I enjoyed the movie, but I lost interest about 3/4 of the way through. Colin Farrell is great, and this really showcases his ability to play subdued, schlumpy, and desperate. Rachel Weisz is great, as always. If you're into cinematography 10/10 recommend. Here a few of my takeaways.

1. This operates as an art film because as in doesn't deliver the story right down the middle. And it relies on eliciting an emotional reaction more than telling a story. The vagueness and lack of exposition is a practice in what is usually an “art film”.

2. A major part of the ambiguity of this movie comes from not knowing exactly why are they in this situation. Why aren't they free? Where are they? It almost gives a real life context during the shopping mall scene but the film comes back into its form (non-form?) when the viewer sees that the mall is practicing identity checks.

3. Rachel Weiss sitting at the diner table, as she is waiting for David, is in the bathroom. That is a clinic in subtlety. Also, Farrell’s character standing in the bathroom with a knife to his eye. It just expresses the sacrifices these two people have made without saying it out right.

4. One of my favorite uses of metaphors is the scene where David is fighting the Heartless women after she tells him that she kicked her brother, who was turned into a dog, to death. That even after getting this far into their relationship, she still did not trust him. And despite disguising his feelings for so long, he could no longer fake his emotions knowing the one person he truly loved was murder by his wife. This set in the hotel, which I had seen as a metaphor for human emotion and complex human nature or even the rooms places that we compartmentalize our emotions to be in a relationship we don't want but feel like it's in our best interests.

5. A couple of things stood out for me:

John C. Reilly can act his ass off. His character being one of the few to actually display emotions. In such a dry movie, it stood out when he danced. Or when he was caught disobeying the rules and having to be punished in such a brutal way. Or finally meeting his demise.
The revealing his brother was the dog after he was murder struck a bit of a chord with me, just really driving home the fact that David's new wife was truly a heartless drone. And they had to show the dead dog, too. I hate movies sometimes.
The monotone, clinical feeling to it overall. Really set up the vibrant forest colors halfway.
Rachel Weisz saved the rest of this movie, with that diner scene.

Finally, I want to add that I didn't think I'd see a movie so heavily influenced by Wes Anderson. It's great to see. But It definitely highlights how well Anderson is capable in his ways.

I liked this movie.