Saltburn ★★★★☆

Common Sense Media Age: 16+ Violence 4/5 Language 5/5 Sex 5/5 Drinking/Drugs/Smoking 4/5

My Age Recommendation: 17+ (Due to brief violence, pervasive strong sexual content throughout including abberant sexual behavior, graphic nudity throughout, drug/alcohol abuse, and pervasive language throughout).

I heard of this movie from an ad displaying its beautiful cinematography and from an interview stating why the movie was shot with a 4:3 aspect ratio. I was already intrigued from these things alone, and then on social media really had me questioning if I should see this film. All I would see were comments on a "bathtub scene", "graveyard scene", and a "vampire scene", and all of these scenes were crazy. The story, which surprised me a bit, is about a man named Oliver who befriends a rich man named Felix and stays at his massive estate known as Saltburn for the summer. Oliver learns the ways of the rich and how they act which is contrary to his troubled past, and soon he learns that no one there is normal or as they seem. Through insane amounts of eavesdropping throughout the film he learns about Felix and the people in his estate, and there's a very satisfying twist at the end! I did enjoy this film more than I thought I would, and the main thing I like is the cinematography. The shots of the Saltburn estate were pretty good and the 4:3 aspect ratio did not bother me at all. The story itself was really good, and the main thing that helped was the characterization of Oliver and Felix throughout the film with their dialogue. The chemistry between characters during the scenes meant to create tension were done really well, and this helped with the pacing of the film. As for the gross scenes, while I am still not sure how necessary a few of them were, they all had something to showcase as far as characterization goes, and yes they are quite graphic and visceral. Overall, this was an amazing dystopian film that is not for the faint of heart!