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This beautiful film. It is one of my favourites thanks to the wonderful soundtrack (this, rather than the visuals, creates the most fear for me. And a kind of nostalgia? I like the LiS-style music) and powerful acting and the AESTHEITC. The look of this film will always be hauntingly beautiful. Despite the so-so writing (some people really do not like this film and find it dry but I do not see it) I think the story of it is incredible. I feel I understand it better with age, the idea of change and the refraction motif to communicate more about ourselves and the way the characters navigate themselves and the world is very powerful for me. The beauty alongside the horror, the exploration of our self-destruction, the interconnectedness of us and nature. I love the ending. I have to say, not-Kane and Lena coming together is fab, love weird alien contamination. Natalie Portman as the biologist is so good, I think, like the book, she is the best perspective to follow. I like the way the flashbacks are incorporated, similarly to the book, but I think where the depersonalisation worked for the book, the personalisation of the film works too. It makes it easier to understand the characters.

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As I mentioned in my book review, the film is very different. The urgency in the film is greater as Area X is expanding rapidly and has only existed for a short time — with perhaps Kane's expedition being only the 3rd. There is a lot less ambiguity around the characters and the Southern Reach, it is no longer a lying military organisation but more of a research base. I think this is 1. to elminate questions and 2. to make it more benevolent, in-line with much American military propaganda in films (perhaps this is why the biologist and Kane are military, and probably to make her shooting make sense). I think these are good for the film, it makes it much easier to watch as a viewer. Perhaps this is why they chose to explicitly make it an alien that is the source of the contamination, and by making it mostly comprehensible. I'm excited to hopefully explore the book explanation for all the biological change, but again I think having this "simple" answer for the film really works. We kind of know that it is all leading to the lighthouse. I also like that it is told as Lena is telling the story, like in the book. Even if we are supposed to believe that what we see is reliable, I still think it is clear there is a lot of unknowns, that I think only come across clearly in this explicitly first person perspective. Alien is an interesting choice, it separates the happenings somewhat from the people. I like that, although it makes no sense, the creatures in the book are natural. It makes it neater for a 2hr film but I would love to see more biological horror. I feel that a lot of the book does come through, even if in different ways. At the end of the book there is a hopefulness that in some odd way, the biologist will reunite with her husband after she was able to get closer to him through being in Area X. Even though Kane is not-Kane, there is still ultimately a connection they gain at the end of the film that was shown to be in some ways lacking in their pre-expedition lives. Even if it is through weird alien,, hugs.

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I will never not love this film. It made me fall in love with cosmic horror and is so rewatchable that it'll be a favourite for a long while.