Guillermo del Toro, I love and respect you so much. Questions raised within are: what it means to be human, what builds and shapes us, how identities come to be and evolve… What we can choose and what we cannot… The dangers of destructive ego and possible healing through compassion. Del Toro’s earnestness, contemplative spirituality, and care for the soul come through full-throttle. Isaac and Elordi are both forces in this film, though I was particularly struck by Isaac and the shades of rage he was able to convey, at turns quaking, shivering, and simmering. The first half was amazing, but the second half I struggled with more, especially the segments of the family in the remote cabin and the hunters. I wanted more from Mia Goth in this (I’m sorry); her expressions and mannerisms were oddly flat in a role and world that would have embraced heightened vivacity and tension. Also, did the butterfly die in that jar? I thought for sure we would return to that symbolic image.