Infinity Pool

**C C** · (This post was last modified: Jul 21, 2024 06:53 PM by C C.)

Any spoilers below are the general kind that you very probably could pick up just from watching the trailer. But I still mention it as a mild warning.

I kept noticing people placing this among their top five movies of 2023, so finally took a look at it.

It's really (absurdly) not. While it could have delved deeper into philosophical territory with the identity thing ("Am I still the original me?"), it veered largely into just another gory Mia Goth flick. Which was kind of like a cross between her slasher roles in the X-film series and that other unrelated A24 horror spectacle Midsommar.

I don't mention the latter because Alexander Skarsgård reminds me of Sweden and pagan cultists, but due to that similar feeling of the protagnist being in a weird community (Li Tolqa) that incrementally gets more and more sadistically whacked-out. Though it's more the visitors (tourist group) here than the inhabitants themselves.

Though Skarsgård's character is left traumatized as well as identity-confused, it's difficult to feel sorry for him because he willingly joined the games of the hedonistic swingers, till such turned against him.

The basic lesson any of these guys should learn in her films is to stay the heck away from Mia Goth. In one of the early scenes where she is standing behind him, I couldn't figure out at first whether she was giving Skarsgård a surprise pegging or just a handjob. It's because he was carrying on so insanely that I felt it might be the former (but it was the latter).

https://youtu.be/PVnIMvVEkrA

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PVnIMvVEkrA

**Magical Realist** · (This post was last modified: Jul 21, 2024 06:15 PM by Magical Realist.)

Noticed it was directed by Branden Cronenburg son of David Cronenburg. So perhaps a grotesque latex horror element was inevitable.

**C C** · Jul 21, 2024 06:42 PM

(Jul 21, 2024 06:15 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: Noticed it was directed by Branden Cronenburg son of David Cronenburg. So perhaps a grotesque latex horror element was inevitable.

It is alright as a horror flick. Just a bit mystifying why so many were putting it in their Top Five of 2023 (I guess it barely qualified for that year due to being released in January).

Though the trailer's music track gives it the feel of poking a bit of fun at itself, like the other film Goth was in earlier (Pearl), it arguably takes itself more seriously. Especially at the end, where Skarsgård's character is totally numb and psychologically viscerated.

**Magical Realist** · (This post was last modified: Jul 21, 2024 07:20 PM by Magical Realist.)

I will not see it then. Tks! There was another film everybody was talking about a few years ago--Aronofsky's "Mother!"---which I just couldn't get up the stomach to watch. It was supposed to be some kind of shocking horror masterpiece. I guess I'm growing out of visceral horror flicks finally.

**Magical Realist** · (This post was last modified: Jul 22, 2024 05:41 AM by Magical Realist.)

Just saw a recent A24 sci fi thriller and found it quite good. It's called "High Life" and was pretty..uh...erotic for a sci-fi film. But guess what? It had your girl Mia Goth in it! Man can she play a little bitch! lol

**C C** · (This post was last modified: Jul 22, 2024 08:20 PM by C C.)

(Jul 22, 2024 05:12 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: Just saw a recent A24 sci fi thriller and found it quite good. It's called "High Life" and was pretty..uh...erotic for a sci-fi film. But guess what? It had your girl Mia Goth in it! Man can she play a little bitch! lol

Somehow missed that one completely, and maybe it's what first got her recognition playing those type roles.

She has a love scene with a scarecrow in "Pearl" -- or maybe it's actually her raping it? Goth's character there is a slight parody of Dorothy ("Wizard of Oz"), sans any trip to that magical land. Unless you count all the demented stuff she does as some kind of hallucinogenic journey there.

I didn't realize that MaXXXine had already been released this year, which is the third installment in that franchise. (The first was X).

**C C** · Jul 23, 2024 05:46 AM

Part Two reply:

(Jul 22, 2024 05:12 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: Just saw a recent A24 sci fi thriller and found it quite good. It's called "High Life" and was pretty..uh...erotic for a sci-fi film. But guess what? It had your girl Mia Goth in it! Man can she play a little bitch! lol

Talk about faded memory. I actually did see "High Life" years ago. There's probably an old thread in here about it, even.

Will have to watch again because I'm recalling almost zilch, other than Claire Denis directing it and the black hole location. There's maybe a dim impression of Goth being there, but no specifics.

**Magical Realist** · (This post was last modified: Jul 23, 2024 07:46 PM by Magical Realist.)

I was surprised to see Juliette Binoche in it. Haven't seen her in a while. But now that I see that French director Claire Denis directed it, it makes some sense.