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The Girl And The Gun (2019)
22 Plays2 years ago
The Stream Queen is joined by filmmaker, Essam Osman, to discuss the film The Girl and The Gun directed by Filipino director, Rae Red.
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Transcript
Introduction and Concept
00:00:00
Speaker
to all the ladies I am big it's the pictures that got small
00:00:15
Speaker
All this way for my advice I feel like Oprah You know what the hell I'm not gonna worry about if people accept me or not I'm gonna make Hollywood wherever I am at
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Stream Queen, where we select films by female directors to watch and discuss on the show. I am your host, Toppy Iletio Dibo, and every week I invite a friend to join me in watching movies directed by women, and as a whole, indulge in our love of cinema.
Film Overview: 'The Woman and the Gun'
00:00:52
Speaker
Today, the Stream Cream watches The Woman and the Gun, also known as The Girl and the Gun, from 2019 by director Ray Red, which is such an awesome name. It is available on Netflix for streaming. It's a very short film, only 70 minutes. And I hope after listening to this podcast, it will give you something to watch or rewatch this weekend.
00:01:15
Speaker
The movie is about a department store sales lady who has had enough of taking everyone's abuse. I'm sure we can all relate. One night she discovers a gun right on her doorstep and this discovery sets off a chain of events for her. And today I have my guest,
00:01:34
Speaker
OC, also known as ASEM. I always like, I call you like three different names. I do have three different names. What do you, what is your pub, like what should people call you when they see you? I mean, my name is Isam, Isam Osman and I go by OC. Isam Osman. Yeah, but I do go by OC. It goes by OC and I still don't know why, but we'll get to that.
00:02:00
Speaker
And O.C. is a fellow cinephile. He's also a filmmaker. And, you know, I just want to give you a little background because he just wrapped on his first feature film, The Mean Nice
Guest OC and 'The Midnight Song'
00:02:11
Speaker
Song. So I'm going to turn it over to him to tell us a little bit more about that.
00:02:15
Speaker
Well, thank you, Toppy, for having me. Yeah, the Midnight Song, it was a fun experience. It's my first feature that I made with all my friends here. It's a movie about a group of friends that break into the studio at midnight to make their debut album and get out before getting caught. So it was a really fun experience, and I can't wait to share it with everyone.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, so where are you at with it right now? We're in post editing, which is a slow, long process. But yeah, but it'll probably take a while, but we're getting there. Yes, the hustle of being a indie
00:02:54
Speaker
self starter filmmaker in in Austin or just anywhere really. And so you said this was your first feature. Have you done any shorts prior or worked on any other? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm a freelance filmmaker. So I've done I worked in other films and projects like that. And I've done like maybe about five short films of my own, you know, different stages and also right out of film school.
00:03:22
Speaker
I wrote and directed two plays. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. What are the type of genres that you focus on when it comes to films? To make or to watch? To make or write? Nothing really specific. If anything,
OC's Approach to Filmmaking
00:03:41
Speaker
I don't really think about genres, and I hope by the time I make it, the genres won't be a thing anymore, so I don't have to worry about it. That's true.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, I feel it's too limiting, but I get it. Like it helps in marketing or it's like, oh, I'm trying to find a specific genre. Oh, I want to avoid like scary movies. Yes. You know, a lot of people are like that. It helps with that. But you know, I enjoy movies. I feel like I feel like they've been genres when they can, you know? That's awesome.
00:04:13
Speaker
So initially, when we were going to do this podcast, we had several films that we were thinking about. And you picked this particular one, The Girl and the Gun, which is a Filipino film.
00:04:28
Speaker
And I'm going to probably butcher the name, but you can also find it as Babaya Abaril. And depending on where you go, it's either going to be called The Girl in the Gun or The Women in the Gun, but that's the title of it. So what made you select this particular movie?
00:04:48
Speaker
Oh, first of all, I got to say like your selection was was pretty good. Like it was stuff to make a decision. Like, you know, you gave me five titles, which all going to be my watch list. I'm going to watch every single one of them. Yes. They all seem fun. This one specifically I wanted to watch because it's a first time filmmaker. This is like a debut film, I think as a solo director. I think she had another one where she co-directed. Yes.
00:05:14
Speaker
Other thing is from the Philippines, which is I've not really seen much from there. I went to film school in Malaysia, someone familiar with like Asian filmmaking at the time, I guess. So that's curious, like, to be a little bit selfish, like, curious about, like, what's, you know, what's new in the region, like, what's, you know, what's coming out of there, so.
00:05:35
Speaker
I wanted to check that out. Also, I'm an immigrant here in the States. I'm from Sudan. So I wanted to represent, I guess, push films from
OC's Film Studies and Discipline
00:05:46
Speaker
overseas or international films. So that's kind of all my motives behind picking this one. So what was it like studying film in, you said Manila was where you were? Malaysia. Malaysia.
00:06:05
Speaker
Totally different place. What was that like? Malaysia was fun. Quite fun. It's a cool country. But the way they do things a little bit different was pretty interesting, you know, especially when they moved to the States after. So like when they connected with people who went to film school here. So their approach is different, you know, it's like I feel like in the States, people
00:06:29
Speaker
Oh, more often than not had like hands-on experience with the camera right away. Malaysia, they focused a lot more on discipline. Okay. In what way? Like the first year in my program, you know, it was like, where's the camera at? I was like, you know, instead I got like
00:06:49
Speaker
a Chinese paintbrush, you know, some paint. And I was like, we did a lot of drawing the first year and painting. I was like, oh, your first task, draw a straight line. And I was like, with a Chinese, with a brush and Chinese ink, I was like, how hard could that be? You know, I was just trying to draw one line. I was like, sure enough. It was like.
00:07:09
Speaker
near impossible. It took me two weeks to come up with something that represents close to like passable as a streamline. Oh my goodness. This feels like very much a Mr. Miyagi style teaching approach where it's like you wax on and wax on for like two weeks before you even do anything remotely. For sure and then they don't they didn't explain anything at all. Oh my gosh.
00:07:32
Speaker
Luckily enough, I was like, I'm really into drawing and painting. I was like, this is like, it was actually a dream of mine to go to like art school. Yeah. So I definitely took the opportunity to ask questions like I'll take it. And, you know, we went from shape from lines to shapes and composition, and then painting color theory. So the first year mostly was like that. And then the second year they come in and we're like, all right, you can now you can compose like draw shapes, compose like a frame. Now,
00:07:59
Speaker
The second year was all photography and they're going to take a camera and they take pictures. And then we spent the second year just doing photography. I mean, we had like core subjects in philosophy and all that stuff. But so, yeah, some people are getting frustrated by them. It's like, well, it's been the whole year we're not making movies yet. When are we going to make a movie?
