Framing this: from Barry Jenkins Twitter feed…
Barry JenkinsVerified account @BarryJenkins
MADELINE’S MADELINE is gnarly as hell, full stop. I don’t know what conventions I could frame this film in nor what films of recent memory I would compare it to. Adventurous, bravura filmmaking, insistently challenging and always evolving.
Everyone in this film is committed. They say film is a collaborative medium and MADELINE’S MADELINE feels like it exists at the epicenter of that dictum. And they all to be, the supporting actors, Josephine, the crew — committed
Because I can’t imagine any other way Helena Howard could reach the heights she does in this film without the commitment of every soul on that set. This is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.
HELENA HOWARD in MADELINE’S MADELINE is one of the best performances I’ve seen in my whole life. She’s so fucking good in this film that I was genuinely concerned for her.
There’s a line in performance and she goes right up to it, laces it with chlorine trifluoride and entertains herself by flinging lit matches at it.
Watching this was like watching one of those marvel films where the young person learns of new abilities so powerful and unstable they threaten to consume and destroy them. Again, I was visibly afraid for her. This, to be clear, is a compliment.
Helena Howard is like a whole damn star, like a planet that is impossible to comprehend with what we know of the universe right now. If you’re interested in directing or acting or both (and an interest in one demands an interest in the other), you must see this film.
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