379: Saltburn

[00:00:00] This is the story of the wand.

[00:00:02] As a maintenance engineer, he hears things differently.

[00:00:05] To the untrained ear, everything on his shop floor might sound fine,

[00:00:09] but he can hear gears grinding or a belt slipping.

[00:00:13] So he steps in to fix the problem at hand before it gets out of hand.

[00:00:17] And he knows Grainger's got the right product he needs to get the job done,

[00:00:21] which is music to his ears.

[00:00:23] Call, click grainger.com, or just stop by.

[00:00:26] Grainger. For the ones who get it done.

[00:00:30] Hey everybody, it's Henry with the Film Buds Podcast.

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[00:00:42] 87. Let's get to Saltburn,

[00:00:46] which is I think exclusively streaming on Amazon,

[00:00:50] but I think you can rent it and purchase it in other places.

[00:00:53] It came out in late 2023.

[00:00:56] It's written and directed by Emerald Fennell,

[00:00:59] who also did Promising Young Woman with Carey Mulligan, which is amazing.

[00:01:03] It stars Barry Keoghan, Jigga Bilordi,

[00:01:07] Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Matakou,

[00:01:11] Sadie Soverell, and a few others.

[00:01:15] And the synopsis is,

[00:01:17] a student at Oxford University finds himself drawn into the world of a charming

[00:01:22] and aristocratic classmate who invites him to his eccentric family's sprawling

[00:01:26] estate for a summer never to be forgotten.

[00:01:29] So I was excited about this one for many reasons.

[00:01:34] I loved Promising Young Woman.

[00:01:36] I thought it was one of the best films of that year,

[00:01:39] even though I got to it a little late.

[00:01:41] And I love everyone in this cast.

[00:01:43] I think Barry Keoghan has really grown to be one of the most interesting up

[00:01:47] and coming actors, both as a character actor and a leading man.

[00:01:51] I love him in Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dunkirk.

[00:01:55] I loved his Joker performance in the deleted scene of the Batman.

[00:01:59] Jigga Bilordi, I'm only getting aware of now.

[00:02:03] Like I haven't really watched much of Euphoria, but I loved him in Priscilla.

[00:02:07] And I think I've seen him at least in one other thing.

[00:02:09] So a lot of interesting things about this.

[00:02:12] It sort of felt like a more unsettling version of Call Me by Your Name.

[00:02:16] In a sense, and definitely had feelings of other movies in the same vein.

[00:02:21] And it's also produced by Margot Robbie for company, which is interesting.

[00:02:26] I didn't know that till after.

[00:02:28] I didn't know really what to expect because I think the reviews have been

[00:02:31] fairly polarizing.

[00:02:32] Some people said this movie is like amazing best of the year.

[00:02:35] And then some people have said, no, this is a bore.

[00:02:37] It sucks.

[00:02:38] It's overrated, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:02:41] So I wasn't really sure how I'd feel.

[00:02:43] And overall, I really did enjoy it a fair bit.

[00:02:46] It's not a masterpiece.

[00:02:47] I don't think it's as good as Promising Young Woman.

[00:02:49] It wouldn't have been on my top 10 list, but it's still very unique.

[00:02:53] Like that's something with Emerald Fennell.

[00:02:55] Her voice, her vision is very refreshingly unique.

[00:02:59] And that's something that we don't get that often, especially in a fairly new

[00:03:04] filmmaker and writer.

[00:03:06] So I am very excited to see what she does next.

[00:03:08] Even if I don't love every one of her movies, I'm absolutely excited.

[00:03:12] I'm absolutely going to watch everything she does.

[00:03:15] Because in both films, and this one especially, there's a lot of really dark

[00:03:21] yet beautiful, creepy imagery that she's able to really evoke a feeling.

[00:03:27] Like this movie I think has been described as like a vibe.

[00:03:29] And it definitely is a very unsettling, weird, mysterious vibe throughout

[00:03:36] this whole thing.

[00:03:37] There's a lot of intriguing, unpredictable energy that's lying under the surface

[00:03:43] the whole time.

[00:03:44] And Barry Keoghan is amazing in it.

[00:03:47] He has this great mystery to him.

[00:03:50] And he has that really across all of his movies where you don't know exactly

[00:03:53] what he's thinking.

[00:03:54] He's always looking around and he has that perspective that's very compelling

[00:03:57] to watch.

[00:03:59] And he and Jacob Elordi, sorry if I'm saying that last name wrong,

[00:04:02] they're great together.

[00:04:03] And the look of Saltburn, which is the estate, amazing.

[00:04:06] Love that.

[00:04:07] Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant's very, very stuck up, oblivious, rich

[00:04:13] behavior is mostly funny but it's also I think a commentary on that sort of

[00:04:19] class, upper class.

[00:04:21] And all that works.

[00:04:23] The whole movie, it does get into points where I wouldn't say I was bored

[00:04:28] but there were points where I was thinking this is a little too long.

[00:04:32] It maybe treads water too long in certain places where we kind of know where

[00:04:37] it's going.

[00:04:38] I think after a while you can kind of tell where at least maybe not the third

[00:04:41] act is going to totally go but there were some things that I definitely saw

[00:04:45] coming which isn't inherently a bad thing.

[00:04:47] I think that the movie is so stylized, so evocative, so kind of disturbing

[00:04:53] and unsettling throughout the whole thing.

[00:04:55] You're never really sure what to expect.

[00:04:57] You don't know what sort of imagery you're going to see next which is a big

[00:05:00] thing for me in this.

[00:05:01] I was always excited to see what visuals she could create and there are some

[00:05:06] total what the hell moments.

[00:05:08] I won't spoil it too much just in case you haven't seen it but I think the

[00:05:11] thing with the bathwater is fairly known.

[00:05:14] That's wild.

[00:05:15] There's a scene with a grave towards the end which is shocking and even the

[00:05:19] third act reveals and all that.

[00:05:22] I really, really like that.

[00:05:23] Some people don't.

[00:05:24] I liked it.

[00:05:25] And the final song at the end, that whole sequence, absolutely love that.

[00:05:30] That was a great end to the movie and on top of that the soundtrack choices

[00:05:36] across the board were perfect.

[00:05:38] Just a great mix of things.

[00:05:40] There's such energy in them and the whole movie has a great energy.

[00:05:43] I get that if you became bored with it, it's not really one for everyone.

[00:05:46] I think that the pacing, the style, the storytelling is quite challenging and

[00:05:52] probably would require a couple of viewings to really grasp everything.

[00:05:57] But I still enjoyed it.

[00:05:58] It really did leave a mark.

[00:06:00] It's better if you don't know anything about it, I would just watch it blind

[00:06:03] because I didn't know anything about the third act or where it was going.

[00:06:07] So all that was a great effective shock and twist for me.

[00:06:12] And also she does a great job of having it be one of those stories where

[00:06:18] everyone knows everyone.

[00:06:20] Everyone is suspicious of each other.

[00:06:22] Some people are infatuated with each other, sleeping together unbeknownst

[00:06:27] to everyone and people are jealous and there's a lot of animosity

[00:06:32] and double crossing.

[00:06:33] So all that really works.

[00:06:34] It is playing in familiar territory as I mentioned.

[00:06:37] So if you want something different, I would absolutely check out

[00:06:40] Promising Young Woman.

[00:06:41] I think most people say that that one is better than this one.

[00:06:44] Maybe I'm crazy but I think that's the general consensus.

[00:06:47] I would agree.

[00:06:48] But this is still a very, very strong refreshing second feature for her

[00:06:55] and yeah, I can't wait to see what she does next.

[00:06:57] So that is a heavy four out of five.