00:08:21
Speaker
And then but yeah, but I went with it because I love photography too. And I was like, hey, it's a chance to like, you learn the thing professionally in August, or in school. So I went with it. And, and then by the end, by the beginning of the third year, you know, they come in and they're like, well, now you can take
00:08:39
Speaker
a decent picture that's well composed. Now all you have to do is, you know, do 23 more and that's one second of film. And I was like, oh, no, I get it. It all comes together. Wax on, wax off. That was fun. It's more discipline based. Yeah. So it's a lot about that.
00:09:03
Speaker
Do you feel like that training really kind of comes out when you're writing a script or when you're making or directing a film? Do you see that training kind of come through? Yeah, so we trained definitely we trained to I kind of focus more on the mission as well. The 3D animation because it's I thought it would be harder to learn on my own. So with with 3D animation, like
00:09:32
Speaker
Like every second of animation, it's just way time consuming. And it's expensive, you know, like in the real world, right? Oh, absolutely. There's a lot of people involved in it. So you can't afford to like, like in film, you shoot and edit more footage and edit down to the way you need. So you kind of need to plan well. So when it came to the midnight song, my first feature, so my co-writer, Chase Bradburn, and I want to start it.
00:09:58
Speaker
You know, he wanted to just jump in like right away and I was like, no, no, no, we can't. We're not going to touch. And every time he tried to start writing, I'll just left his hand at the wrist and be like, no, we got to plan this. And so we planned it and made like a whole.
00:10:11
Speaker
kind of took it like an animation approach, especially because it's very low budget. So we know how many scenes, how
Analysis of 'The Girl and the Gun'
00:10:18
Speaker
we're going to approach it, start to finish. So we kind of flandered it out pretty well beforehand and broke it down before we started writing. So it had some sort of structure first. And then we started writing. And then we came to shooting. We actually basically storyboarded the whole thing, which was really, was way, way, way time consuming.
00:10:39
Speaker
than more time and consumer than I expected. Yeah, it sounded like you all plan to succeed, and so you put in the work at the front end just kind of making sure that you had every aspect of the film before you even got on set, which, you know, some people kind of work in the reverse almost, you know, so that's interesting. And you know what? There's just no escaping that because, I mean,
00:11:05
Speaker
Like, you know, with filmmaking, you just have to go. Things change on the fly all the time, you know, location changes or people or like even even some like art, like props or not. Whatever it is, like you have to be flexible. And that's why some I mean, a lot of filmmakers don't.
00:11:23
Speaker
like to storyboard or plan because you know you just want to go with where you're at in the day yeah because that's where I think I personally think that's where the magic is you know like the happy accidents all that kind of stuff that's true but for us because it's a low budget we just needed
00:11:37
Speaker
For me, it was like more of a plan B. Like, you know, if we got stuck, we have nothing else. Just like always fall back on the storyboard. So we're not exactly because we had we we only did we shot the whole thing in 13 days. So that's insane. That's a lie. Yeah. Like we had an amazing crew that would help us push through and otherwise wouldn't be possible. It was such a crunch. But yeah, the prep came like came through and moments like that and helped us push through.
00:12:04
Speaker
That's awesome. And I know that this would be such helpful for people who are starting out who are wondering like, what do I do? How do I even go about it? So you could just go ahead and start shooting or you can do OC's route and plan it knowing that that's a plan B if you should ever get stuck and try to figure out what to do next while you're on set. So speaking about films that are done on a small budget and are by an indie filmmaker, let's talk about
00:12:34
Speaker
the girl in the gun, the woman in the gun. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie because I think when you think about international films and low budget films, they don't always like go together as coming out with quality, right? You always think something was sacrificed, but this was very high quality. The theme was, I mean, it was very efficient in the way in which she told the story because it would
00:13:03
Speaker
Again, it was only 17 minutes long. I even questioned whether this should be called a feature because it was so short. And I was like, wait, isn't this supposed to be 90 minutes when you're in the theater and you're spending three hours watching a Marvel movie? That's your range. And so you're like, OK, so we're done. We can go have lunch now? That's great.
00:13:26
Speaker
You're absolutely right. I wasn't expecting this quality out of it. I was pleasantly impressed.
00:13:35
Speaker
I was pretty tight as well, you know, it's like there was no fat. I'm a little bit jealous of it. It's like, man, it's like, you know, I wish I was going to look this good, but... I don't know. Some people do like a little bit of fat with their hands, though, like, you know, like the prosciutto, just... Absolutely. That's me. That was pretty cool. I was so super impressed. But thanks again for suggesting it. It was pretty good, huh?
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah. So what was your overall thought about it? I absolutely loved it. I would definitely recommend it. I don't know if we can... Are we spoiling details about it or we can talk openly? Is it? Yeah. Guys, this is a part where if you don't want spoilers, you should pause this podcast, leave, go watch it because it's on Netflix, and then come back and listen to it. So you have 10 seconds.
00:14:30
Speaker
Oh, maybe we can give him like a spoiler warning. We can talk general thoughts first. When it gets to the nitty gritty, we can... Spoiler warning!
00:14:39
Speaker
I think it's worth watching for sure. It has a unique voice for sure. Location is amazing. Oh, absolutely. You know, that's kind of like also one of the reasons I wanted to watch this movie because, like, instead of the Philippines. So I've never been. So it's kind of like somewhat like tourism in a way. You get to see the sights and the city. And they do start with like, you know, cityscapes and, you know, skylines and stuff like that. It was really, really cool to see, you know.
00:15:06
Speaker
The city is beautiful. I don't know if it was set in Manila, but what you imagine the place to look like and what it actually did look like was very different.
00:15:22
Speaker
Cause I've never been to the Philippines so in my head I was just like, okay, like what are we really thinking about here? Cause my, you know, my, my reference points are like Thailand or Cambodia, whatever, but it was, it was definitely had a very completely different vibe. Like almost, almost had like parts of it reminded me of like New York.
00:15:41
Speaker
And some parts reminded me of like maybe Chicago like and then you just had then you had like, you know Oh, this is like parts of Brazil. Like it was yeah little bits of everything. It did feel like South America too. Yeah
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, so it's really beautiful. And I enjoy night scenes in particular. So they do it when night shots of the city. Oh, yeah. It was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. So overall, you really loved the movie. If there's one thing that you could pick up on to say, okay, this is the reason why you should go watch this movie, what would it be? If someone's like, I don't know, but you're trying to sell it to them.
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, with movies like this, it kind of seems like my personal view, like stuff like this, you know, you go with the expectation like, oh, this is kind of like a reverse exploitation kind of set up, or is this a revenge or someone just letting the aggression out? Yeah. That's kind of in the way it's like, you know, you're reading the title, know what it's about. Yeah. You know, it's probably going to be like, OK, this person wants to get revenge or like,
00:16:48
Speaker
frustrated with society in which to do that. Like it's kind of like a revenge porn kind of thing. It actually wasn't like that at all. No. In a way. And that was my biggest surprise. And it's kind of felt very well-rounded in that way, you know. I think in a way the title kind of betrays it in a little bit. Yeah. You know, like, you know, read the title. Not that they have anything in common, but something like Herbo with a shotgun, you know. You get exactly what you watch. You get exactly what you paid for. Yeah.
