I have seen some bad film’s in my time, but Rosebush Pruning may be the worst writes Carter Smith
It was 30 degrees when I woke up this morning. Awful. To any Americans out there who scoff at such temperatures, you don’t get it. You don’t understand the severity. It is unbearable.
The way I saw it, I had two options: Sit in front of my fan which is about broken and have a pathetic amount of hot air blow back at me or brave getting into my all black Corsa and drive to my cinema.
Seemed like a no brainer. Go experience some aircon and watch a new movie. Ideal. It was slim pickings for the film. I wasn’t going to give me time to Disney’s creative crisis and watch Moana and I have already booked to watch Evil Dead Burn in a few days.
Then I remembered seeing the trailer for Rosebush Pruning. Now I didn’t grasp much of what was happening, but it’s star studded cast and uncanny feeling intrigued me enough.
After watching it, I’d have rather worn a full thick black clothing with a wooly winter coat on and gone on a run until I inevitably pass out from the heat.
Yeah, it’s that bad.
What an embarrassment of a film. I haven’t seen any of the films director Karim Aïnouz had made, and after that I don’t think I’ll ever bother.
It follows a weird incest family of five, Jack (Jamie Bell), Ed (Callum Turner), Anna (Riley Keough), Robert (Lukas Gage) and their father (Tracy Letts) who sit in a mansion and are obsessed with music and fashion and are stand offish with Jack’s new girlfriend Martha (Elle Fanning).
You very quickly realise this is another in a long line of terrible attempts to make Emerald Fennel’s already distinctly average Saltburn. Long time collaborator or Yorgos Lanthimos Efthimis Filippou wrote the script, which would lead you to believe that there will be a bit more nuanced than what is usually on display.
Nope.
This film is a subtle as getting hit over the head with a hammer. Essentially, take all the worst qualities of Saltburn and Lanthimos’s movies, mesh them together and add some gross sexual scenes between family members, and you get Rosebush Pruning.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the room was a crisp temperature thanks to the aircon, I would have walked out half way through during a scene in the bathroom which is one of the most appalling things I have ever seen.
My anger doesn’t stem from it being gross. I can stomach that if it’s adding to a wider point. Which it wasn’t. It’s shocking for the sake of it. It adds nothing on interest that other eat-the-rich haven’t already and it does what has already been done infinitely worse. It is loathsome.
It is a waste of the talents of Callum Turner, Elle Fanning and Jamie Bell. It is a waste of cinematographer Hélène Louvart’s quite exceptional cinematography and it will be a waste of your time if you decide to watch it – I implore you not to.
This film is a consequence of the mass psychosis people experienced when thinking Saltburn was brilliant. The ripple effect that film had will be felt negatively for years to come.
For those of you that do not enjoy Lanthimos’s films I completely get it. I do believe however, you would appreciate what he does a lot more if you saw how bad this film is.
Do not confuse that with me telling you to watch it however. I under any circumstance don’t think you should watch it. In hindsight, I would have much rathered sat at home dealing with the scorching heat. It without a doubt would have been more bearable.
- Rosebush Pruning is free to watch on Mubi
