The greatest of our achievements in this friendship is that no one will ever really understand it.

Thandiwe Newton in The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018) dir. Xavier Dolan

i really enjoyed the first half of john f donovan but the second half was only okay.

the whole thing is a mess so i can see why it bombed, it’s such a cluttered film that works a bit too hard to give the big name actors their Moments™ when it was just not organic most of the time. apparently jessica chastain was supposed to play a homophobic gossip reporter?? so i understand now with all the things already going on why she was cut. most of older!rupert’s dialogue would over-explain the movie, in a very unsubtle “Just in case you missed those concepts!” kind of way, which felt unnecessary, like they should have trusted the audience more to get it. the whole interview premise was just absurd, thandie came off as being very mean at times but what a stupid situation to be in the first place..

the performances were excellent tho! and the soundtrack was fun and on point (as always). dolan manages to figure out all the very specific angles and lighting + styling that makes everyone look so beautiful.. this is his worst film but god i rly love him.. the fake hellsome high tv episode cracked me UP with those practical effects

also there were a few more cute home alone references + while watching i suspected magnolia 1999′s influence??? and in the ending credits ‘thank yous’ he listed “paul thomas anderson, for his elegance” so now im sure of it.. not just with camera movement but also the starting lines of kit harington’s ‘how was my weekend??’ rant phonetically matched julianne moore’s pharmacy rant (tho ofc he could never deliver them as well as her!)

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018) dir. Xavier Dolan