entangled minds.

so i watched Gone Girl on my laptop last night. i remember when it first came out, people went to watch it and there were so many different views and opinions on the film. it was one of those movies that you don't really know if it's good or not until you watch it for yourself. 

Gone Girl is a movie about the disappearance of one Amy Elliot Dunne, the wife of our protagonist, Nick Dunne. it's a crime/thriller/mystery mash-up kind of movie, and if i were to compare this to something else that i have watched before, it might be a milder version of Hannibal (the series). psychological horror is highly evident in this movie, and the sort of fright and terror it gives you aren't sudden jump scares, but the gradual kind of fear that lingers, even until after you've finished the movie.

ONTO SPOILERS NOW! 

read at your own risk. 

first of all, let me conclude that the portrayal of Amy Dunne's character was already scary from the very beginning. the symbolic start and end that's about her head (and even the mention of her skull), with Rosamund Pike staring straight into the camera lens from a definitely-spine-chilling angle has got us entrapped within the mystery that is Amy Dunne. although we fall into the trap of suspecting Nick as the murderer halfway through (along with the detective, who is, i think, a representative of a usually rational person's point of view), eventually we pick up the clues (as Nick does) and go back to suspecting her again, especially when her true actions are revealed halfway through the movie. 

most of all, i'm not comfortable with the fact that they decided to make the female character a psychopath. i really don't know how much that justifies the female gender, as it is proven that women all around the world usually fall victim to cases of violence instead of being the batterer or the criminal, but yes, it does happen. i just hope people don't use this movie as an example to blame all women for being overly-emotional and downright crazy--because, you know, psychopaths are the opposite of feeling emotional anyways, so get your facts right.

fun fact about psychopaths that you should probably know of:

1. Regularly breaks or flaunts the law
2. Constantly lies and deceives others
3. Is impulsive and doesn't plan ahead
4. Can be prone to fighting and aggressiveness
5. Has little regard for the safety of others
6. Irresponsible, can’t meet financial obligations
7. Doesn't feel remorse or guilt

well, these are common traits of the antisocial personality disorder, but it's closely-related to what makes up a psychopath anyway, so there you go. Amy Dunne does fall under certain categories in this case, but she's hardly impulsive in a sense because her plans are freaking long-term, man. i was most impressed by the fact that she even faked her entire journal just so she can frame her husband. gosh. that takes patience and a lot of wrath to keep you going. 

some interesting characters i found were these:

I AM THE ONLY LAWYER WHO CAN HELP YOU AND GUESS WHAT I AM BLACK WELL ISN'T THIS IRONIC.

Tanner Bolt - because he's a black lawyer defending a white person. (which is hilarious, and i love how they played with class and race here with him.) i love that they portrayed him to be honest, straight-forward, and really having the down-to-earth kinda personality. 

Officer James Gilpin - ALL THE EVIDENCE SAYS HE KILLED HER OH COME ON WE HAVE TO ARREST HIM LOOK AT HIS PATHETIC FACE
Detective Rhonda Boney - no.
(basically their relationship throughout the entire film)

the juxtaposition of Detective Rhonda Boney and Officer James Gilpin - the hierarchy here is interesting, a woman being the detective and a man being her subordinate. i absolutely love how we're torn between these two's perceptions of the case, because they both represent our biased view (James) and the fully-rational view we try to adopt (Rhonda). and the fact that we almost always see these two together only makes us even more confused about our stand on the case. James represents a somewhat stereotypical white American family, quick to judge and put the blame on someone, even when he is supposed to be a just cop himself; whereas Rhonda is perhaps, the epitome of rationality, where she does not judge until she finds the proof to pin someone down with the crime they've committed. this is interesting because women are largely associated to emotions, so we hardly ever see a female police officer, let alone a female detective in most American movies. 

come to think of it, the portrayal of women in this film is rather diverse as well. we have detective Rhonda (who is, well, a detective); Margo Dunne, twin sister to Nick Dunne (she is the least stereotypical female character around--managing a pub and borderline androgynous); Ellen Abbott aka the talk-show host who, like any capitalist man, aims to earn the highest amount of money and exposure with her news; along with Sharon Schieber, who sets out to break Nick Dunne on national television as she finds out about his affair right before the recording of her show; and then, of course, we have Amy Dunne, psychopath extraordinaire. 

i know what you did yesterday night at 2.14AM exactly

it's a shame that they didn't have female characters of different ethnicities and backgrounds, but i suppose that's due to the fact that the book was already largely written on white people. 

anyways, looking into David Fincher (the director)'s profile, he's directed quite a number of highly intriguing films, it's no wonder he's taken up this project to direct Gone Girl. i mean, we're talking about the man behind Fight Club, Panic Room, Se7en, Zodiac, and even one of the most recent films he did--The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (which i have not watched). 

this may or may not be the fact of an actual psychopath. //aka David Fincher, mad movies extraordinaire.

all in all, this was a very interesting film to watch. personally, it didn't feel draggy for a drama-thriller: all the moments, realizations, revealing of facts, came quite on time. it invoked a lot of emotions in me, but more than that, a lot of thoughts. throughout the entire film i could not stop thinking about the why's behind every single action taken. 

which was good. 

(don't watch this movie if drama bores you. there's hardly any action in this film and i only continued to watch the film because i kept wanting to know what was going to happen next.)