Two Lovers

Originally published on 10/11/22 on Letterboxd

Intensely, embarrassingly relatable in just about every way- the sort of film where you're momentarily reminded of your own equally agonizing experiences because of what its compositions gesture towards, before your memories unfurl onscreen in all their vivid, prickly detail. Much can be said of how Gray situates the fallout of cultural displacement within the cracks and crevices of conversations here (as opposed to the overarching narrative), but for the most part, I was just struck by how alive Joaquin's performance here is- he's an exposed nerve, constantly metamorphosing between what he thinks other people want him to be and what he so desperately wants to be but just can't (and unfortunately reminded me of myself to an eerie degree). In that vein, there's a myriad of moments here (particularly the zoom towards Joaquin when he's alone in the restaurant and waiting for Michelle and her boyfriend) that reminded me of the films of Hong sang-soo, particularly in how minor instances of misperception are escalated into sequences of momentous emotional strife. The difference, though, is that in Hong's films, the absurdity of coincidence usually moves its victims into a state of miraculous understanding, whereas here, there's no epiphany- just lonely people retreating into wherever they'll hurt the least