The Paradise of Thorns

not his mother. not his wife. the dead man's ghost is the rot at the center of everything, and this movie is brilliant for making you realize that slowly and painfully. i came for jeff satur, and stayed for one of the most morally complex films i've seen in years. his performance is raw and vulnerable and completely captivating. but i think what makes this film special is how every single character feels devastatingly human. terrible humans, most of them. but well, still humans. this movie made me gasp so many times toward the end because of how characters behaved. choices that seemed shocking in the moment but made complete, tragic sense in context. the film puts you in such a tough spot about how to feel, and that's exactly what great storytelling should do. there are NO heroes here. just damaged people making desperate choices in impossible situations. what's TRULY insidious to me is how the husband created a system even in his death (Especially in his death, actually) where everyone became complicit, everyone became damaged, everyone became capable of cruelty. his mother enabled. his wife survived by whatever means necessary. the people around them got caught in the blast radius. and even in death, he continues to poison everything. the film doesn't excuse anyone's actions, but it contextualizes them in ways that make you understand without necessarily forgiving. gutting. honest. absolutely refuses easy answers. i love it.