 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 2019 release, Saint Maude. And I've been meaning to get around to this one because it's one that's been thrown out there many times as being one of the best films of 2020. Yes, it's 2019 release, but it got lumped in with the 2020s. So a lot of people are saying this is a must-see, it's on the top list. So I was eventually going to get to it and I finally did because it is now available to watch on Hulu when I'm doing this review. Hopefully it stays on there. Does it go to Hulu have a tendency to stick there for a while so you might get lucky and be able to check it out? Or you shouldn't be lucky, it should still be there probably. So I did not know going into this until I started doing the little bit of back research on the film. This is an A24 film and if you know me well enough, I went on a tear for a little bit going through A24 horror films because I think they're really kind of intelligently done. They always look really good. That's another big thing. They always look really good and they're very quality. Stories are always quality with them. So I haven't seen all of them, but I've seen a lot. So this one doesn't rank near my top. It's not like my top five or anything like that, but it is good and I would highly recommend this film. Now I'm not going to do spoilers in this because it's such a new-ish film and it's still kind of being talked about, hyped up out there. So I would just say to people, check it out. Directed and directed by Rose Glass, who did a very good job with this. The script is relatively tight, which I really do appreciate. And to that point, it is not a super long film. I'm going to talk about that a little bit later, but just know it's actually a little under an hour and a half with credits and everything at the end. It's like an hour, 25 minutes, which I appreciate my time not being wasted. So thank you, Rose. The film was shot in a taller aspect ratio actually to give characters more space for when the film was put back into its proper aspect ratio for actually being on screen. So it's interesting because it's a cool visual way to represent extra room in the film. And I think that really does take a place in the film and meaning behind the film as far as giving more space to characters to make them seem a little bit more alone because there's a lot of kind of isolation type stuff that goes on in the film. There are a lot of kind of underlying small themes in this film. I will not be able to talk about the underlying large theme that I see in this film because it basically gives a lot away. So I can't talk about that. I'm not really going to talk too much about the small themes either. But yeah, just saying. So Quixenopsis basically Saint Maude is about a girl named Maude who is doing kind of like home care for people who are sick and dying. And she gets a new client that she goes to work for. And that person is a little bit difficult. And then it kind of starts out being about their relationship a little bit. But then a extra aspect of it that Maude believes that she was kind of sent to this person to kind of in a in a religious type of way answer a call that is needed. So but then obviously there's horror to it. So you can kind of make some guesses as to where this film goes. But you're not going to be able to guess too much because it's interesting. The beginning scene is very compelling, but it's actually very cryptic at the same time. So it does a really good job of kind of grabbing your attention by how kind of jarring it is in a way. You immediately see how beautiful it looks. And when I say the beginning is very cryptic, it is one of those kind of setups where, you know, I'm going to want to look back on this scene after I get done with the film to kind of see what the real significance of it is in the grand scheme of the entire story. And yes, you should do that. I would agree. I would agree with that. I like how, excuse me, like with most A24 films, it looks great and it has a lot of style. Camera work is excellent. Directing is excellent. The acting is very good as well. I mean, everything from a technical standpoint is on point with this, which is basically what I expect from an A24 film. So if you're not familiar with A24, just look them up, you know, even on Wikipedia, it has a list of all their films, and you've probably seen some of them or heard of them. There's a lot of character narration in this film. It gets to be much less as the film goes on, but at least in the very beginning, there's a ton of character narration. And now a lot of the times they'll do character narration in films as a way to just be like, we need to inform the audience of something. So we're going to do it narration style, think something like Fight Club. Well, much like also in Fight Club, there's another purpose for it. Excuse me, I'm not going to tell you what that is because it gives some of the stuff away, but there is another purpose for it in addition to informing the audience about things and getting kind of some inner thoughts out there to kind of develop the main character more mod. Really good acting and well written characters who have interactions that actually feel very real. That's one of the biggest problems that I end up having in film. A lot of times is when interactions between characters and dialogue with characters doesn't feel real. It feels forced. It feels like someone actually wrote it with this film and other good films. It feels natural like you see these characters, they're rich characters, they're interesting characters, they're believable characters and the way they interact is also very believable. It feels natural so you don't find yourself being pulled out of the film and questioning why did they do this because it feels so forced because it's awkward because it doesn't make sense. Things just flow. It doesn't take long for things to actually start to get a bit strange in the film. So be looking out for when things start to get a bit strange because that's obviously when things start to get way more interesting. And you get sucked into this what happens next mentality, which is wonderful. The music is really good and very well used within the film. I'm a big proponent of music being used. Well, there are moments of silence, but then there are also moments of relatively strong musical use, especially to signify dread at certain points. So it's these two ends of the spectrum that are both done extremely well and everything in between. Basically, I have a problem when a lot of films kind of go overboard with the music, like they'll kind of beat you over the head with it, signaling way too much how you should feel in any given situation within the film. This film is relatively restrained with that. They do go kind of heavy at certain times, but it doesn't feel forced. It doesn't feel like it's too much, too overbearing. So they they know how to integrate that stuff pretty well. At one point, you get a hint that there's something unsaid that shouldn't end up coming up eventually in this film that you should learn about. And this kind of even more kind of fuels the intrigue of wanting to find out where this is