can I slit my wrists now?

[winterbadger]

Flipping through my "saved to Instant view" list on Netflix, I came across a lode of Scottish films I added all together and decided to watch "Aberdeen".

Wow. I think the blinding headache and the feeling of mild-to-medium nausea I'm feeling may be the result of putting my contacts in again after a couple of weeks of not wearing them, plus too much coffee during our work off-site today. But it may be the result of watching the far-too-good acting of Stellan Skarsgard as a bingeing alcoholic and Lena Headey as his despairing and frequently coked-up daughter road-trip their way across Norway, England, and Scotland.

That is the sort of movie that is hard to watch, difficult to enjoy, but shows incredible talent by writer, director, and--most of all--actors.

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Aberdeen, what a painful, powerful movie. I love watching Stellan's eyes - without moving a muscle, the man conveys so much with his eyes. Obviously with my history, watching this movie was semi-traumatic but also a must-see.

[winterbadger]

Yeah, for obvious reasons I thought of you and your ex as soon as I saw where the story was going.

SS is a truly amazing actor. There are terrific actors who don't ever seem to go beyond different versions of the same personality (Bogart and Pacino would be two examples that spring to mind). Then there are actors who are terrific and have *range*. Stellan Skarsgard is definitely one of those.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction to "AntiChrist." Brilliant movie, but did I like it? Hmmmm...

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, those brilliant movies you watch once and only once because they were so painful. For me, things like Shawshank Redemption and Antonia's Line. And they even have an ultimately uplifting message. (I'm an emotional wuss. :-( )

[lotuslion.livejournal.com]

Requiem for a Dream was like that for me. The ending of that movie is seared into my brain, and I watched it probably 10 years ago. It was a really, really good movie, but so awfully hard to watch.

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

I felt that way about Pan's Labyrinth. I don't think I can ever watch that incredible movie again, having had the full-on-intense movie theater experience the first time. Luckily, I remember it pretty well.

Just saw a very good film: Winter's Bone. So realistically acted that you think you're watching real life (or a subset of it, anyway) rather than a movie.

[winterbadger]

Mmmm, I think I saw some previews for that a while back and thought it looked good.

As an antidote to my movie hangover, one friend has suggested

this fine-looking Scottish film

but Peter found this, which has to be the most awesome upcoming movie ever. :-) He and Bryan and I are very psyched!