Screened at The Frida Cinema
“You chose total freedom but got total loneliness.”
Whole lotta “settling”, whole lotta “homes”, whole lotta homely stay-at-home “couples”, folks almost at the company of others around the clock, and yet a level of loneliness still subsists in every one of them. Sure, having control of a singular environment would require meeting the demands of capital rule to continue owning it, usually less so howbeit when you’re just hopping from one to the other. You may feel freer from what would rather be permanent, but the desire still prevails to be seduced by its comforts of routine every now and then. Unless, ironically, this anti-permanent fate becomes a routine itself once you’ve tried its kinks out enough. No wonder the act of being a vagabond eventually feels like running a house with the usual suspects residing in it: it still shows social consistency, but is just as lonely of a lifestyle to cope with if not more.
Agnès Varda’s Vagabond debates the correlation between loneliness in the permanent and loneliness in the uncertain, the degrees to which they go, and the extent of freedom in each regard. We are all waiting to move on during both stages. Crazy how many anonymous identities there are out there despite their presence being known to all.
Also, W grandma. Unlikable protagonists go hard too.
Verdict: B+
“Vagabond” is now available to stream on The Criterion Channel.
Burning the Celluloid 
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