THREE STARS

Sunday the 20th of July 2025

Spoken by Angie Darcy

THE SPOKEN WORD

THE WRITTEN WORD

Sunday the 20th of July 2025 from the desk of your shop steward

Fellow Workers,

A couple of weeks ago, when writing whatever was being written that day, we suggested the film STAY should get two stars out of five, that’s if you were to be reviewing it.

Things have shifted.

Things shift.

Today, we would recommend you give it three stars out five.

As for the reasons for this shift...

We have just watched a final edit with most of the score and soundtrack in place and for some reason it has gone up a notch from two to three. I mean that Tracey Tracey has done a seismic job in editing it to almost an inch of perfection. And Kenny Atkin and Tony Wright have pulled the score from just a pile of bits they found in the backyard of their minds.

But at the same time...

Something has triggered us to wonder who this character The Artist is.

I mean...

What is going on with him?

Are we supposed to like him?
Be attracted to him?
Find him interesting?
Empathize with him?
Want to fuck him?
Or at the very least...
Engage with him?

This triggered all sort of other thoughts about how we relate to characters in films compared to characters in real life.

In real life, we learn pretty early on, that being attracted to someone because of what they look like, is pretty meaningless. I mean if they cop off with you, and you are in bed with them at three o’clock in the morning, having sex for the third time. Right there and then what clothes they wore, or how they did their hair or make up, or the way they walked and all that other stuff, that might have caught your eye across the bar or dancefloor or gym or wherever it was you meet in this day age, is pretty irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant then is how they make you feel while they fuck you and how you make them feel while you fuck them. I mean you can’t even see how they did their eyeliner or flicked their hair.

Thus...

You soon learn to not base who you think you should get into a relationship with based on their visual packaging. And we can trot out the age old cliches about not judging a book by its cover or beauty being only skin deep.

Thus...

We might find ourselves aspiring to be attracted to people who are interesting characters. And in turn hope that we can display ourselves as an interesting character.

Thus...

Even if the fucking at 3am in the darkness of the night is not that satisfying, the next morning over whatever passes for a breakfast in your life, they turn out to be an ‘interesting character’ with an interesting take on things or you find their approach to life to be interesting in some sort of creative way, you may stick around with them for a while and look over the fact that they were not that good a fuck, let alone good looking. Then there is also the thinking that them being an ‘interesting character’ might impress your friends, or they might be a good catch for those other reasons why people think someone is a good catch – what with their career or breeding prospects or even the doors they might open for you etc.

Taking all this as a given...

And you find yourself in the business of judging, or at least looking out for interesting characters, even if they are not that good at doing the wrapping paper with ribbons bit, we become aware that maybe we should present ourselves as an ‘interesting character’.

As in being an ‘interesting character’ gets you further up the ratings list from being merely a good fuck for the night to possible lifetime partner material.

So...

We shift from just trying to look good with the dress we are wearing or the way we flick our hair, into being able to present ourselves as an ‘interesting character’. At the same time as knowing that this ‘interesting character’ persona that we have developed is as fake as the way we might do our eyeliner or move our hips when we walk.

As in...

Being an ‘interesting character’ is only as skin deep as our, or their beauty.

Which leaves us with the bare truth of who we actually are and not all that wrapping paper and ribbons stuff.

As in...

We all know, even before we know that we know, we are all annoying. And it does not matter how well we develop our ‘interesting character’ façade, you will be as annoying as fuck, to live with, within a year of you living together.

I mean...

You will be as annoying to them as they are to you. It is part of the human condition to be annoying to all other human beings, once you start living with each other.

Which begs the question.

What had Darwin got to say about the evolution of the condition that all human beings are annoying to other human beings within a few months of being in a relationship with each other.

When Darwin got to the Galapagos Islands were there any animals there that had evolved to mate for life (like Humans and Swans)? And did he study them to see if part of their evolution was to find their partner for life to be as annoying as fuck.

But...

There was nothing they could do about it because they were mated for life.

But...

There must have been some evolutionary reason why that species needed to be as annoying as fuck to each other.

I mean...

When visiting the local park with the lake, I often spend time watching the pair of Swans there to see if they are annoying each other, and if so, in what way do they express their annoyance. And how that annoyance for each other might make things work better for them as a pair mated for life.

Anyway...

Back to the film STAY and why, am I recommending you give it three stars out of five and not four stars out of five, even though I am saying that the Edit that Tracey Tracey has done is seismic, and the Score and Soundtrack that Kenny and Tony have pulled together gives even the dullest scenes of the film drama, is because...

The protagonist in the film, as in The Artist, however much we might think he is an interesting character, or however attractive you might find his hot ginger locks to be, you know he is as annoying as fuck.

I mean...

He would drive anybody up the wall within two months of having to live with him. Thus undermining any empathy, you might have with him as a character. I mean, the character is obviously an arsehole, thus The Artist being the protagonist of this film, means it does not deserve anymore than three out of your possible five stars.

Discuss...

Yours, from the shop floor,

Brush (Your Shop Steward)