Ellen’s Movie Review of “Significant Other”
Welcome to our 2nd Annual Birthday Bash as Divination Hollow Reviews!
We’ll be celebrating all month long with a series of posts by our team and esteemed colleagues and this year’s theme is “Going to the Movies!” Join us as we share themed content with special “tickets” for each category inspired by cinema.
Celebrate with us!
“Significant Other”, 2022
Now streaming on Paramount+ and VOD.
What in the world!? I don’t know what the hell I just watched, but I want to erase my mind just so I can experience this ridiculous movie’s hijinks again for the first time. Seriously, just go find it and push play. Go in expecting nothing, and just let it run its course. I feel like it’s more fun the less you are trying to figure it out, and the less preconceived notions you have.
What a hoot this was! This movie has as many twists and turns as the winding path this couple took in to get to that gorgeous vista point. It takes itself slightly too seriously, then it flings you right off the cliff of expectations and sends them spiraling into the blackness of the unknown (seriously, it’s got more red herrings than a commercial fishing boat).
It’s got more than a twinge of cheekiness, and nothing is what seems, and yet the signs have been there from the start. The two main leads are a hoot and a half, with each of them pouring way too much energy into their roles, and I mean that in a complimentary way. The intensity adds a touch of campiness that I personally adored, and it really just works.
Aside from the whiplash from all the twists, it’s also genuinely hypnotic in its cinematography. It’s the most gorgeously shot film, with the foggiest, moodiest, gloomiest look and a haunting sense of romantic longing. The deep greens, slate greys, murky steel blue contrast the notes of warm wood, earthy taupe, and crimson blood. It’s a sumptuous aesthetic and definitely compliments the overall energy of this overwhelming plot and story.
I’m also a big fan of this sound design and kooky soundtrack, too. It’s full of strange marimba sounds, twinkling noises, quivering strings, rumbling bass tones, and otherworldly theremin like sounds. The metallic “schink” noises, the squishy squelches, the crunchy leaves, the gooey plops, the cavernous echoes…it all adds to the melodrama and unsettling energy.
It’s like a weird Pinterest Road Trip Board meets Twilight Zone meets Under the Skin. I am not sure what else to say that I loved about this movie that isn’t a spoiler, but it was an accidental wildcard choice instead of my usual lazy Sunday blanket pile movie!
Review by Ellen Avigliano
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