I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore.

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore.

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one because I just enjoyed it.

The brilliant and underrated Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood (making this an unlikely but much-needed Over the Garden Wall reunion) star in this Netflix original film about a woman who just wants people to be good, and all the consequences that come of it. I won't give away much more than that plot-wise, because it's full of all sorts of funny, dark surprises.

Lynskey and Wood both play funny, distinct characters with unique personalities and clear goals, and they make a wonderfully weird duo together. All of the performances are delightfully strange and memorable, from good guys to bad guys to everyone in between.

The most specific thing I'll say about the movie is that Lynskey's character Ruth is deeply relatable. Her frustration and disgust with "people being assholes" has never been more universally felt than right now. I find myself ranting about negative human behavior far more often than I would ever want to these days, so seeing Ruth have those same thoughts and rants in this film makes me feel validated and far less crazy and alone. Ruth is every person in America who has empathy and can't fathom why anyone would go out of their way to treat others poorly. She's not a natural cynic a la Daria or April Ludgate, she's become deeply depressed and hopeless because of bad people. It makes her journey all the more engaging, because if she succeeds it means that there's hope in the universe and a concrete reason to live.

It's also important to point out that the whole film feels very much like a modern indie Coen Brothers movie. Some tropes include: atypical violence, a protagonist with one simple goal and is taken into the depths to achieve it, oddball bad guys, unexpected darkness, unexpected humor in said unexpected darkness, funny dialogue, taking place somewhere in middle America, some clever cinematography and editing, etc.

And...nope. Can't think of much more than that. Go watch it!