Y tu Luna también: Wander Darkly (2020, R)

*Premise spoilers.*

I’ve seen this movie once before, maybe a few months before I decided to start Y tu Luna también. I’m writing the review now, after watching it for a second time, which is an inherently different viewing experience. I’ll try my best to still describe the experience of watching it cold.

Adrienne and Matteo’s relationship is strained, and Adrienne thinks they might be at the breaking point. They have a six-month-old baby and just bought a house, but there’s a distance between them and they keep fighting. Adrienne is convinced Matteo cheated on her, while he insists nothing happened. They’re in the middle of an argument in the car when they get into an accident. Now, Adrienne is sure that she’s dead. Matteo tries to convince her she’s still alive, taking her back through the story of their lives together to ground her.

There are elements of a drama, a thriller, and a romance, all blended together here. The film maintains the tension of its central mystery well. Is Adrienne dead—is this the afterlife, or purgatory? Is she in a coma and all this is just a dream? Have her injuries and the trauma from the accident left her in a state similar to Cotard’s Syndrome, where she’s up and walking around but still believes she’s dead? The story keeps you guessing. It’s disorienting at times, very intentionally so, and there are effectively creepy moments as she fears Death is coming for her. The movie does an excellent job of letting the viewer experience what’s happening in Adrienne’s head. Wherever she is, whether she’s alive or not, we lurch through her confusion right along with her.

For me, though, the love story is what takes an interesting premise and makes it into something beautiful. As Matteo reminds Adrienne of their lives together, we slide dizzyingly yet unobtrusively into memories. The edges of them are soft—sometimes pieces of one will slip through into another. A conversation in Matteo’s garage workshop becomes a trip they took to Mexico, with the tide rolling onto the concrete floor. They sit in bed together recalling the days after their daughter’s birth, and the doctors appear in the bedroom before the scene shifts to the hospital. Sometimes Adrienne and Matteo are fully within the memory, saying and doing what they did back then. But then they’ll slip halfway out of it, commenting on their recollections from their present-day viewpoint. They quibble over what happened when, and each provides extra context at points that the other didn’t know.

It’s fascinating, creative, and visually arresting, and simply put, it’s exquisite. Although the tone and sensibility are quite different, I’m reminded a little of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is still one of my favorites. In both, we follow two people whose relationship has soured, rediscovering their love as they explore their ever-shifting memories within some sort of liminal space. I really, really love it.

Sienna Miller plays Adrienne. It’s a complex role that she navigates well, cycling through so many emotions as Adrienne moves from memory to memory. What’s happening to her is baffling and somewhat fantastical, but the story’s success relies on Miller’s ability to make it all feel genuine. Whatever’s going on, we feel it along with her, and that allows us to buy it even when we don’t understand it. The film also features appearances from Hey It’s That Girl! Beth Grant as Adrienne’s mom and Vanessa Bayer (formerly of SNL) as one of her friends.

Diego Luna, meanwhile, plays Matteo. Like Miller, it’s critical that none of the journey through the memories feels larger-than-life within Luna’s performance. Matteo is very ordinary and very flawed. He argues with Adrienne over things that don’t ultimately matter, he gets into shouting matches with her mom, and he pulls himself back from taking important steps because he’s scared. He’s not exactly equipped to deal with his partner’s belief that she died in a car accident, but he’s going to do his best to help her anyway.

So he tells Adrienne, “I’m gonna help you make sense of everything else. I’m gonna tell you our story, okay? That way, you can know that you’re okay. You can know you’re safe.” And as he urges her to follow him through their memories together, Matteo is so gentle and loving. Even within his own shortcomings and insecurities, it’s evident how much he wants to reassure her, to comfort and protect her.

Luna is an ideal actor to play this role, because while there’s a lot of specificity to Matteo, it’s very subtle. He’s not an immediately obvious “type” that can get pinned down at first glance, but the longer the film goes on, the more his choices and reactions feel undeniably like him. Luna’s light touch shades in the character, making him feel honest and real.

I love how Matteo is in the earliest recollections of their relationship, shyly flirty and fumbling. He’ll be vulnerable and intimate, then retreat with a joke. I really like this sweet, charming moment between them, when they’re remembering their first time having sex:

MATTEO: “You light a hundred candles, and you have no condom?”

ADRIENNE: “I thought you’d have one.”

MATTEO: (teasing) “What kind of feminist are you?”

I like his offhand, almost absentminded vulnerability at times. When Matteo fills Adrienne in on his insecurities about her boss, she asks, “Why didn’t you just tell me you were jealous?” Within the memory, Matteo is playing a video game, and he doesn’t look up from the screen as he shrugs, “I didn’t think I could do anything about it.” And I love the tender way he accepts that Adrienne’s death feels real to her, even as he tries to convince her otherwise. “You don’t get to be dead yet, okay?” he says, kissing her. Fondly, he adds, “Fuck, so impatient!” Whatever’s going on, he makes space for them to figure it out together.

Recommend?

In General – Yes. While it can definitely be confusing on first watch, I think it’s ultimately a rewarding film. Let the story carry you like a current, and follow where it takes you.

Diego Luna – Yes! This is a very unshowy performance, but it’s really grounded and lovely.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including suicidal ideation,) disturbing images, language, sexual content, and drinking/drug references.

Skeleton Crew (2024-Present)

Like The Acolyte, this is a Star Wars project where I went in curious but neutral, ultimately coming away loving it! It carves out its own niche in the franchise, a family-friendly “Star Wars meets The Goonies” romp. It adds to the larger lore of this universe without being overly dependent on references and cameos, and it just oozes Star Wars from all its pores.

