I always like to give independent films with interesting premises a chance and this one, purportedly a female-centric superhero film that has nothing whatsoever to do with Marvel or DC, seemed like a good bet. Unfortunately not all such bets turn out well and this is a thoroughly mediocre film, to my eyes made only because the director had a cool idea of a particular special effect to use.

After watching and loving Roman Holiday, it was only a matter of time until I got around to this other famous Audrey Hepburn vehicle. Like everyone else, I’ve heard the song Moon River many times and as this is another Hollywood classic, I expected something similar in tone and style. It turns out that this is completely different and perhaps an early hint can be seen in that it was loosely adapted from a story by Truman Capote.

This is an Italian film directed by Luca Guadagnino who was responsible for the excellent and intense Call Me by Your Name. This earlier film is actually the first part of what the director calls a trilogy and not only does it star Tilda Swinton but it appears that the well known Hollywood actress was heavily involved in every stage of the production. Unfortunately while this one is also about an intensely passionate romance, I found it too single-minded in its focus to really like.

This is very much not great cinema but it’s so well known and so deeply embedded in popular culture, that I felt that I had to watch it for completionist reasons. This is after all the origin of the phrase, “build it and they will come” though the film actually says he will come. Surprisingly the phrase turns up quite often in the field of economics, such as when people argue that building infrastructure even in the middle of seemingly nowhere will be enough to spark an economic boom.

This is a bit of an obscure Taiwanese film by a director we’ve never heard of before, Stan Lai. This was a recommendation from our cinephile and I bet that was due to how much we both liked the Peter Greenaway films we’ve watched. It really was a play originally as unusual as the format is, and it seems that it’s still performed as such today. But it was so successful that this film adaptation was made, retaining the same director.

So I put off watching this for a long while but I knew I had to eventually due to its winning multiple Oscars and the controversy that engendered about this being an undeserved win. It’s just part of being involved in the cultural conversation. In the end, my opinion falls in line with the other critics. It’s a sweet and decently made film but the time when something like this could be considered one of the best films of the year should be long gone.