still kind of reeling from a first viewing, but maaaan, that was something, so here's some extremely scatterbrained thoughts. it's a film that has a constant sense of amnesia at least within its visual/formal construction, dialogue, or both at the same time in the sense that any given moment is not at all dictated or caused by its preceding moment. in this sense the film is a joy to watch with Ruiz' imagination for surrealist visuals and absurdist situations unfolding…

star rating is somewhat meaningless/arbitrary here because there are certain parts which are just about as good as it gets for this genre/level of movie – most of the second half, anything involving Mia Goth, all of the Kubrick homage. for how heavy-handed and somewhat clunky a lot of the expository dialogue is for much of the first half (certain plot points are telegraphed to a fault) and to a lesser extent in the second, it's incredibly admirable how much…