The movie ran 2 hours and 20 minutes, which felt too long for the story it carried. Some shots didn’t add much to the narrative. For example, the lingering focus on the $20 bill at the end, or the repeated emphasis on hands. I understand what the director was trying to communicate through that motif, but at times it felt overwhelming. That said, I did enjoy some of the unusual camera angles, which kept the visual style engaging.

up top, i would say that the title cards in the opening need to change. letting the film run as if it’s present day until the reveal that it was 2019-20 at the end creates a dissonance with the political context that can’t be resolved with a last second twist. overall, the characters are underdeveloped and ill served by buzzwordy critiques of identity politics. there’s no pacing or development with the central mystery of alma’s past relationship and no explanation for why the article was in german.

Having seen a lot of kids movies over the past 3 years, by comparison I found this moving to have a boring storyline and it seemed to take too long to catch my interest. I enjoyed the pirate & "out of water" scenes the most.

Very slow. Poor script.