Review of The Souvenir: Part II (2021) by Moviemitch96 — 20 Nov 2021

Picking up shortly after the events of Part 1, this film sees Julie (Honor Swinton-Byrne dealing with the aftermath of losing her boyfriend Anthony to a tragic event and her graduating film school project she turns to for solace.

Truth be told, I wasn't the biggest fan of the first film despite it being rather well made and acted, so I went into this with relatively modest expectations, but I must confess how pleasantly surprised I was by the second part.

It not only tops the first one slightly, but put together, both films create something that feels so whole and complete and beautiful, which I wasn't expecting with this at all. It all feels so deeply layered, personal, and resonated with me in quite a few unexpected ways.

The performances from Swinton-Byrne and her mother Tilda Swinton are especially masterful. By the time the credits rolled, I found myself quite mesmerized by this story that only now feels so complete after having seen both parts.

There are some confusing editing moments towards the end, but overall, not only did this second part make me reconsider and rethink part one entirely, but put together, this is one of the most intimate and personal films I've seen in a long time.

I just can't stress enough how I never would have guessed the second part would make me appreciate part one so much more, because both parts together make for such an incredible story and commentary on film, art, life, etc.