It gives costume designers, cinematographers, set designers, craftsmen, actors and so on a lot of room to play and similar to how the western used to act as a populist subversion to the formal cosplay of Old Hollywood (though to be fair also quickly becoming what superhero entertainment is today on both TV and the big screen) everyone involved can make it look like and sound like they all tried so hard.


I've rewatched this movie since my initial reaction and, sure, no longer would straight up argue Phil was actually the protagonist (lol), but I still get why I wasn't as moved as I could tell I was supposed to be. The last act seems to just happen to everybody, and for all the weight Plemons can bring to both a pedant and a literalist it's incredibly disappointing that he's mostly a background guy while his wife deteriorates and his brother resents her for it. Wherever the conflict is, the audience has to put it there. I don't think Campion does a good job of even hinting at what it is.


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
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