depth of character acting, but in hindsight perhaps not a great distance from her Wednesday character.

But there's an interplay between her and Winnie, as power and courage shift between one and the other as the story goes on.

Great film, I liked it a lot.

I do enjoy when a movie's dialog provides its own review. This film was " overreaching without ambition." The pacing of the movie was horribly painful. It is never a good sign when I leave the action of the movie and find myself looking around thinking " I am sitting in a movie theater. " Martin Freeman is a terrific actor but the script absolutely failed him. His talents were so totally wasted. I found this to be hopelessly sad as I expected so much from the film.

The movie harps on the mediocrity of the protagonist and then tries to paint him as a villain. It just did not ring true. The script just kept missing; and, it was hard to keep pressing forward. With 45 minutes, or so, to go; I just wanted it to be over.