This movie amazed me, but I don't say it like a good thing.
[edit] I think I would feel much less bitter toward Girl of the Port if I hadn't liked so much of what it was trying to do—and so much of what it succeeds in, when it can get out of its own way. Until the cure-all finale, it is not at all bad about its handling of PTSD, especially the way Josie acknowledges its reality while not treating Johnny like it's the only thing that matters about him. You can see him getting better over the two months they live together, not just because he's staying sober, but because he starts doing things like secretly building her a set of kitchen shelves so that every pot and plate they own doesn't have to live stacked in a hazardous ziggurat next to the sink; it shows that he's paying attention to her and we know already that he doesn't like the idea of being completely useless around the house, but it also suggests that he's becoming healthy enough to be self-starting, to think of a nice gesture and then have the confidence in himself to follow it through rather than stopping before he starts or giving up halfway. I like that their initial relationship is platonic but affectionate, with clear boundaries and a lot of talking. I like that when he starts running himself down as unfit for relationships, Josie can both refuse to play into his self-loathing spiral ("Don't you say that! Don't you think it, even. You ain't no coward") and agree that they shouldn't rush into a marriage ("It's only our eighth anniversary"). This is all really well-observed. And then the racist douchecanoe just plows over the plot and I have to write everything else I wrote about this movie.
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This movie amazed me, but I don't say it like a good thing.
[edit] I think I would feel much less bitter toward Girl of the Port if I hadn't liked so much of what it was trying to do—and so much of what it succeeds in, when it can get out of its own way. Until the cure-all finale, it is not at all bad about its handling of PTSD, especially the way Josie acknowledges its reality while not treating Johnny like it's the only thing that matters about him. You can see him getting better over the two months they live together, not just because he's staying sober, but because he starts doing things like secretly building her a set of kitchen shelves so that every pot and plate they own doesn't have to live stacked in a hazardous ziggurat next to the sink; it shows that he's paying attention to her and we know already that he doesn't like the idea of being completely useless around the house, but it also suggests that he's becoming healthy enough to be self-starting, to think of a nice gesture and then have the confidence in himself to follow it through rather than stopping before he starts or giving up halfway. I like that their initial relationship is platonic but affectionate, with clear boundaries and a lot of talking. I like that when he starts running himself down as unfit for relationships, Josie can both refuse to play into his self-loathing spiral ("Don't you say that! Don't you think it, even. You ain't no coward") and agree that they shouldn't rush into a marriage ("It's only our eighth anniversary"). This is all really well-observed. And then the racist douchecanoe just plows over the plot and I have to write everything else I wrote about this movie.