Ema (Pablo Larraín, 2019)

[Michael Kerpan]

Time to order this, I guess....

[Michael Kerpan]

Finally got to see this (on Blu-Ray). Amazing, but mystifying. Certain aspects of this felt Rivettian -- but this was masked by the very un-Rivette-like editing. And what on earth did the last shot foretell? [spoiler]Incinerating the whole "extended household"?[/spoiler]

[therewillbeblus]

No, the "extended household" was a 'pansexual', or all-inclusive approach to what we expect from this narrative: [spoiler]Ema was being authentic and manipulative at once, one did not need to negate the other. The household is 'functional' as everyone was able to feel her authenticity during and after their exchanges and they continue to trust those energetic connections, and her ultimate declaration by bringing the boy back sealed her intentions to be both selfish and bridge affinity, commanding that she's now entered their lives and here to stay, and also offering herself with affirming space that allows them to choose to accept her. Ema sets her world on fire, but it's beautiful to her- destruction is a form of creation, one form of which is destroying the binary barriers we put up that block us from experiencing life to its fullest. She's filling up the gas canister like she always has, she's going to keep on doing what she does, and thank god for that. It's allegorical, but tangible.[/spoiler]

[Michael Kerpan]

A technical question? Does Ema make her own napalm? I don't recall seeing her buy the additional ingredient(s) she would need to mix with the gasoline she buys. And I guess Valparaiso in 2019 (or so) didn't have neighborhood security cameras anywhere...

[Jack Phillips]

No, the "extended household" was a 'pansexual', or all-inclusive approach to what we expect from this narrative: [spoiler]Ema was being authentic and manipulative at once, one did not need to negate the other. The household is 'functional' as everyone was able to feel her authenticity during and after their exchanges and they continue to trust those energetic connections, and her ultimate declaration by bringing the boy back sealed her intentions to be both selfish and bridge affinity, commanding that she's now entered their lives and here to stay, and also offering herself with affirming space that allows them to choose to accept her. Ema sets her world on fire, but it's beautiful to her- destruction is a form of creation, one form of which is destroying the binary barriers we put up that block us from experiencing life to its fullest. She's filling up the gas canister like she always has, she's going to keep on doing what she does, and thank god for that. It's allegorical, but tangible.[/spoiler]

The part of this I understood was "it's allegorical," with which I concur.

[brundlefly]

The ending was perfectly functional for me. I loved Ema because it grabbed me on the most basic level: Surprise. Had imported the disc because the previews made it look like the pretentious, visually ecstatic reggaeton musical I thought I needed, and then like senseabove found myself completely off-balance and captivated.

[spoiler]I like how knives compared it to Teorama, but I started seeing it as a noir —an exciting modern noir built around its femme fatale, featuring contemporary ideas about family, community, and love. The film, character, and star are unified in tone; they’re seductive, manipulative, inscrutable. So how thrilling at the end to find a work and a person that appears so destructive and anarchic is not only operating according to plan, but planning to make the world a better place?

Thoroughly self-aware, she’s recognized what she can and cannot be to her adopted son and assembles the support network her social worker refused her. The girl who sets fires brings in a fireman, and a lawyer, smashes two marriages along their fault lines and shores them up with each other. If there’s an ambivalence at the end, it’s because everyone at the table is realizing with the viewer that they are part of a new system and that somehow this has been forged by their most volatile element. It’s terrifying! And promising! Sometimes you have to burn it all down so it can grow back stronger.[/spoiler]