I watched this because Desiree Akhavan spoke about it on her Criterion Closet video. Honestly I loved moments of this — like when the two guys come out of the water and the subsequent dance sequence. I didn’t pick up on any of the subtext about immigration until I read up on the film later. I think that speaks more to me not knowing what it feels like to be a newly arrived immigrant. I appreciate what it’s trying to do, but still just didn’t enjoy it overall. It’s also interesting to watch Polanski in his early years pre-Sharon Tate’s death/all the child sex stuff because after that he really loses me both as a human being but also with the films he would make (except for THE GHOST WRITER). I think a lot of it has to do with it being one of his first attempts at filmmaking though.
