#Hooptober9

💀 NUMBER TWO 💀
💀 EIGHT DECADES (2020s) 💀

"We're All Going To The World's Fair" (2021)
* dir: Jane Schoenbrun
* Drama / Horror / ASMR Gives Me The Goddamn Creeps
[ ★★★★ / ★★★★★ ]

"Sorry, I'm not that good at talking to other people."

Man, did this thing ever go in a direction that I wasn't at all expecting.

"We're All Going To The World's Fair" is a quite good (if deliberately paced) motion picture that deftly avoids easy genre categorization and steadily builds in measured dread until you feel like you want to scream (and/or sob). While it's probably too leisurely paced for some, it's absolutely a film worth sticking with because despite it taking its time, it remains compelling throughout due to some very strongly realized key elements:

- The atmospheric, brilliantly appropriate soundtrack from Alex G that seems to always be bubbling up right below your skin (especially the more ambient soundscape passages).
- An excellent performance from Anna Cobb in her unforgettable film debut. Her eyes alone say more than countless other actors fail to do with full-page monologues, and she's as relatably naturalistic as she is endlessly captivating.
- The innate eeriness of discovering bizarre, unexplained content on the internet.

Also: it is an achingly melancholy work of genre storytelling down to its very bones. Which I always, ALWAYS admire.

"We're All Going To The World's Fair" is a fascinating, sneakily moving portrait of a young troubled soul in mental anguish and emotional turmoil disguised as a coming-of-age TikTok-era horror movie...or, perhaps more accurately, it's a sneakily moving portrait of a countless many troubled souls, those lost and those who, against all odds, managed to somehow drag themselves back into the light.

Incredibly interested to see Schoenbrun's upcoming sophomore feature (the wonderfully titled "I Saw The TV Glow"), because this is one of the more excited I've been about a debut filmmaker in quite some time. What a unique voice in such a crowded room.