Related Recs

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Watching a movie without any context

**Note:** Results may vary!! ——— Typed "romance" into Max, and it recommended The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001), so... I watched it. No spoilers, but imagine my suprise when it turned out to be an erotic psychological drama about a sexually repressed piano teacher and her sadomasochistic relationship with her pupil (and her mother). It was unexpected, grotesque, and quite frankly, distressing. There’s both an understanding and a deep ambivalence to the story and the main protagonist that kept pulling me back, even though I had to take a break and watch it over the course of two days. Anyway! It was definitely a gripping watch, and I appreciate any movie that compels me to feel so deeply—in any way, even if I’m writhing in my seat😅.

@artificialintrovert

Dec 9, 2024

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Black Swan (2010)

Watched this movie last night and can’t stop thinking about it. I love how it delves into how awful obsessive thoughts and compulsions can be through physical manifestations of body horror. I’m not really a horror fan! But this freaked me out while speaking to the deepest parts of me better than most of my recent movie watches ever could.

@bemmy

Feb 17, 2025

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UNDER THE SKIN (2013)

Formally accomplished, dreamlike Follows the format of a nightmare Induction > i Am Something/Somewhere Else > uncanny vision > threat > I Want Out > exit refused From the power of movies by paul mcginn: “Movies delve into our dreaming self… they improve upon our dream life… give us the dreams we yearn for… [most are fascinated by their own dreams], with their raw ability to reveal, their magical expressiveness, [and] movies partake in this fascination.. the impact of movies stems, then, at least in part, from the primal power of the dream… the best directors… recognize the essentially dreamlike character of the movie world, and… trade upon it in their films” I love this quote. It hit me hard. Feels true. But it was hard to reconcile the “dreams we yearn for” part with the horrific stories i love to be told. I certainly don’t yearn for nightmares. But, almost every single night that i dream— i have nightmares. Maybe there’s some Jung Shadow Self Subconscious Shadowwork Tiktok Tarot Card Reader work that i need to do. But it is true. I frequently have nightmares. I am fascinated by them. And i am fascinated by all of the dark, perverted, violent thoughts that i have. I want to apprehend these things, and by apprehending spin them around like a fushigi ball. And crystal-ball them. But you may not crystal-ball anything. You are not allowed to look into the future. The most profound change that i have experienced in my life has come from facing, accepting, and openly exploring the things that scare me. I have ocd, which is a disorder characterized by a failure to effectively deal with uncertainty. The coping mechanisms that OCD leave you with only enrage your amygdala, and train your brain, at the first sight of uncertainty, to flap in the wind atop your head like a rooster’s red meatcrown.  The way out is to sit with the uncertainty. And to sit with the pain. And to sit with the potential pain. And to sit with the possibility of not being able to sit with the uncertainty, the pain, and the potential pain. When i am effectively doing this, i learn to seek out discomfort. I become eager to feel unsure. And scared. I become eager to do things that open me to the possibility of being caught off-guard. When asked by my therapist why i think that i seek out transgressive fiction, i told her: it is a safe way to face the worst parts of everything and everyone.  I’ve learned to love discomfort because of it’s healing power. i yearn for waking nightmares. And invite them. In order to dispell them. I am improving my dream-life. But not through choosing better dreams: through facing the bad ones. No wonder i love nightmare-ish movies.  This movie is asking you to do the same. Movies, because they are made in a moment, can only predict what you will be like. Under The Skin thinks that you need to face the way that sex seduces you. Not real, loving sex. But gooner shit. Libidinal impulse. The kind of sex that is selfish, and anti-reality.  The movie is inviting redditors that jerk off over scarlet johansson to think about this clouding impulse.  The movie is constantly pulling you where it wants you to go, and then leaving slack. Your momentum carries you and then your direction is confused, on purpose. ScarJo alien is soul-less predatory sex. She is pure seduction. Then she is real. And she invites you to realize that she is real. Then her humanity is ripped open. And you fail to realize that she is real. And you are disgusted that she dares to be real. And you burn her to death. Because she made you face your ability to be seduced. And your ability to be clouded. And your failure to see her humanity. And because you see a human being in her, you see yourself. And you are not happy with yourself. So you must die. Or someone must die for you. You can pretend that she is not really a human. But you just made her die for her humanity. But movies can only guess. They don’t know for sure what they can do with you. Because they don’t know who you are. They can only try. And this was an awesome try Gorgeous. Way well shot. Unreal and beautiful. Super duper style. A treat for the eyes. And the ears. A great nightmare to look in the face.

@academic_blue_tortoise

Apr 27, 2025

Top Recs from @laina-berry

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Primal Astrology

Back at it again with the astrology!!! I think it’s cool to look at people’s primal astrology, especially in little private settings. Primal astrology is a mixture of the year you were born in Chinese Astrology and your sun sign. I like teaching people about themselves and it’s fun to think of each other as these little animals running around. It sounds crazy when you first look up the animal but then when you really read about the compatibility and career goals and personality each animal has a lot of amazing features. And it shows you celebrities that have the same animal as you. It makes a lot of sense to me since I have the same as Amy Lee (the lead singer of the most iconic band to have ever existed Evanescence), Jay-Z, Cicely Tyson, and Lucky Luciano who created the mafia. I’m a swordfish for example. Apparently I like to shock people with my appearance… like they do with their carrying “sword.”

@laina-berry

Jun 21, 2022

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Old Homestead

I know going to a steakhouse is cheesy--- and I don’t even eat steak but Old Homestead put that wooooork in when they formulated that garlic bread. I’ve never had anything like it. It’s like a parmesan fondue with bricks of garlic bread stacked up like Manga, it is one of the best appetizers I’ve ever had. The crab cakes are great too, a nice jumbo lump crab without all that filler and a beautiful aioli.

@laina-berry

Jun 21, 2022

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Ricari Studios

I recommend going to Eyren at Ricari Studios for a lymphatic drainage massage. We’re more sedentary thank we’re supposed to be, so lymphatic massages helps to get your lymph flowing so you’re not blocking up your system. Immunity is so important in this bacteria ridden world we live in and I want everyone to be up on their health and wellness!! Eyren has hands sent from God!

@laina-berry

Jun 21, 2022