Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

[SeanC]

The latest A24 genre effort, the English-language directorial debut of Dutch actress Halina Reijn.

This is probably the biggest surprise of the year for me, relative to my expectations for it, of which I had none. It walks the line between being extremely funny and also very tense, and given Reijn is a relative newcomer as a director, it's impressive how distinct the aesthetics are (set largely in a house with no power and lit by an array of ambient sources like flashlights and cell phones). And it builds to a truly fantastic final reveal.

[kiddo82]

There was a lot to like here.  I thought the cast was stellar and the young woman who played Jordan, Myha'la Herrold, was the stand out.  I could have done with a stronger actor in the Pete Davidson role though.  

Spoiler

Although his screen time is brief.

I did kind of realize where it was going about halfway through the movie but I hadn't figured out what caused the inciting incident.  The final reveal was very clever.  My main gripe is that I didn't feel like we really got to know anyone so I didn't care who lived or died which took some of the suspense away.  The mystery itself was good enough to keep me entertained but it lacked that extra punch.  The humor hit, but again, because I just wasn't feeling the tension there was nothing for it cut so it just wasn't as funny as it could have been under different circumstances.  I do agree that the house and the ambient lighting were very well done but I actually would have liked more of the house.  Little bit of a wasted opportunity because it could have been a character in its own right.  The problem is that most of the time you had no idea where you were schematically and that was never more apparent than during what could be considered the final chase scene. 

These are more nitpicks than criticisms.  Overall I thought it was enjoyable.  It's like Agatha Christie meets Lord of the Flies.

Edited August 14, 2022 by kiddo82

[Bastet]

On 8/13/2022 at 11:56 AM, kiddo82 said:

I could have done with a stronger actor in the Pete Davidson role though.  

Ugh, yes.  This was my first time seeing him in anything (other than a commercial in which he plays himself) and he kept distracting me in how unattractive I found him and, especially, how stilted an actor compared to the natural styles going on around him.

But I enjoyed the film.  I had to keep a mental cheat sheet going of how everyone was connected, and we didn't learn much of anything about most of these people, but it was suspenseful, had nice moments of humor, and a terrific reveal.  I'd never heard of it, but a friend of mine had read about it somewhere, so last time we had a horror movie night we added this to the line-up. 

[Shannon L.]

I watched this last night. I'm Gen X and my son is Gen Z and he asked more than once if I was sure I wanted to watch it because he wasn't sure if I'd like it saying that it because the humor and references were geared towards the younger generation.  I like it ok, but the reveal made me laugh hard.  Pete Davidson may have not been the best actor throughout the film, but he was perfect for those final moments. 

[heatherchandler]

Put this on as background noise while I worked and ended up really liking it.  I agree, I would have liked to have known more about everyone, more backstory.

[DoctorAtomic]

I watched this on the plane a few weeks ago. It's on Showtime. Davison basically plays a version of himself, but it fit the character for me. I do like how everything unraveled quickly, but I also had a hard time following who was who when all the action started. 

I got a huge laugh when the girl opened Pete's eye to turn on the phone.