Smeelia
Thousand Master
Harmony
This film is either really well written or really badly written, maybe it's both. I think it's probably best represented by the main character, Tuan. She spends the majority of the film talking about how rubbish society is and how people are just putting on a show of caring rather than having any genuine feeling, all while worrying about people and following up on leads due to her personal feelings and affections for people. Many of the characters have similar issues, making generalised statements about their complaints while simultaneously undermining those statements. A positive interpretation of the film could be that it's trying to say that making assumptions about others while also assuming you (and those close to you) are the only exception is foolish and potentially destructive.
It's also interesting that what the characters say about society is almost never really supported by what we're shown. We see a lot of individuals doing things that aren't always for the best, but the society itself doesn't seem to have any inherent oppressive qualities and seems to be built with the idea of benefitting people. There are social expectations that could put pressure on some and there is an emphasis on having warnings for any potentially unhealthy behaviour, but there don't seem to be any enforced restrictions that force people to follow the guidelines (beyond the kind of law and order we have in our own society, at least).
On the downside, the majority of the film is spent listening to disaffected people ranting about how bad they think things are. I'm not sure I could say I really enjoyed the film because there's no character to latch onto as the voice of reason nor anything to break the constant flow of moaning. The film raises some interesting questions (deliberately or otherwise) but it's not always fun to watch. There are a few highlights where little details or touches bring out something more entertaining, but there are perhaps not quite enough. I'm not sure I should admit it, but I particularly enjoyed the black humour of the health and safety warnings appearing in footage of someone attempting suicide. Sadly, that sort of thing isn't too common either.
I could see some people enjoying the film by empathising with the characters. The feeling of being apart from society and struggling to understand how other people can just happily go along with things is likely something that a lot of people can relate to. The characters never really justify their positions but they wouldn't necessarily have to, sometimes it's just nice to feel that other people might have similar feelings to you (that's also a possibility for what the film could be about).
There are a few grim and potentially shocking scenes in the film, there are descriptions of sexual violence and there's some graphic violence and self-harm. I'm not really a fan of shock or horror content and it wasn't quite enough to seriously bother me so I doubt it would be enough to appeal to fans of that kind of thing. Still, it could potentially make the film even less accessible than it already is.
At the end of the day, Harmony is probably something of a bad film. There's potential to enjoy it if you approach with a certain mindset and it touches on potentially interesting subjects but it's constructed in a way that makes it unlikely to appeal to most people. I wouldn't say I regret watching it, because I did get something out of it, but it's not likely to be something I'd watch again and I don't think I could really recommend it either.
This film is either really well written or really badly written, maybe it's both. I think it's probably best represented by the main character, Tuan. She spends the majority of the film talking about how rubbish society is and how people are just putting on a show of caring rather than having any genuine feeling, all while worrying about people and following up on leads due to her personal feelings and affections for people. Many of the characters have similar issues, making generalised statements about their complaints while simultaneously undermining those statements. A positive interpretation of the film could be that it's trying to say that making assumptions about others while also assuming you (and those close to you) are the only exception is foolish and potentially destructive.
It's also interesting that what the characters say about society is almost never really supported by what we're shown. We see a lot of individuals doing things that aren't always for the best, but the society itself doesn't seem to have any inherent oppressive qualities and seems to be built with the idea of benefitting people. There are social expectations that could put pressure on some and there is an emphasis on having warnings for any potentially unhealthy behaviour, but there don't seem to be any enforced restrictions that force people to follow the guidelines (beyond the kind of law and order we have in our own society, at least).
On the downside, the majority of the film is spent listening to disaffected people ranting about how bad they think things are. I'm not sure I could say I really enjoyed the film because there's no character to latch onto as the voice of reason nor anything to break the constant flow of moaning. The film raises some interesting questions (deliberately or otherwise) but it's not always fun to watch. There are a few highlights where little details or touches bring out something more entertaining, but there are perhaps not quite enough. I'm not sure I should admit it, but I particularly enjoyed the black humour of the health and safety warnings appearing in footage of someone attempting suicide. Sadly, that sort of thing isn't too common either.
I could see some people enjoying the film by empathising with the characters. The feeling of being apart from society and struggling to understand how other people can just happily go along with things is likely something that a lot of people can relate to. The characters never really justify their positions but they wouldn't necessarily have to, sometimes it's just nice to feel that other people might have similar feelings to you (that's also a possibility for what the film could be about).
There are a few grim and potentially shocking scenes in the film, there are descriptions of sexual violence and there's some graphic violence and self-harm. I'm not really a fan of shock or horror content and it wasn't quite enough to seriously bother me so I doubt it would be enough to appeal to fans of that kind of thing. Still, it could potentially make the film even less accessible than it already is.
At the end of the day, Harmony is probably something of a bad film. There's potential to enjoy it if you approach with a certain mindset and it touches on potentially interesting subjects but it's constructed in a way that makes it unlikely to appeal to most people. I wouldn't say I regret watching it, because I did get something out of it, but it's not likely to be something I'd watch again and I don't think I could really recommend it either.