00:17:15
Speaker
But this has more depth to it, you know? Yes. And I feel like in a way, don't let the title fool you, you know? Absolutely. I mean, the title is there for a reason, for sure. You know, it's like there's it's just blunt and bold. And that's what the movie is. But it definitely has more depth and.
00:17:32
Speaker
more to get out of it, you know, beyond that. Yeah, because the aspects of the movie, you know, probably like the first half that really speak to the title of the movie. And then it just switches on you to to kind of have this almost like a social commentary. And the gun itself becomes a character. Right. And then it's like you're following the gun
00:17:58
Speaker
from where it was to where how it got into her hand to begin with. And I thought that was a refreshing take on the like, you know, revenge plot of a movie because like you could just, you know, after seeing what happens to her, you're like, of course I would grab a gun and go on a roaring rampage of vengeance. But, you know, the conversation was a little more larger than that about how
00:18:24
Speaker
how having a gun in some parts of the world, in some circumstances, really empowers a bunch of people that feel like they have been downtrodden, that feel like they have no other course to get out of their situation or free themselves than having to resort to violence when violence is happening all around them. And the fact that she was able to do that in like 17 minutes, I was like,
00:18:53
Speaker
snaps and props. Normally, like, you know, I'm thinking of don't look up and how we went through like almost three hours of a movie to really get the social commentary. And this woman is doing it in less time. And there's just, you know, I could I could see this movie being done in the US without changing anything. So that was pretty incredible.
00:19:17
Speaker
Mm-hmm for sure. It's definitely relatable. I was thinking about that just just before the podcast like you can shoot this movie remake it anywhere in like Sudan for example where I'm from and You know just change the actors and we'll still hold you know like it's a
00:19:32
Speaker
It's definitely relatable in that way. But yeah, like you said, it's kind of broken into two sections, really. So the first part is about the girl, and then the second part is mostly about the gun. Yes. So I guess at this point, we can talk a bit about some warning for the audience, right? Absolutely. Because if you're going to come in expecting
00:19:59
Speaker
the story to be completely about the girl, it was like, you know, the perspective of women. There is that, but the whole movie isn't about that. It kind of opens up a little bit later, which is kind of you see the big picture where like violence against women like exist as part of like, you know, a bigger picture in like in the Philippines, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's like how it relates to that. So the second half is not going to if that's what you're mainly here for, you probably might be disappointed.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yeah. Also a fair warning. Yes. Before you jump into this movie that is like.
00:20:30
Speaker
There should be a trigger warning. There's a trigger warning. There is a sexual assault that happens on screen and violence related to the sexual assault on screen. So if that's something that triggers you, then I absolutely think that people should know about that because definitely it wasn't a shock to me. And I'll tell you why it wasn't a shock to me because
00:21:00
Speaker
And I said this to my husband. I was like, men are creepy everywhere. And I think that as a woman, you see the signs before it happens. And so at the beginning when that coworker of hers was being really nice to her, and from my husband's perspective, it was like, oh, he's been really nice. In my head, I was seeing something completely different. And at the point where
00:21:26
Speaker
He comes in and he buys her that gift which is stockings and wants her to wear it. And then even the set was giving you trigger warnings because the lights were flickering. It was like going from dark to light, dark to light. There was no one else in the locker room.
00:21:45
Speaker
And so I tensed up and my first thought was something bad is going to happen. So I think that for certain people, they're going to see the symptoms before they see the sign. They're going to know that something is about to happen.
00:22:05
Speaker
But again, you know, I'm saying like there is a trigger warning. Be careful. It's hard. It's hard to watch. It's hard to watch. But it's not 100 percent of the whole story. It is a small part of the whole movie. And like we said, there is that transition from not just the perspective of the women and what she went through, but also
00:22:31
Speaker
Just kind of a bigger picture of the life cycle of that gun and all of the people who have had to kind of rely on it for their. To empower them to you know whether they use it as a threat whether they are the bully like it's just it's changed so many hands and you can see what the gun means to different different types of people.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Theme of Empowerment and Social Commentary
00:22:55
Speaker
With the warning out of out there, I think I do want to go start from this from the beginning, because like, even within the story of the first section, I kind of divided it into two. And I think like the first thing that caught my attention is kind of like, is that like, I guess it's like a style that's more prominent in Asia. I feel like it was kind of more it's definitely visual. It's like there's not she she doesn't say much in the first
00:23:19
Speaker
like 10, 15 minutes or so, right? Like, yeah. And it's kind of and I love that was very visual. And it's like, there's no much dialogue at all. And it's just kind of the situation, you know, one after another, like situations you go through and
00:23:34
Speaker
basically how the world treats her, you know, like her, you know, versus the world. And she was just a recipient, recipient to all of that. Like, you know, much input from her. Absolutely. There was very much a show don't tell aspect to it, which is something that, you know, filmmakers will understand. It's like, let the scene speak to the audience so that they can understand that they can feel the emotions. And so everything we saw, everything we felt was from her face, from how she reacted.
00:24:04
Speaker
to the world around her. And I love that and it was such a good...
00:24:10
Speaker
I think it was a good decision by the director. It could have gone different ways, but this is such a good choice, especially when it's the whole world against you. It's like, you're so powerless. It made me feel powerless, and it kind of related to her. I guess, absolutely. Because these things are just much bigger than just your boss, it's the job, it's the society, it's the city, it's all against you. And then that one shopkeeper. Yeah. Oh my god. They've been shopping, writing projects.
00:24:40
Speaker
Yes!
00:24:42
Speaker
Every single one of those scenes were relatable, though, you know, get, you know, getting on the bus the way she was like squashed in between two very bulky men and being barked at. You know, she just she just felt like the the director made her feel smaller and smaller and smaller as the movie went along to the point where like, you know, if you're watching it and you can relate to that, you're like, she's going to explode. Like it's it's going to happen.
00:25:12
Speaker
Absolutely, and that was just so well done. You could definitely feel it. I mean, the movie kind of won me right from the start, like on a personal level. It was the department store where they all work, and the boss trying to encourage them, and then he gives one lady the employee of the month, and I was like, that's my biggest...
00:25:36
Speaker
That's the biggest lie of all that. That makes my blood boil the whole way. So it's also against that. I think that capitalism is also an issue too in here.