going and really kind of keeping you to a degree on the edge of your seat with the film. And that that kind of gets to another thing is always just kind of be looking for what's going on. There's little hints within the film because the end of it is a little bit confusing or can be confusing, but I'll talk about that a little bit more. There are a bunch of scenes where they focus on a character's reactions to dialogue that's going on and aren't actually showing the people who are speaking. Now, this is intentional as well, because I mean, really, it's kind of a character piece in a way. You're mainly following from one point of view, one person, the person who narrating Maude. So for that reason, you know, she hears people talking and it focuses on her. I think that also is an opportunity to kind of give more depth to her character, give more emotion without her actually saying things to people or interacting with people, just showing her by herself and how she is by herself and how she reacts to things when she's not having to react to another person or that put up any sort of facade. Because as you know, you know, there are certain kind of facades we end up putting up when we have to interact with another person. When you're alone, you're pretty, pretty real. About halfway through, it starts to ratchet things up with events, music and interesting shot composition. They all converge to create a tension and kind of an unsettled feeling like, you know, it will kind of continue to build. It really does put you a little bit on eggs. It makes you a tad bit anxious, not in a bad way, obviously, but within the context of the film in a very good way. And, yeah, it works really well. I love how they kind of like slowly move things with the music, the cinematography, the directing. It's just kind of like slowly moving things up, slowly moving things up. And the pacing of it is wonderful. You just feel it. You feel the build and it's it's really it's good. I really enjoy the use of a skew shots that kind of help portray things are off within the film. There are ones where they're kind of showing, you know, a character walking upside down or, you know, to the side. And then it's kind of like slowly rotating. That's what I'm talking about with these like flashes of style that a lot of these A24 films end up having. And this film obviously has that. I enjoy moments when the music is matched up in the rhythm of things that are actually happening in the scene. And this film does that a few times and does it really well. Kind of a thing where there's there's something in the sound design, like something auditory that's going on, like a clicking or something like in hereditary, how there's like a clicking noise that's being made. And the music is actually going to the rhythm of that stuff. Kind of like that. And that's done a few times in this film. And I really enjoy when those types of things are done. The ending will cause confusion, most likely, which I'm actually kind of sure, pretty sure that it's supposed to cause confusion to a degree. I view it as having three different options for how the story is actually ending. And I think the truth is actually seen in the very final frames of the film, which are quick. There are some very quick frames. I actually had to take it back and then I actually paused on those final frames and I was like, yeah, I think that's what's really going on here. So just know that great pacing and it's under an hour and a half. This goes back to one of the things of great pacing, really well written script, very tight script and don't waste my time. Like this is a film that easily could have been stretched out to two hours or plus and people still would have really loved it. But I appreciate when a filmmaker says, you know what? I don't need all that time. I can do this in less time and not waste audience members time. Keep it moving at a great pace and still tell the story and make it have an impact. And that's what happens here. There's a lot in the film having to do with duality in a bunch of different aspects. Actually, a lot of different aspects. There's a duality there, things on opposing sides, even with the main main character, her eyes. If you look at her eyes, it kind of represents that within the film. She has two different colored eyes, which the actress does not have in real life. So there's a reason for that, obviously, that they made that change. But, you know, look for duality in this film. There's a lot of that. You can see what's really going on by observing and surround and the surroundings of the main character and how things are appearing. Also, there's a visual cue to signal a certain shift in the film or shift in what's actually going on, which is introduced very early. That's as much as I'm going to say about it. I don't want to lead you too much on it. But yes, look out for visual cues. Look out for how things are looking outside of the main character. I can't speak to any main underlying theme because that would give the film away. Like I already said, I would love to and I'd love to discuss this, which I will say we can go ahead and do that in the comments. Spoilers in the comments, go ahead. We can talk at length about this film if people want to. When you step back and you think about the story, it's actually a very simple story, but the script directing and cinematography makes it seem more complicated and actually very much more intricate. That's one of the great things about this. Like like I'm saying, like you step back and you think the core of what the story actually is, is actually very simplistic. What actually happens in the film is very simplistic, but it's so well put together and the filmmaking is so kind of grandiose in a sense that it makes it feel bigger. It makes it feel more complicated. It makes you feel more impact. And I think part of the reason with that has to do with the depth of the characters themselves and the level to which you as an audience member feel invested in what's actually going on. Really, you really get sucked into it. So it's a rich environment. It's a rich atmosphere and it's executed quite well. So out of five stars with half stars in play, what am I going to give this? This isn't a perfect film, but I did quite like it. It's very good. Four out of five stars is where I would put it. So I would love to hear other people's opinions on this one. I do recommend it. Put your comments down here. Like I said, we can go ahead and do spoilers, no problem. And do me a quick favor, though, hit that subscribe button. If you like this video or any video I've ever done on my channel, that's your way to repay me. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me doing these videos because I'm, you know, this isn't a job for me or anything. It's a hobby. So if you subscribe, I stay motivated. Also hit the notification bell button because that way you'll know when I'm putting up any other videos, whether it's like a no spoiler review like this or a super in-depth analysis movie review like I do plenty of or unboxing or anything like that. But regardless, I do thank you for taking your time to watch this. And until next time, keep it brutal.