đ§ââď¸ Rot Your Brains: âChallengersâ Invents Throuples and Chaotic Bisexuals
â¨Issue #5: We are talking about âChallengersâ, âBaby Reindeerâ and more! â¨
â¨Welcome back to another issue of âRot Your Brainsââ¨
In case you were wondering what was rotting all my brain cells this week, it would be âChallengersâ. According to the internet, I am not the only one losing my mind over Luca Guadagninoâs latest. I have been looking forward to this film for so long, it almost feels surreal that it is finally out. This hot throuple is not the only thing on my mind this week.
â¨This week we are diving into:
𩸠Abigail (Theater)
â˘ď¸ Civil War (Theater)
đŚ Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
đ¸ Sugar (Apple TV)
đž Challengers (Theaters)
â¨This is your WARNING â It has been some time since most of these watches have been released so there may be some spoilers. I try my best to keep âRot Your Brainsâ as spoiler-free as possible but sometimes, I canât help myself. If you read past this point, you are risking running into some minor or major spoilers. You have been WARNEDâŚ. With that being saidâŚ
â¨What is âRot Your Brainsâ?
If you are wondering what âRot Your Brainsâ is, well â I consume a lot of content from movies, to reality and scripted TV. I read a lot of books and still manage to be chronically online. It is a tiresome job, being up-to-date and connected, but someone has to do it. Rot Your Brains is a compilation of all the media I have rotted my brain within a week and my thoughts about it.
đż Weekend Theater Watchesâ¨
𩸠Abigail (dir., 2024)
Abigail isnât trying to reinvent the horror genre which there is nothing wrong with simplicity. Watching a group of criminal kidnappers try to last an entire night with Abigail lurking around every corner is still a fun ride. There are a few good jumpscares but it doesnât get the heart racing or the adrenaline running. A lot of the shock value that Abigail has to offer its audiences comes from how gruesome it can get. Melissa Barrera and horror is a match made in heaven. If it wasnât already solidified with her work in the Scream franchise, Barrera has earned the title of a kick-ass final girl in recent years. Regardless of the flaws, it is still a great way to spend a little over 90 minutes. Abigail is filled with plenty of blood, gore, and kills that are entertaining to watch.
â˘ď¸ Civil War (dir. Alex Garland, 2024)
I think Alex Garlandâs Civil War was the nail in the coffin for me. Outside of Ex Machina, I donât think I am the right audience for Alex Garland and that should be okay. I will give it to Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny who gave two really strong performances. Their characters complimented each other. One is the fresh-face bushy tail anxious photo journalist who wants to be at the forefront without knowing what that truly means and the other is numbed by how much they have endured. The moment where you finally see the âloss of innocenceâ with Cailee Spaenyâs character is poignant.
Outside of that, I just feel like it was trying to take big swings and make a statement. There is nothing wrong with a little ambiguity in storytelling, I love it when a film allows its audience to come up with their interpretation. It just didnât feel like Alex Garlandâs latest was making any real statement though. This just wasnât a movie for me, itâs not bad â just not my vibe.
đŚ The Internet is Being Weird About the Compelling and Very Real âBaby Reindeerâ on NETFLIX
Richard Gaddâs Baby Reindeer will not be easily digestible for some audiences. This is a limited series that can be triggering to some. If you are contemplating watching this, please be gentle with yourself. Even with most of the episodes rounding out to 28â30 minutes each, it packs in a lot of hard moments to watch. After almost every episode, I let out a great exhale. It was a lot. Baby Reindeer is a highly personal piece of art that is based on real experiences of Gadd being SAâed and stalked.
One of the most compelling parts of Baby Reindeer is how it portrays the cycle of abuse. Gadd sincerely opens up about his traumas and how it is not always as simple as leaving or moving on from a situation. Gadd plays the fictional character, Donny who after giving lonely Martha (Jessica Gunning) a cup of tea âon the houseâ, begins getting stalked by her. Martha opens up old wounds for Donny who hasnât unpacked the trauma of being SAâed by Darren (Tom Goodman-Hill). In a triggering flashback episode, we see Darren work his way into Donnyâs life and promise he can open the door to all of Donnyâs dreams.