00:25:44
Speaker
You know, it's like, and I just love her, love her choices as the director. Like, you know, it's like you're working for the department store, you have to look pristine. And I think that the object she chose, like with to kind of anchor the story around was the ripped socks, right? Yeah, stockings. The stockings. So they're ripped and they always got in trouble for it. So she works in this mall where she's supposed to like look pristine, but she also can't afford it because it's so expensive. Exactly. Yeah. And they wouldn't provide it for her. And then on top of that, yeah.
00:26:14
Speaker
It's it's such a yeah, I'm glad you know she chose to kind of delve into those things in this movie. Going back to that to the to the to the tights not only was it such a constraint and
00:26:33
Speaker
the way that, you know, she couldn't afford it, but then what she could afford was, you know, and tatters. But it was also causing her pain because she had those blisters. Right. Yeah. And you could tell, like, she works so hard and she still can't afford to buy stockings. And as soon as I saw those blisters and I was like, that's a metaphor. Like, the blisters is like she's trying to pop them. I had to look away because they were gross.
00:26:59
Speaker
cannot do blisters on screen. So again, if body weirdness stuff isn't your thing, please look away at this point. But it was almost like, yes, at some point, it feels like she's that blister and she's just picking at it. The world's just picking at it and picking at it. And at some point, it's just going to burst. And so it was such a small thing, but I felt like it said it spoke volumes. For sure, for sure.
00:27:29
Speaker
But I got to say, though, I mean, speaking of being not comfortable, it made me uncomfortable watching this movie. And I kind of caught myself, it's like, why am I feeling this way? And I felt like the movie was a little cynical, almost, like how everyone's against her. But then I kind of caught myself as like, this is exactly why we need female voices, because it's a completely different story, like taking the bus.
00:27:58
Speaker
as a woman, you know, or as a guy is a completely different story. For me, it's just like, you know, a scene could be a drama, just me taking, you know, the bus, getting to be tired. But like, for a woman that could be a thriller, could like, you know, be, you know, yeah, walking home in the dark by yourself. Yeah. And that's like, yeah, this is exactly this is exactly why we need a different perspective on these things. And being uncomfortable, such, you know,
00:28:25
Speaker
It is a learning experience in a way. It's like, I need to learn. I think this is the power of movies, right? Yeah. I mean, I feel like movies are the closest way to relive or live someone else's life, you know? Yeah. Having the experience of someone else. And that's kind of like,
00:28:51
Speaker
This is exactly why it's like we need this, the perspective of women directors because like for me as a guy, I wouldn't
00:28:59
Speaker
be like relate to it unless I saw it like this way or saw the character connected to it to her or the person directly and then saw what situation they go through, you know. Yeah. So it's it's important. It's important. And you can see that juxtaposed too, because when her assailant was walking home, he was so relaxed. He was walking home in the dark. Anyone could have jumped him at that point. He was being followed by her and he didn't even know he was smoking his
00:29:28
Speaker
cigarette, he was chill. And you juxtapose that to like her walking home where she's gripping her backpack, she's tense, she's like trying to make herself as small as possible so that, you know, nobody noticed her and she can just, if she can just make it to her front door, like that's her goal. And I think that, yeah, you know, it's kind of like what you say, like a woman can show that difference.
00:29:53
Speaker
Very easily and like I don't know that not I don't think all men would be able to like really pick up on that It's just it's the same walk home, but it's One of it is thriller and one of it is a comedy For sure. Yeah, but yeah, so like as you know, it was a male audience This is definitely a good reminder and this is what we need it, you know Yeah
00:30:20
Speaker
Speaking of metaphors, what did you think of the roommate? So her roommate and also the way it's always, I mean, you know, it's like the roommate is always shot through the mirror. Yeah. What were your thoughts on that character? You know, I feel like I probably should have spent more time thinking about that character. And I don't know that we spent enough time
00:30:45
Speaker
with her. I mean, I was I think when I was thinking about the character, I was just thinking about just the level of poverty that they have to share a room in. It's not even like a it's not a full apartment. It's an efficiency that is split between the two of them. They share a luggage bag that we had in that conversation about sharing a luggage bag, you know, and and just kind of her. She was
00:31:14
Speaker
The roommate had more, when you were kind of thinking about how she was interacting with men, there was a powerlessness there that she was trying to cover up, right? Of course. So at that beginning when she walks in a roommate having sex with that guy who could be her boyfriend or whatever.
00:31:31
Speaker
She's technically in a abusive relationship, but she waves it off as, oh, he just can't get enough of me, and he just can't get enough of me, and what am I supposed to do, blah, blah, blah. And it's almost like she's in denial of the situation that she's in. So from the main character's perspective, she sees that, okay, you are just as much of an underdog as I am, you're just as much in a pressure cooker as I am, except,
00:32:00
Speaker
You know, she kind of the roommate leaned in for her own. She kind of gave into it because you know the second time around she's being beaten up by her boyfriend. There's like, you know, there's a lot of just
00:32:17
Speaker
I don't know what the word is, but it's not healthy, but she cowers and she's afraid and she just kind of, she feels powerless. And I think it goes to show, you know, I think this goes back to the whole thing about...
00:32:33
Speaker
domestic violence whenever people just say, well, why don't you just leave? You know, and it's just not not every woman can do that. You know, absolutely. So, you know, for for the main character, she she just got she was just done at the point where she had been fired. She was done. She'd had enough. And the gun was her way of getting back some kind of control, whether or not you agree with like her approach. But it's kind of showing you that like
00:33:01
Speaker
women are not a monolith. Like, we're not all tough, but we're not all vulnerable. And so, you know, I guess showing her through that mirror was just an example of, yes, there might be something that we share in common, but we can go through life very differently. For sure. And so that was very well done in just two very short scenes.
00:33:28
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, it was a good contrast. It's like what could have been, you know, it was like she went normally with her life or something like that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If she just gave in to like everything the world was just throwing at her. But yeah, I enjoyed that character. It's kind of like it's it's it's painful to watch, right? But it's also like
00:33:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's kind of, it's a good contrast, like this is the norm. But also, I think it was important to see that end of it, you know, it's like, you know, the boyfriend, the partner joining in and he's like, you know, the way she treats him a little bit different, you know, and then how she's like, her truth is completely different when she's talking to a roommate. Like I didn't want to, like I was forced to do this. And I feel like all the guys don't see that part of it.
00:34:17
Speaker
But also the look on her face, like even after she was technically rescued by her roommate, by the main character, the look on her face was almost like, what did you do? As opposed to like, oh my God, thank you so much. It's very important for people to know that like,
00:34:36
Speaker
The reactions can be very different when it involves women who are abused, when it involves women who are just in a horrible, horrible, emotional, physically terrible situation that it's...
00:34:56
Speaker
It's there's a Stockholm syndrome there somehow, you know, and I'm not one to speak to this. I'm not a professional. I'm just going to put that out there. But it was I think it was important to show just like, yes, she picked up the gun, but this woman may not pick up the gun. You know, it's just going to be very different. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think that, you know, even though that character showed up for a couple of scenes, there's good balance. Yes. It added a lot to the story, I feel like.
