The Drama: A Marriage of Discomfort and Empathy
This is not a film, it’s a drop tower. A drop tower that you don’t get off of for the vast majority of its 106-minute runtime.

One night in Edo, a mysterious woman in a palanquin appeared at the moneylender Yamashiroya, revealing herself to a beautiful woman. She told the owner, Shigebē, that she had come to collect a life he owed from twenty years ago and then left. The same night, Maruiya Genbē also received a visit from the woman's palanquin, and nearby, a man named Manbē was murdered. The detective Hayanawa Gohē concluded the murder was the work of a fox spirit, but another detective, Den Shichi, skeptical of this theory, noticed footprints on the tatami and decided to investigate further.
This is not a film, it’s a drop tower. A drop tower that you don’t get off of for the vast majority of its 106-minute runtime.
Like millions around the world, I've been waiting four years for the renowned #SnyderCut. I'll never forget sitting in the theater on opening night, witnessing a CGI mouth on Henry Cavill's face about five seconds into Justice League. That's a thing of nightmares if I must say. Anyways, right then and there, I knew I desperately needed Zack Snyder's film.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
The film basically says she was a lost cause from the start. We don't get a sense of who Marilyn was.
Miley Cyrus makes a revival in this Disney+ documentary on her recent album Endless Summer Vacation.
"Rodgers' & Hammerstein's Cinderella" wasn’t just a fairytale, it's a Black girl's fairytale. It was a fantasy world where the undeniable beauty of Black girls and Women was celebrated and beloved.