Hong Sang Soo via Nagisa Oshima. People talking, chilling, drinking, exchanging memories and occasionally fucking while calling each other their sibling.

A parody of campy B westerns and Douglas Sirk melodramas, despite those films already being pretty ironic and self-aware to begin with. Way overdone, and the attempts to modernize the material via editing is only occasionally successful, but the images are often very beautiful and its earnest attempt at entertaining its audience is transparent enough to deflect criticism.

What could have been a verité chamber piece, typical of Bergman, became one of his purest films; a deeply moving and personal exploration into the mother’s role, and a litmus test for the strength of forgiveness in the face of immutable pain.