00:35:26
Speaker
Um, the apartment situation poverty is, yeah, that thing through that landlord though is creepy. I actually had to repeat like, like, I know we don't rewind much, but like when she walks up on him and he's like peeking through the door, I thought I missed something.
00:35:50
Speaker
I thought he was trying to steal and he got caught about to break in. And so then when they revealed what was actually happening, I was like, okay, you are way creepier than I thought. That you're watching these people having sex and they don't even know that you're there.
00:36:08
Speaker
Ugh, still makes my skin crawl. Yeah. And the shopkeeper, you know, something about that, like I was wondering in the beginning, it's like, why is he like hanging out with his kid and treating her that way in front of the kid?
Generational Violence Explored
00:36:22
Speaker
Yeah. But then this is where the second half becomes about, you know, it's kind of like where how this like violence, it's kind of where it comes from, how it's propagated. Yeah. It's like generational, you know.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. So I think that was a good, if it wasn't intentional, I think that was a good foreshadowing to that. Yeah, but also just how a young girl can be exposed to that kind of behavior.
00:36:47
Speaker
when you go back to kind of the scene, there's a couple of scenes where there's like a young girl with her brother, and then she has the gun in her hand, and he's like, no, no, no, don't hold on to that, but then you see the situation she lives in, and then there's also the customer with his kid who's talking to her, and he's basically, he thinks he's flirting, but he's being very creepy and just kind of just,
00:37:16
Speaker
Horrible, you know, and it's and his daughter is right there. And so it's kind of like they're exposed to this Violence in this way of treating women from a very very young age. Yeah And it just creates that cycle You know over and over again Yeah, you know the the little girl doesn't even like look up from whatever she's doing almost feels completely normal to her and
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah. So that was also a good choice, I think, because I wouldn't think to like I wouldn't think to like include kids in scenes like this or in the movie at all. But there's there's a lot of them like in scenes like that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Like the the the scene where the guy flirts with her, it's like has a kid, the shopkeeper has a kid. There's always kids at present whenever like in these unpleasant moments. So so definitely a good message there. Something to think about.
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, my favorite scene, I guess the strongest for me personally, it was after the assault, which was again, extremely uncomfortable. Absolutely. It was well done too, like to it, I think it was, I thought it was really well done because the focus was
00:38:30
Speaker
You know, the assault is still for the moment, but it was not sexualized in any way. Yeah, no, that's true. Yeah. So like props to the filmmakers like that was I thought it was an incredible choice. It never took away from it, you know? Yeah. I mean, no shade to like, I mean, definitely plenty of shade to some male directors. But when they do rape scenes, it's almost like
00:38:52
Speaker
Porno video, you know, it's it's usually you're seeing the man your the woman has to be flailing about and struggling and it's all part of the the I Don't know. It's all part of what's feeding into the fantasy. Yeah
00:39:07
Speaker
But in this in this part it was almost like the the the guy was like in the in the background like you could see him but the focus was on the trauma on her face the powerlessness the The like she gives in just so that she can survive it And you know we
00:39:29
Speaker
And again, you know, like sometimes when I've seen like Weston movies or just any like any movie that a man directs where there's like a rape scene, you would have seen her breasts, you would have seen several parts of a body, her clothes have been ripped off. And there was, you know, I feel like the director brought
00:39:47
Speaker
some dignity to that character in not making her... I mean, she was a victim, but she didn't, I don't know, she didn't desecrate her name or just who she was. She didn't make it so disgusting and so...
00:40:11
Speaker
horrible that we forget that we're dealing with like a human being who's going to through a violent, horrible experience. So, yeah, that was I mean, again, this is why we need women making movies because it's just the perspective is going to be so, so different. I agree. I agree. One hundred percent. Yeah. And I mean, the inclusion of the scene itself was pretty bold and good choice. Yeah.
00:40:41
Speaker
again handled very well and I was like, yeah, not sexualized. But then I think my strongest scene
00:40:48
Speaker
to me personally, it was after like her, because not only that we've witnessed the assault, it's just like her journey back home afterwards. Yeah. It was almost equally like uncomfortable to see that, like how the world just did not care, you know? Yeah, everything moved on. And then there's one scene on the bus, she's like, even then she's like, only, there was like only one other woman on the bus and there was like, you know, the middle of like sea of men and it's like,
00:41:15
Speaker
just like and then they share that look and that was the only the only time she's acknowledged in the movie i feel like that was that one scene it was pretty strong i thought you know yeah and again you know as much as the the sexual assault was horrible it almost felt like it was the
00:41:38
Speaker
the climax of where she was at a crossroads, right? Of I've taken as much abuse as I can take, like everything has been taken from me, you know, and she just...
00:41:55
Speaker
You know, and I think seeing that repeated on her friend, her roommate, just snapped something in her. It's like, yeah, I I couldn't stop it happening to me. But I sure as hell will stop it happening to you. And, you know, it I she woke up and she chose violence. And I don't know that any one of us would not be in this same boat.
00:42:22
Speaker
It's like, how do you fight violence when it's all around you? You can try to hide yourself. You can try to make yourself small. And this is maybe one of those philosophical questions about, do we face violence with peace and whatever?
Inner Strength and Empowerment
00:42:42
Speaker
But they're just sometimes where it's just like, I'm powerless. I need to feel power. And for some people, that comes from choosing
00:42:51
Speaker
violence to make themselves feel powerful, whether it's right or whether it's wrong. Yeah. But this is kind of a good segue to the next part of this, which is the gun. And so she finds the gun and that kind of becomes
00:43:10
Speaker
Guns in general makes me uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm with you there. I don't like guns, and the whole time I was wondering. It's featured heavily in the second half, and the whole time I was like, I really hope they had good gun safety on set, because the gun is pointing everywhere in the camera. It really is.
00:43:30
Speaker
Pro production, but yeah, it's like if you're a filmmaker trying to make movies with guns, please be safe with guns. Absolutely. Especially if you're going to have crew around you like this. Yeah, can be stressed enough.
00:43:41
Speaker
Well, not just the crew, like, you know, the streets were crowded with people. Yeah. And I don't know if all of those people were extras or if they just shot it in just someone's neighborhood. And we're just like, well, you're here now. So, you know, we're just going to use whoever is out here. But yeah, it's it can be extremely dangerous. So back to the gun, you know, again, you would expect to just, you know, once you find the gun, it's going to be like a rampage, right? She's going to take a gun and just like start shooting people left and right. But that didn't happen. And that's a good surprise.
00:44:11
Speaker
and it took a mature kind of approach to it. And the gun became just kind of...
