Justin's Log

Run (2020) movie poster. Poster image via IMP Awards . Poster design by P+A. “What if the person who takes care of you the most is also the person you begin to fear?” Run (2020) , directed by Aneesh Chaganty, turns that uncomfortable question into a tense psychological thriller about a mother and daughter. Instead of relying on a large cast or complicated locations, the movie creates suspense from familiar things: home, family, medicine, and trust. Sarah Paulson plays Diane Sherman, a devoted mother who has spent years caring for her daughter Chloe, played by Kiera Allen. Chloe uses a wheelchair and depends on daily medication, but she is also intelligent, curious, and increasingly eager to build an independent life. What surprised me most about Run was how quickly it made me uncomfortable without showing very much. The movie does not begin with an obvious threat. Instead, small details in ...

Parasite (2019) movie poster. Source: CJ Entertainment / NEON. Used for review and commentary purposes. Parasite (2019), directed by Bong Joon-ho, is often discussed as a movie about class inequality. What impressed me most, however, is how rarely the film needs to explain that inequality directly. It allows houses, stairs, windows, food, weather, and even smell to communicate differences between people. The movie can be funny, uncomfortable, suspenseful, and surprisingly sad without feeling as if those qualities belong to separate stories. Bong Joon-ho gradually changes the tone while keeping the characters and their economic circumstances at the center. For me, that combination is what makes Parasite worth revisiting. This spoiler-light review focuses on its use of space, visual details, performances, and class themes while avoiding the major discoveries and dramatic events that are be...