Hello movie friends!
Okay, I literally just finished watching "Leave the World Behind" and I NEED to talk about it because my mind is still racing! 😱
You know those movies that hit differently when you watch them alone at night? This was definitely one of them. I actually had to pause it twice to make more popcorn because my nerves were shot (and I may have spilled the first batch during one particularly jumpy scene 🙈).
So here's the deal - Julia Roberts plays this mom named Amanda who's basically all of us when things go wrong - paranoid, protective, and pretty much done with everyone's nonsense. She takes her family to this gorgeous vacation house (seriously, I spent like 10 minutes just dreaming about that kitchen), and everything's perfect until... it's not.
Can we talk about how terrifying it is when their phones stop working? I literally checked my own phone while watching! Then these two strangers show up claiming they own the house - it's Mahershala Ali and his daughter - and oh my gosh, the TENSION. I was sitting there like "Don't let them in! But also maybe do? But also maybe don't?"
The crazy thing is, this movie doesn't have monsters or aliens or zombies (thank goodness, because I'm such a wimp with horror), but somehow it's scarier? Like, watching these families try to figure out if they can trust each other while weird stuff keeps happening around them - deer showing up everywhere, that HUGE ship on the beach (that scene had me SHOOK), and those sounds... those awful sounds...
I need to give a special shoutout to the kids in the movie because WOW. The teenage daughter had me cracking up with her sass (even in the middle of all this chaos), and the little boy? His scene with the teeth? I won't spoil it, but I literally had to text my friend at 1 AM about it.
Here's what I didn't expect - this movie made me think about some pretty deep stuff. Like, how well do we really know our neighbors? Would I trust strangers if everything went dark? Do I have enough snacks stored for an emergency? (Adding that to my shopping list btw 😅)
The ending... okay, we need to discuss the ending. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Part of me is frustrated because WHAT HAPPENED?? But another part of me kind of loves that it left me wondering. I've already gone down three Reddit rabbit holes trying to figure it out!
Quick heads up - you can stream this on Netflix right now. My advice? Watch it with someone else (unlike me, who made the brilliant decision to watch it alone), keep your phone charged (the irony!), and maybe have some comfort snacks ready. Trust me on this one!
Has anyone else seen it? Please tell me I'm not the only one who jumped at [redacted scene because spoilers]! Drop a comment below - I seriously need to discuss this with someone who understands what I just experienced!
P.S. - My cat got scared during one of the loud scenes and knocked over my water glass, and honestly? That felt very appropriate for this movie. 😂