00:44:17
Speaker
What was it, like a source of confidence than anything? Yeah, in comfort, I guess. Yeah. You know? It was empowering in a way. And it's kind of like a message about it, you know? It's like what the gun is to her. It's a kind of like confidence, but also like made her nervous about it. And she didn't really shoot it right away, right? No, no. You didn't even use it in, I think, most of the film. Yeah.
00:44:43
Speaker
I mean, we see it, we see it being shot, but that's like more like a fantasy. Like you kind of. Absolutely. Yeah. Imagine herself shooting the other person. Um, but also it takes, um, which makes the ending also very, for me, very meaningful. I thought it was pretty good because like you would,
00:45:00
Speaker
Like you were mentioned earlier, it's like, yeah, of course, you wake up, you choose violence. Yeah. But ultimately, the main character didn't. Yeah, she didn't because she did have that moment where she could have just ended her, you know, her abuses life in. He and she didn't and she she took a different path, you know, and there's you know, there's this joke that was circulated on Twitter for a while is just like, you know, with all the guns that are floating around in the US, you know,
00:45:30
Speaker
and men being worried about women with all the stuff that we get put through. It's a surprise that we haven't picked up a gun and just said, F it. We're just going to go. And I think that was something I really related to because as a woman, knowing friends that have been through horrible situations,
00:45:55
Speaker
With how much we go through, we should be able to just pick up a gun and choose violence. I mean, we could. We would be well within our rights to do it, but we don't. And it's not because we don't have it in us. There's a will. There's a choice. It's purposeful. And I'm not saying that every woman doesn't just pick up a gun and just because then we wouldn't have prisons with women who shot their husbands and their lovers or whatever.
00:46:24
Speaker
But you know, it's not it's not automatic and you know, there was like you said she when she got that gun she didn't She didn't use it automatically. It was more kind of like this makes me feel safe This gives me the confidence to walk
00:46:38
Speaker
in the streets, in the dark. And then when it finally came to the point where she fantasized about it, but when it finally came to the point where she had to do it or could do it, she was in the perfect position. There was nobody there. They were by themselves. He was on the floor. It was like, yeah, you could do it and get away with it and fade into the darkness and no one would know.
00:47:03
Speaker
And, you know, it's almost like she was just like, no, because then I'm then I'm you. Then I have put violence on you the way you put violence on me. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, that's definitely like a mature approach to it. I feel someone else would have made this like, you know, ends up with a shootout and, you know, we'd have had Kill Bill on our hands. Of course. Just like, yeah, just like release that tension or just like, you know, have revenge. But then
00:47:33
Speaker
who wouldn't go anywhere. And I think that's the importance. I mean, what kind of accentuated that ending is the second half of the movie. I think that's where the big picture comes in. And that's where the ending was impactful. And I can see people being disappointed with the ending. I can't imagine them. It's like, oh, it's like after all that, build up. They want it. I mean, there's also a message for the audience, right? It's like, this is how frustrating how
00:48:03
Speaker
maddening things can be, you know, for people. So like, you know, if you want this character to have revenge about everyone around you, you know, like, yeah, like who have you pissed off today? Exactly. Yeah, especially if you're oblivious to it, you know, and like treatment of women and all that stuff. But also, I think another way to look at that ending was that
00:48:28
Speaker
After she had that confrontation, she'd had multiple confrontations. She'd confronted her boss. She'd confronted the guy, one of the customers who was being gross and misogynistic. She finally confronted the thing that had triggered that whole moment.
00:48:47
Speaker
And I think that that moment when she is, she's just like, I'm not going to use this gun. I think it was a moment of realization that she didn't need that gun to be confident. She didn't need that gun to be powerful. Absolutely. Yeah. And and like that release of like.
00:49:06
Speaker
I'm letting it go and I'm going to continue like I survived. I'm going to continue surviving, but that I don't need this in order to be powerful. And I think that that's the message that I got at the end. Absolutely. Which was which was a beautiful message to have.
00:49:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's what makes it even more so empowering. Because at the end of the day, she was stood up to all these characters without the gun. Yeah. So everyone else can do it too. You don't need any special superpower to do it or a tool. We all have it in us, I guess, to do it. And that's what makes this more impactful in a way. Yeah.
00:49:49
Speaker
Let's talk a little bit about the second half of the movie, which like, once she picks up the gun, which is the gun itself as a character, I was like, and I'm glad that second half exists, because the first time you see the gun, it's tossed out in the street somewhere, like, and then it had a heart sticker on it, like a sticker on it.
00:50:11
Speaker
And, you know, I was like, it made the gun a character right away and they don't explain anything about that initially. They don't know how it came to be. So I accepted my fate. I was like, you know what? There's no closure in life most of the time. So I'm not going to know anything about the story behind this gun. Luckily, she said.
00:50:32
Speaker
No, you're going to get one. You're going to get a story. There was one symbolic thing. I don't know if it's symbolic, but the red
00:50:48
Speaker
the red tracksuit or hoodie that she was wearing, I remember just thinking this director watched Hard Candy the whole time. Oh, yeah. Because I was like, why red? Why a red hoodie? What is it about the red hoodie? I was going through movies in my head and I was just like, Hard Candy, this makes sense because it's a similar story of
00:51:13
Speaker
something horrible has happened to me. I have been a victim and I want to get power back. I mean, Hard Candy obviously went a completely different route. And if you were this, that's a way more triggering movie, FYI. But so I loved that little bit of throwback to I mean, I'm not sure I have to ask her if I ever meet her. Hey, did you did you mean to put this in? But on purpose. But yeah, that was the first thing that came to mind as I was looking at that red hoodie.
Soundtrack and Film Ambience
00:51:43
Speaker
I don't know if that popped up for you as well. For sure, for sure. But speaking of hard candy, I mean, it's a good comparison, right? Yeah. But hard candy is directed by a man, right? I think so, yes. I feel like I got to look it up, but I absolutely think it's directed by a man. So, you know, it's still going a completely different route. That's how it feels, like it doesn't, you know, hard candy was...
00:52:08
Speaker
I mean, good for what it is, right? But this one is more nuanced. Yeah, it definitely is more nuanced. Yeah, in, I don't know, no pun intended, but hard candy is hard to watch.
00:52:23
Speaker
It really is hard to watch. But yeah, that went in a completely different direction. Another thing that I found really interesting about this movie was the music choice. Of course, yeah. Oh, so at the beginning, I love, love, love, love, love, love, love the music and the intro. That's what I was thinking. I was like, I need to add this to my playlist, that song. Yes. And I was like, I need to find every single song on this playlist.
00:52:49
Speaker
And the more we went into it and I was like, this is a really interesting choice because we are dealing with really hard topics, like really tough, uncomfortable topics. But the music choice was more like.
