National Anthem (2023)

January 1, 2025 10:38 AM

[Trailer] A 21-year-old construction worker in New Mexico joins a community of queer rodeo performers in search of their own version of the American dream. -IMDb

92% / 77% on Rotten Tomatoes

posted by johnofjack (1 comment total)

I need to watch this one again. It's not that it's a sneaky mystery with a lot of clever clues, or that it's dense with plot and you can't take it all in on the first go, it's just that I experienced some of the scenes as if this were a horror movie rather than a relatively sweet slice of life drama about someone in his (presumably?) first real relationship.

spoiler

In the scene where Dylan pulls up to the hardware store and there are some rowdy people off in the distance, I was fully expecting that to be a truckful of drunk alpha males ready to pick on someone. But it wasn't; it was people from the ranch. Then inside the store I kept expecting hostile comments leading to a verbal confrontation, maybe even a physical fight, and that also didn't happen. Dylan's mother made a couple scornful comments, but they were there and gone and that was basically it. This was just a sweet story but my anxiety kept trying to make it into something else. So I doubt I experienced this the way the filmmakers intended.

posted by johnofjack at 2:25 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]