I blame myself for watching this because I knew what it was about. I only watched it because I like the actors. But, it was as bad as I feared and then some.
But, putting aside the depraved story, there was nothing good about the writing. The actions and interactions of the characters made no sense. Nobody frolics with someone who is committing suicide. You don't say things like, "Maybe when I get home tonight we can watch some tv." The issue of suicide and impending death would never leave. There would be no joking around. There would be no normal conversation. The elephant in the room would always be there.
Ben is committing suicide because he lost his job and his family. Of course, a lot of people lose their jobs. Most people don't even like their jobs. They only do them because they get paid. So, losing his family was a more plausible reason to commit suicide than losing his job. But, even that wasn't done well because it's not like family got killed in an accident. His wife left him becaues of his alcoholism. He still had a son, and presumably, if he cleaned himself up, he could have forged a relationship with him. It would have been better writing if his family had been killed. Ben is presented as a sympathetic character; he is always kind to Sera (which is not how alcoholics are) but to me, he wasn't likeable at all. I suppose the idea was that since most men beat her up, and Ben didn't do that, it was kismet.
Sera's character is imponderable. Why is she a prostitute? She sounds intelligent, and she's not a drug addict. It's not like she has a thousand dollar a day habit that she can't finance except by turning tricks. And considering the frequency of violence that she experiences, why does she do it? Why does she have no other options? Her going along with the four young thugs to have sex with all of them, how, after all that she experienced, could she not see the extreme danger in that? It goes badly, but it would have taken a miracle for it not to go badly. It was like a mack truck barreling at her that she didn't see. Again, if she were a drug addict needing a fix, it might have made sense. They tried to rationalize his self-destructiveness, but what about hers?
While the whole story is twisted and depraved, there is an overlay of old jazz standards, that is, modern renderings of old jazz standards. They probably had to pay a lot of money to use those songs. But, there was nothing fitting about it. To me, since I recognized the songs, it just distracted from the story.
What was the message supposed to be? That love and friendship can blossom anywhere? Was it supposed to be like Joe Buck and Ratzo in Midnight Cowboy?
Why all the accolades for this repulsive film? The reason I think is that it's so shocking. It shocks people out of the boredom of their lives. But, this story is not art. Just as noise isn't music, this story shouldn't strike a chord with anybody.. It says nothing about life. It couldn't happen in real life. There may be some Bens out there, but there are definitely no Seras.
I'm not opposed to showing the dark side of life in films, but this movie goes too far. If anyone thinks that underneath all the horror that there is a sweet spot or a silver lining, they are mistaken. There is nothing there but repulsiveness.