00:53:04
Speaker
Ocean's Eleven, Logan Lucky, you know, that like Soderbergh type movie of a heist. And I was like, this is really interesting to juxtapose this very uncomfortable, terrifying experience involving a gun, but then using this musical choice
00:53:28
Speaker
And I would so love to speak to the director and get an insight into why that was. I would love to see an interview with the director for sure. Yeah. Red, hit us up. We want to know. But I think that also made me love it too, because there were times where it was soothing to have that music when things were really tense. But also just kind of it was like,
00:53:59
Speaker
I don't know, like...
00:54:01
Speaker
Ironic. Isn't life funny? Isn't life weird? This gun, this is the life cycle of this gun. This is how I got here. This is what's happening right now. Yeah. I think, yeah, it's hard. It's a thriller. This is how it worked to me. It's like a thriller, action films, high energy. Absolutely, yeah. I imagine the director was going for that kind of feel of energy.
00:54:31
Speaker
So I think that's kind of where it came from and I think it fit it fit the city and it's just like I Kind of like that. It's like how the soundtrack is energetic. It's the city is just never like always moving around them always and I like that kind of juxtaposition It's like this is the city is busy and always happening and you have this one person suffering, you know It's like the city just doesn't care, you know, yeah Yeah, so kind of to me enhance the feeling in that way. I don't know if it was the reading it wrong, but that's gonna kind of
00:55:01
Speaker
kind of came across to me. So I liked it, but it felt like that, like a thriller, like the movies you mentioned, you know.
00:55:11
Speaker
Also made me think a little bit of like City of God, you know? City of God, absolutely. That was 100% that vibe as well, for sure. Which also had like energetic feel to it, even though it's like a very serious issue. Yeah. And again, you know, the topic about a gun was very much kind of going through City of God. I really had to watch that again. That's like one of my favorite movies. It really is hard to watch. So I kind of have to follow it up with something light and fluffy. Yeah.
00:55:38
Speaker
I'm not completely left just feeling anxious at the end of it. So let me ask you this, as a filmmaker, if you were involved in making this film with Ray Red, is there anything you would have done differently? Honestly, that's kind of a little bit hard to answer. I really like it the way it is.
00:56:06
Speaker
That's a tough one to add. I mean, it hits all the notes it needed to, you know? I thought it was like a complete image of... Yeah, the cactus, it felt fulfilling at the end, right? It really did. Yeah.
00:56:25
Speaker
And I thought like the story of the gun was really bold, you know, I probably wouldn't have thought like that sort of thing. It's like, if I made this movie, I'll probably make it a lot worse. I cannot improve it because I probably like I wouldn't even think to like, oh, maybe we can explore the history of the gun or maybe.
00:56:42
Speaker
And maybe we can make the movie longer. But I feel like, no, I think now that I think about it, like I sat with it, it's like, no, I think because it's really uncomfortable for most of the time. I think the length was if it went longer than that, maybe like maybe too much, you know. Yeah, absolutely.
00:57:01
Speaker
So I think, honestly, like, if I was to remake this movie, it'll probably be the shitty remake of it. It's a remake. You know, kind of like, you know, when you when you have I imagine that in the future, some American director is going to find, you know, find this movie and try to remake it. And it's it's going to be more hard candy than it is the girl, the girl in the gun. But yeah.
00:57:25
Speaker
Also, let's not remake international films if we can't help it. It's a union voice. Just read the subtitles, you cowards. There's something about the genre I wanted to say. These kind of movies that I really enjoy, which is... It's a good balance. Maybe the music made me think of that. It's a good balance of entertainment.
00:57:50
Speaker
but also have a message, you know? I feel like a big pitfall of stuff like this or maybe like some international films or like, you know, it's like if you don't have the opportunity to speak up, you know, that your first foray into it is going to be maybe too preachy or something like that. Yeah, yeah, that's true. I respect what they went with here because like, it's still an entertaining film, like, you know?
00:58:12
Speaker
if you're like oblivious to all of these issues or whatever, you know, it's still enjoyable to watch. I mean, it's hard, but still like there's a thrilling thread to follow, like start to finish. Absolutely. You know, I think it just gives also the message to filmmakers that, you know, you don't have to make a two hour, three hour movie to really get your message across. Like you can be very economical
00:58:37
Speaker
with your storytelling, which will probably, you know, at the end, make things cheaper for you when you are making a movie, if you're able to really, like, kind of hone down, like, what are the themes? Like, what am I trying to say? How can I say it with as very little resources as possible? Because, I mean, for me, this film, I mean, it made it onto Netflix. So Netflix
00:59:03
Speaker
You know, they have their issues, but they saw potential there. And I'm glad that I was able to pick up on it as something to watch because, yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. So yeah, this is something I struggle with. I think this is why I brought it up. And I want to hear your opinion on it real quick. It's like, you know, sometimes it feels like, you know, since if you're an immigrant or from a different country or something like that, you know, where the film is not big yet.
00:59:31
Speaker
Sometimes it feels to me personally like it's a responsibility. It's like, you know, my first movie, you know, maybe I want to make a fun heist film or something like that. There's also like the responsibility. It's like, no, this is the first film from that area. Should we talk about issues and stuff?
00:59:46
Speaker
So maybe something in the back of my head is like, you know, I want to do fun stuff maybe or like, you know, whatever it is. But also like the responsible part, not that we should speak to those issues or like how Africa is like or like social issues over there and stuff like that. So I feel like it's kind of always a hard balance to hit. And, you know, you see filmmakers from the from the region, like from Sudan, for example, they always kind of
01:00:12
Speaker
You can't blame them because that's, you know, that voice is not heard yet. So it's going to focus more on the issues or so it's more dramatic or something like that. But so I personally pay more attention to stuff like this, like this gun. I have like a lot of boxes ticked, you know, it's like, you know.
01:00:30
Speaker
You know, it's about feminism in a way, you know, it has about the war on drugs in the Philippines, which is actually a big issue, you know, it's also addressed. I'm glad, you know, I was like pleasantly surprised I was addressed, you know, it's like, you know, the law on drugs and how ruthless it is over there. You know, if you haven't been following the news, it's, you know, it's pretty dire, you know.
01:00:51
Speaker
So it goes into like economics and stuff like that in the economy in the Philippines and all of that stuff. So it takes all these boxes and it still kind of kept it like, you know, in a way kind of like an enjoyable thriller that you can follow from start to finish and then the music to maybe enhance that. So there is a balance you can you can hit.
01:01:11
Speaker
to, you know, take all the boxes, you know, and make it work. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I completely agree that there is, you know, if you're an immigrant or even if you're not an immigrant here, but you are an international filmmaker and you're trying to break into the Western market, you do kind of have this struggle of like, do I go straight into like, do I do the raid? You know, something that people can like really jump on because it's action packed and it's, you know, it's
01:01:39
Speaker
martial arts and all of that stuff. Or do I do something a little more, you know, akin to like, here's me telling you about what's happening in my country. It's very docu-film kind of. But I don't know that you necessarily need to sacrifice both. It kind of goes back to our conversation at the beginning of how you're just like, I just don't do genres.