Throughout these experiences, you see how one trauma affects the other and how it affects his relationships with the people closest to Donny. You bear witness to the empathy, confusion, and complex feelings he has towards Martha. It is a hard watch to do in one sitting, however, it is worth the time to understand that the road to healing from trauma is not always the easiest.
Since the show premiered on Netflix, people have become obsessed with Baby Reindeer. So obsessed that audiences on social media are seeking the real faces of their fictional counterparts. There is something that should studied here. He has mentioned in interviews that some of Baby Reindeer was hard to shoot due to reliving the experiences. Peopleâs obsession with true crime crosses a line here. They take a harrowing and vulnerable story and turn it into âtrauma pornâ. People are now on social media, stalking the real people who the show is based on and exposing them for clicks and views. Some viewers are missing the point of the show entirely. It is only natural to be curious of course, you are watching something that is âbased on a true storyâ. However, the repercussions are much greater.
đ¸ Colin Farrellâs âSugarâ on Apple TV+ Pays Tribute to Film Noir and Thatâs About It
I finally got around to watching the first five episodes of Apple TV+âs Sugar. A show that centers around a cinephile private detective by the name of John Sugar (Colin Farrell). He is hired by Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) to find his granddaughter, Olivia (Sydney Chandler). As the show progresses and John Sugar gets closer to the truth, Johnathan Siegelâs family secrets start to take center stage.
Sugar has all of the ingredients to be a great series, however it kind of falls flat. It follows a repetitive formula and having watched five episodes thus far, it plays it pretty safe with its story. The âtwistâ in the series feels unnecessary and doesnât do much to forward the plot, only to give context to who John Sugar is. Which is fine. What can be appreciated about the series is how it pays homage to the Film noir genre and Old Hollywood. Whether itâs to help him process his current situation or crack his next clue, John Sugar is always thinking about movies. There are plenty of cut-to-scenes from classic cinema like Double Indemnity and Night of the Hunter.
Although I wish Iâd enjoyed this a little bit more, I can appreciate Colin Farrellâs performance in Sugar. The finale is in two weeks so maybe my opinion on this will change, who knows?
Stay tuned for a full series review after the Sugar Finale!
đž âChallengersâ Made Me Realize Tennis is Hornyâ¨
There is nothing sexier than an intense game of tennis.
Challengers came out over the weekend and the first chance I got, I went to see it. As a huge fan of Luca Guadagnino, Challengers was one of my most anticipated films of the year and did not disappoint. Originally was supposed to premiere last year, however, due to studios not providing their writers and actors livable wages, it was rightfully pushed back. With that being said, right now it holds the number one spot on my 2024 Film Ranking and if it came out last year it would have been crowned the best of 2023.
Challengers open in the present day with former teenage tennis sensation Tashi (Zendaya) acting as both wife and coach to Art (Mike Faist). Tashi took him to the top, being the best of the best in the sport. However, Art fell from grace. To shake him out of his recent losing streak, she signs him up for a âChallengerâ event. As he sets up for a match, he finds himself going against his former best friend, Patrick (Josh OâConnor). Patrick also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of Tashi.
Challengers is a constant power struggle between the three and it is a lot of fun to watch. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh OâConnor have the steamiest chemistry that you will find in a film this year. Whether it is between the three of them or two of them, the sexual tension was FELT. Throughout the entire runtime, my opinion on each character changed completely. From one minute to the next, you canât help but side with Tashi, Art, or Patrick even if they are all toxic and messy. I fear my Spotify wrapped will feature the Challengers score. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had fun with the scoring, it is as intoxicating and addicting as this film was for me. Iâm obsessed with this movie.
Luca Guadagnino outdid himself with this one. Itâs everything I love about the movie, messy toxic people being messy and horny. The fact that Guadagnino was able to make eating Churro is enough for me to want to hand him an Oscar.
That wraps up another week of content that has been rotting my brain, see you back here next week! Follow me on X/Twitter & Letterboxd!
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