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I rewatched Bravetown recently and noticed that the first time I watched it, I projected really hard onto Josh because of my own Mama Trauma™ lmao. watching it again with a clearer perspective made me realize that
1: it was weird how pushy Josh was about Mary's and Alex's issues. like, boy, you just got to town? you just met these people? curiosity is a bitch, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was grasping for problems to focus on other than his own, but geez louise.
2: I would've reacted way worse than Mary did if someone kept pressing me about my traumatic experiences and mental health, so I take back what I said about her being bitchy at least most of the way. I do still think that the way she acted towards Josh before he started prodding her was uncalled for, and I get where she was coming from with how she felt about her mom, but I think her treatment of Annie went too far sometimes. Everything else made sense though.
I do still stand by what I said about Josh being pushed to the side in his own movie. Even with my improved perspective on Josh and Mary's characters, I would've preferred for Mary's story to not have been so central. But I do have a new appreciation for her that makes watching the movie even more enjoyable now.
soooo… since no one replied or messaged me with an all caps text saying “NO DON’T DO THAT!!!!!” and none of my ancestors have come down from the sky to make me stop, I’m gonna assume it’s okay for me to use whatever pics/gifs I need to as long as I make sure to credit the source in-post. cool? cool. moving on!
I’m gonna talk about Bravetown for a minute. I watched this for the first time when I was having a really bad day, and it quickly became my go-to comfort movie. Lucas does such a good job, and as a victim of abuse myself, I was able to connect with his character Josh in a way that I don’t often do. and the rest of the cast was absolutely amazing! looking at the limited tumblr content for Bravetown, I saw a lot of praise for Josh Duhamel? the actor that plays Alex? I’ll have to check out some more of his work sometime.
I do have to say, though, that I wish they’d done things a bit differently. this isn’t really the kind of movie to get a sequel or a tv show, so there’s a lot of stuff that was left unexplored. I agree wholeheartedly with @teamimprov’s post about it as well (I would link it but I have no earthly clue how, so sorry) – Josh did kind of end up seeming like a side character in his own movie. it started being more about Mary and her family’s problems than about Josh, and while I was glad to see Mary find some closure, it felt like it came at the expense of Josh’s development. and at the expense of further angst, which is a crime that cannot be forgiven. I thrive on angst.
list of things I loved + things I wanted below the cut
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