01:02:00
Speaker
You know, I just say what I want to say. I write I write what I want to write. And it comes out, you know. And I think that when you are an international filmmaker or you you have like a foreign background or, you know, you're from two different cultures that you always have one of those at the back of your mind. And it bleeds through in whatever you're doing, even if it's a heist movie. I remember watching I think it's the five feasts, the five fists of Masai.
01:02:30
Speaker
which was, oh, I can't remember what it was filmed, but I don't want to say it was, maybe it was like,
01:02:39
Speaker
Sierra Leone, somewhere in the west coast of Africa. And it's a western. It's a western in Africa. And I was shooketh. It was so good. It gave me the good, the bad, and the ugly. It gave me once upon a time in the west. But it was still a conversation about poverty.
01:03:02
Speaker
in Africa. It was about gangs. It was about, um, uh, pirates, you know, like we got all of those things. And I also got a Weston, which by the way, if you don't know, it's one of my favorite genres. Um, and, and so like, I, you know, highly recommend if you can find it. I watched it years ago. It was, it was absolutely great. And you know, there's another film trying to remember that, um, I'm completely sold on this. I gotta watch it.
01:03:29
Speaker
Exactly. There was another film I watched that was very similar. They showed them Fantastic Fest last year. That was kind of the same too. And so I don't think that international filmmakers have to sacrifice either of those. I think that there's a way to make it exciting and to engage with
01:03:52
Speaker
a different audience while kind of in the background feeding them some culture, you know? Like, here's some stuff you might not be aware of. And, you know, Ray Redd is a great example of how that can be done. And from what I read about her other movies, she kind of does something similar to where the plot is is going to be really interesting. But while she's giving you that, she's also saying, let's talk about. Yeah.
01:04:19
Speaker
why this is happening. Let's talk about the context and the social economic issues that might be the reason why someone might go kill their lover. Absolutely. I respect that a lot. I respect that a lot. I was pleasantly surprised how you represented all these issues and I kept it fun and engaging the whole time.
01:04:43
Speaker
I have a question for you. I feel like I should be interviewing you and you're interviewing me. Go on, give me your questions. My question for you is like, now that you've seen the movie, would you change the ending? If you directed this movie, would you have gone with a different ending? No.
01:05:06
Speaker
I would not have gone with defending. Similar to you, I'm not into guns. To me, I think that she did a good job of saying that, yes, for people, having that gun was empowering. It was...
01:05:23
Speaker
it made them feel safe. But I think that she also questioned that at the end. She was like, but do we though? Because she didn't need to use it in order to stand up for herself. And like I said, there are plenty of women in this country all over the world who have been through
01:05:45
Speaker
Maybe like been through what she's been through maybe worse and have not picked up a gun And I think to me That was a beautiful message, you know, some people might disagree and that's fine But um, I think empowerment comes from within and so I love that ending yeah, and um, you know, I think
01:06:05
Speaker
I think if anything, for me, it was sad that it had to be sexual assault that triggered that journey for her. And for a lot of people, it could be something else. But we all have that straw that breaks the camel's back, that makes us fight or flee or fight. And it's different for everybody and how you choose to respond to it.
01:06:32
Speaker
Um, your fight could be finding it within yourself and your fight could be finding power through something else that's maybe not safe. And maybe it's not toxic because even as we watch that journey of the gun, we see it end in the hands of little children, like, and young people who have no business having that. And again, like I said, this movie could be made here, like without changing anything. And it would just be, it would be just as uncomfortable, just as insane.
01:07:02
Speaker
I guess I probably would have made it a little bit longer and explored that look between her and her roommate. I wanted to know more about... Because she kept talking about home. She kept talking about her mom. But we don't really... We know that there's something there that feeds into...
01:07:22
Speaker
this conversation of how women are treated and how women live and how they have to really make themselves small in this world for their own safety. So I think that I would have loved to see explore more like what is what is this whole thing about her and her mom on the phone? Like what's going on there? And what is this thing about wanting to go back home? So I so I think that it's perfect as is. But if there was anything that I would want to change would be like, give me a little
01:07:51
Speaker
bit more, just a little bit more. Yeah, I wonder if like having examples of stronger women like that exists because I'm sure they are in the Philippines, you know, not saying that you know, conditions are not as bad as the movie portrays, but I'm pretty sure that some
01:08:05
Speaker
Like there are examples like of mothers and other women who are strong, you know, of examples of how in characters in a movie or at least some sort of kindness, you know, in the world. But yeah, because there was like zero help in the whole movie. Yeah, it was just it was just all bad, like all just bad news, bad news, bad news. So, you know, sometimes I mean, hopefully that won't give people the
01:08:31
Speaker
Wrong impression about the country too because like it's it's it's beautiful and people like people like the Philippines are the nicest You know, I mean everyone has their issues but you know, they're they're wonderful people too, you know, yeah, yeah I don't think it's I it's one it's one movie and I don't know that it's gonna define the Philippines But you know, it's just like, you know if we did if we did a whole a movie here about I don't know
01:09:00
Speaker
Kill Bill doesn't doesn't tell us that all like people are just out here killing assassins and stuff. You know, I think it's just one perspective, one experience. And so if you're watching this, if you're listening to this and you watch this movie as your first like basically the first picture you have of the Philippines, think of this movie as like the Texas chain massacre to Texas. Like it doesn't define the state, doesn't define the country. But I still don't go to that town, though. Oh, heck no.
01:09:29
Speaker
I'm not doing that. Just in case, just in case. Well, thank you, OC, so much for chatting with me about this movie. I'm so glad that you liked it. I enjoyed it. Thanks again for the recommendation. Yeah, no problem. So now that you've had my recommendation and you've had OC's recommendation, I hope you guys will take the time to go watch it. It is on Netflix, if you still have Netflix.
01:09:52
Speaker
Please go watch it. I hope you've learned something new. And I hope this made you kind of want to share it with with your friends. Have a watch party, talk about it and, you know, send me send me a DM on Instagram at Stream the Queen and just like let me know what you thought about it. So remember, you can subscribe to this podcast and get notified when our next episode drops.
01:10:16
Speaker
I do have a quick note for your audience. If you watch this movie, and I hope you will, and you didn't like the ending, I have a thought experiment for you. And the thought experiment will be, imagine that ending without the gun story line. If you just got straight from her to the ending, you know? Yeah. And how would that change things, you know? How would that change things for you? I think that that segment, you know, kind of makes the ending perfect.
01:10:41
Speaker
Well, there you go. That's your homework, guys. And I hope that you get it done. So until next time, I'm your stream queen. And thank you so much for listening.