What’s It About?

Nothing exciting ever happens on the idyllic world of At Attin. While other kids are studying for an important assessment, Wim dreams about tales of Jedi. Shrewd, rebellious Fern chafes under her mother’s exacting expectations of her. When Wim and Fern—along with their loyal, thoughtful best friends Neel and KB—discover a decrepit old spaceship buried out in the woods, they accidentally kickstart an adventure none of them could have predicted. Suddenly, they’re far from At Attin, trying to figure out how to get home.

Who’s In It?

All the child actors do a lovely job in their roles—their interactions together are a ton of fun, and they capture the excitement, fear, and wonder of a thrilling space adventure. We have Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Robert Timothy Smith as Neel, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern, and Kyriana Kratter as KB. On the adult side, Jude Law is just excellent as Jod, a man the kids enlist to help them on the travels. His performance constantly keeps me guessing! We also have Nick Frost tearing it up as SM-33, a salty old seadog of a droid. A fine host of guest stars too: between live appearances and voice-acting roles, we’re treated to the likes of Alfred Molina, Alia Shawkat, Mathieu Kassovitz (Nino from Amélie!!!), Kelly Macdonald, and Stephen Fry!

What Do I Love About It?

·        The dynamic between all the kids feels so genuine and lived-in. I like that there’s a mix of relationships—Wim and Neel as best friends, as are Fern and KB, but the girls are a year older than the boys, and the two pairs don’t really know each other. So there’s distrust and squabbling, each established friend pair sometimes bands together against the other, and of course, there’s all four gradually learning to work together and lean on each other.

·        It’s just so much fun! Cool new worlds, entertaining oneshot and recurring characters, and pirates! Droid pirates, space shanties, lightsaber-wielding pirates—love it!

·        I like that we have a relatively straightforward premise of the kids accidentally setting off a derelict spaceship and then having a series of adventures trying to find their way back home. It reminds me a little of season 1 of The Mandalorian, which also has a relatively loose main throughline that leaves plenty of room for side quests. But within that, we also get an intriguing mystery as the kids come to learn At Attin isn’t what they thought it was. I really enjoy the new hints and further developments that come in that story every episode!

·        I’ll get more into spoilery thoughts on this in another post, but Jod is such an interesting character to me. I feel like we haven’t seen many like him in Star Wars, and episode to episode, I consistently couldn’t wait to see what he’d do next and what we’d discover about him. His dynamic with the kids is just so blame watchable!

Warnings

Violence, scary moments for kids, mild sensuality, lots of “don’t try this at home,” and thematic elements.

Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Series 2, Episode 2 – “Two jacks don’t suit” (2022)

Pretty good episode here, featuring an interesting main plot for Anne and Miss Walker and a bit more to do for Peter Davison’s Mr. Priestley. Also, nothing like some good old-fashioned Victorian travel porn!

After beginning the committed portion of their relationship out of town, Anne and Miss Walker set off for a long holiday in Europe before returning to Shibden Hall. As they tour Paris and conquer the Alps, Anne rebuffs insinuations from old friends that she’s out of Miss Walker’s league. Back home, the Listers are left to deal with Miss Walker’s angry relatives.

I enjoy the Europe stuff. In addition to the fun of seeing the sights with Anne and Miss Walker on their holiday, some nice tension is injected by the arrival of some of Anne’s friends. Chief among them is Tib, played by Joanna Scanlan (Terri from The Thick of It.) She’s as outspoken as she is shrewd, and you can feel Anne’s discomfort radiating off the screen as Tib sizes Miss Walker up. She’s super judgy over the new missus and is decidedly Team Mrs. Lawton, which makes things even more uncomfortable because Miss Walker doesn’t know about Anne’s history with Mrs. Lawton.

I’m not the main demographic for the representation here, and I’m sure some viewers are annoyed/upset that Anne is emotionally over the honeymoon phase, even while they’re still effectively on their honeymoon, but I find it intriguing. She’s well aware that Miss Walker loves her more than she loves Miss Walker, and she gets edgy when others clock that fact, but she’s decided she’s very much all in this. Anne craves commitment, and in Miss Walker, she’s finally found someone who’s willing to give that to her. This makes her sacrifice some passion for stability, which leaves her in the tricky position of not letting on to Miss Walker that the ardor of her feelings has cooled.

Meanwhile, Miss Walker’s family is up in arms. No one told them beforehand that Miss Walker was going to Europe with Anne, and since they’ve been gone, they’ve only heard about her via Marian, who shares details of Anne’s letters with them. They can feel they’re being “managed” and find that insulting, and they’re angry at Anne for stealing Miss Walker out from under them, even as they worry about Anne’s influence.

In this episode, there’s a full-on conference where the whole extended family comes together to talk in scandalized voices about Miss Walker’s actions, rag on Anne, and plot how they can bring Miss Walker to heel again. There’s a lot of concern-trolling going on, fretting about wanting what’s best for Miss Walker as their homophobia colors the entire conversation.

This is where Mr. Priestley comes in. He’s been on the front lines, so to speak, of all this supposed disrespect, so he’s in the thick of it at the conference, filling his relatives in on all these scandalous occurrences. In contrast to him being a bit feckless in the last episode, he’s very forceful and outraged here, free to unleash the full brunt of his disapproval. When he says, “And she turned up,” meaning Anne, the disgust in his voice is palpable.