Today, I watched Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, directed by Jane Schoenbrun.

It's a brilliant film. I hope that's enough praise to convince anyone to watch it, to be honest (I really don't think there's a better word to describe it), but I will elaborate anyway.

Camp Miasma explores sexuality and gender in a way I have never seen before. It's not about being gay or bi or trans or whatever; it's not about questioning or discovering new options, new loves that you thought were forbidden; it's actually about sex, the act, and the weirdness and awkwardness that can define it. I felt there were many, albeit related, themes swimming around the gory goo of this movie, and the more I think about each scene, each callback, each idea carefully framed and recorded, the more depth I find. There really may be a hole at the bottom of the lake, but I'm yet to hit the bottom.

Regardless, the main theme seems to be giving in to and embracing desire, and the vehicle for this message is the fear or anxiety surrounding sex. Personally, I find this very relatable, but even divorced from that I appreciate that that's even being tackled and with such tact and kindness as well. The movie felt like a warm hug and a playful punch in the shoulder, in one. A parent gently guiding a child and an older friend comforting an anxious buddy, assuring them they're alright, they're whole, they can be themselves no matter what that means, and that they're allowed to enjoy their life, their experiences, their loves however they want and prefer. They can relax.

Relax and enjoy life; that's what it's about, really, in a way. It's about giving in to life.

Surprisingly, for me anyway, was that it wasn't scary in the slightest. There were creepy moments, sure, but it was really more of a threat, and never actualized. Really, it was fun and weird. Maybe... A little like sex, in that way. For someone suffering with deep anxiety and insecurity and fear about sex, even in a safe environment, the idea of sex can be scary and feel like a horror movie score is playing in the background, always hinting, threatening, promising terrible things to come. Yet, in the end, if you accept the awkwardness and simply do what you want, enjoy yourself fully, it's fun and awesome, no matter how weird and awkward and nonsensical it might be as well. That's this movie in a nutshell.

And it is hilarious, genuinely. I laughed out loud many times, and so did my friend, and so did the rest of the moviegoers!

The acting was fantastic from top to bottom, the score was great, the cinematography, the colours, the gore, the violence, it was all great. The only thing I didn't like so much was the overuse of the fade transition between scenes. It was so prevalent (and, frankly, intrusive) that I assume it must be a reference to something, somehow, and I'm just not in on the joke there.

Speaking of that, actually: this movie is meta. It's referential, self-referential, and insanely recursive. I feel like I need to watch it another thousand times to get every joke and catch every little detail, foreshadowing, and mirroring between scenes, characters, and ideas throughout. It's confusing and weird, but it's incredibly cohesive, because there's this through-line of hilarious tiny lines and scenes that say everything about some other line or scene in the movie.

Anyway, it's fantastic, and I couldn't recommend it more. A brilliant, brilliant movie.

Also, I went for dinner with a friend at a local falafel place and HOLY CRAP!!!! So good! And affordable too. That was fantastic as well. Free tea!

I wore jeans, today.

Tomorrow, I watch Primetime and then go for a string quartet concert in the evening. We'll hit the falafel place again for dinner.