I cried when she aged twenty years instead of going back. And I’m pretty sure the ending means she never went back. What a heartbreaking movie.

I was also really struck by usage of tv screens to act less like corrupting forced and more like windows into people’s essences. The idea that TVs are corrupting the youth is so pervasive even now that the usage confused me at first. I remember seeing the scene from the trailer where the main character is being pulled into the tv, remembering that scene while watching the movie and thinking, “wait, they’re gonna somehow make me root for that happening?”

I think there’s an interesting subversion of delusion happening in general in the movie. In most other movies, but big reveal in the bar would be framed like someone losing their mind. But instead it plants genuine doubt and manages to convince the audience that the world they’ve been inhabiting is not real.