Smile Was Good, Actually

(I haven’t seen the full movie—I can’t do horror—and I think the meaning of a film absolutely lives in the details, so take the following with a huge grain of salt.) I like this analysis a lot, and I strongly disagree with the idea that every movie about severe mental illness needs to have an after-school-special message in its resolution. And I want to add that Joel (the character not Henry lol) being the sole person trying to lend her constructive help and instead getting drawn in to her trauma doesn’t remotely support Jack Saint’s argument. It’s extremely true that trauma gets transmitted, even to people who do everything right in supporting their loved ones, because ONE person’s support is often not enough; the illness can take them in and crush them too. That’s part of the value of loving anyone right? The risks you take on when you so empathize with someone’s joy and pain. In many/most dramatic stories that gamble pays off well, at least in the sense that the characters have peace that their losses were worthwhile, but isn’t there something honest in acknowledging we can’t always be sure, or sometimes we lose more than we gain? To me the film, at least in its broad strokes, has an extremely intentional message, one that legitimizes the danger and devastation trauma can reap despite our best efforts. All that said, what I react to most strongly in Jack’s review and others is that thread of hyper-moralism that is everywhere now, that thing of trying to clearly discern a theme you could like campaign behind rather than allowing a piece of media to be judged as art—and you might very well feel this is a bad movie artistically; I just kind of recoil when the evidence for that is “confusing message” or “message seems unethical,” if that makes sense.

When I saw the film I felt similarly to Jack and would still lean that way. I have a ptsd diagnosis and while I think it is accurate for a lot of people with trauma that it is their downfall, i wanted to see her find a way out. I think because I feel hopeless sometimes and I really wanted to see a good outcome for her. The film felt like it gave you a situation where everyone had failed before her, then it spends the whole movie showing her fail the same way. I do think you made a great point about people weaponising her trauma against her to invalidate what she was saying. It reminds me of DV situations involving mentally ill people, who are blamed for the situation when their much more well spoken and credible abuser talks to authorities.

On a moral level, I feel like art should be anti-suicide. I get how a NIN song with a dark vibe can be cathartic, but Smile is a movie that's nearly 2 hours and tells a full story. So I don't think it's okay to tell a story that says suicide is inevitable for some people. If the movie is really about how people with a trauma history need support, I don't think it's written well enough to make that metaphor work.

You saying its fine that the movie doesn't provide catharsis...thank you! That bothered me alot about Jack saints review. Like, ya sometimes people lose their battle with depression and its fine to make a movie about that, and that's not enough of a reason imo to call the movie bad. And ya, sometimes depressed people just want to see a piece of art that depicts how they feel - lost and without an answer.

i struggled to watch this movie because of how graphic it was with self-harm, but realistically that may be more of a me thing, i wonder if it seemed gratuitous to anyone else?

I really liked this video. I haven't watched the movie (too scary) but i like your thoughts on trauma.

I don't agree with your assessment of the film, I'm pretty much in line with what Jack said. I don't need a movie to end in a pleasing cathartic way, I just think Smile was really, really dumb and treated its audience the same. The film also had a really dim view of the mentally ill and I just didn't like it. It's kind of a shite It Follows when it's all said and done. Did you like NOPE?

I think polls are an interesting idea, but it should be allowed to do multiple votes so you don't run into the problems associated with FPTP ALSO, you (Joel) should only allow things on the list that you might be reasonably interested in because if you start letting people suggest stuff you don't care about then that pizzaz, that je-ne-sais-quoi, the special Joel sweet and spicey combo will be lost kinda like how the band Miracle of Sound lost all their joy cuz they 'had to do' songs about things that were trending even if they didn't care about the franchises

Tbh i like the bonuses being whatever random thing you feel like talking about, maybe sometimes you can take suggestions but only if they resonate with you rather than it being a formal process