Musings!

Juliette Binoche in THE RETURN (2024)

This movie came out without any fanfare and got barely any attention. I watched it recently and I have to say that it's good. It's the first PEPLUM film or show that was made recently that I watched entirely. Does it have many issues? Yes. But I enjoyed the straight forward aspect of the production. It's Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) returning to his home. It's basically just the ending from ULYSSES (1954) expanded to a movie minus the beautiful costumes and sets. The bizarre thing is it has very brief nudity (full frontal) and some harsh violence, which makes it unwatchable for the whole family. It's adult but the story itself is not. Oh well...The actors are very good, certainly Binoche as Penelope. It's a very grounded PEPLUM without any fantastical elements. It's bare bones and in a way I like this approach. But because of its low budget, the settings made everyone looked like cave people. I missed beautiful, elaborate sets of Antiquity. But overall, I enjoyed it for what it was.