I saw The Lost Daughter when it was first released. I was particularly interested to see Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut. She picked a very good story, and the casting is brilliant. Olivia Coleman did obsession so well. And like you, I really like Jessie Buckley. I didn’t know at the time that it was based on an EF book — I’m not sure I even knew who she was at the time — but I wish I had read the book first. I probably won’t go back and read it now, but I did finally get my hands on My Brilliant Friend and I am loving it.
The Brutalist is such a strange film. My initial reaction was that it is too long, and maybe it is, but at this point I’m not sure what I would cut. It haunted me for weeks, not because of any particular story element or theme (and it sure covered a lot of ground there) but because of the imagery and sound design which, imo, is why it won all the awards. It’s not like anything I have ever seen. It might make more sense if you could hang it in an art gallery, if that makes sense. And of course it didn’t hurt that it may be the best work of Adrien Brody’s career.
Hey, I do have one rec, which I saw some time ago. Reading the cast list of The Lost Daughter made me think of another movie with Paul Mescal — Aftersun. If you haven’t seen it, I *highly* recommend it. It’s right up your alley. I became obsessed with Mescal after All of Us Strangers, and now I will watch anything he does.
