okay I don’t know how to describe this properly but both this and the first Souvenir are the definition of acclaim bait films, like you can tell that some critic is watching these movies and thinking they’re the greatest thing in the last 10 years but like they actually kind of deserve the acclaim so they’re not really ‘bait-y’ at the same time but they still don’t feel as like they were trying to be creative or ambitious like something even as Drive My Car (not that ambitious, which is why I chose it) or Parasite (a little ambitious with its genre switching, but still not much) for instance. Both this and the first are very small scale, about films and have the child of a very respected actress but I still feel like they’re so much better than the traditional critic loving-esque films out there.

this one is better than the first, builds on the themes and literal story of to show Julie’s next step following Anthony in the previous movie, and it quickly becomes its own thing, detailing the baby steps of filmmaking in such a raw and intimate way. The conversational scenes are just as well written as they were previously but I found them much more engaging here, especially whenever Richard Ayoade was talking lol; I really love that ending, again it feels very acclaim bait-y and I would hate it in most other cases, but here it just works so well. did not think I’d love these films as much as I did but I guess I can’t wait for the next Hogg film (Eternal Daughter seems to be coming out soon).

edit: I’m realizing the first paragraph makes it sound like I hate the film or think it’s overrated but I’m kind of trying to say that it is the opposite of that lol, I think this film is amazing and much, much better than I would think it is.