Hollywood star and filmmaker Justine Bateman dropped another hilarious film critic’s take on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) latest video lamenting President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
The 58-year-old actress broke down the new video from AOC in the latest installment of Bateman’s ongoing #SocialMediaVideoCritique series on X, in which she reacts to those posting meltdown videos about Trump’s win. Rather than pointing out things like poor messaging or simply mocking their outbursts, Bateman has some fun focusing instead on the backgrounds, lighting, and camera angles.
“The director delivers a piece full of subliminal messages,” Bateman wrote. “The camera is hand-held and uneasy, telegraphing uncertainty and confusion.”
“The actress’ left hand comes up and cups the chin repeatedly, indicating the character’s deep desire for a beard, a covering,” she added of AOC. “The dialogue is almost inconsequential, serving merely as a means to showcase the visual clues in the piece.”
#SocialMediaVideoCritique
– The director delivers a piece full of subliminal messages.
– The camera is hand-held and uneasy, telegraphing uncertainty and confusion.
– The actress’ left hand comes up and cups the chin repeatedly, indicating the characters deep desire for a beard,… https://t.co/2P6yw6k84A— Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) November 12, 2024
“The background is the star here. The chaotic blend of blacks and grays is almost a blurred representation of Picasso’s ‘Guernica,’” Bateman continued. “But here, the production designer strays slightly with a red accent at the right side of frame, bringing an immediacy to the piece, and making the ‘Guernica’ reference unmistakably modern. Fin.”
In an earlier post from AOC, the actress critiqued the New York Democrat’s post-election hysteria video and wrote, “Again, we see this lighting mistake that many are making. Notice the vague, overhead lights, the absence of a ‘key light’ on her face, and the way her face is flattened as a result.”
“However, the dialogue is a major issue here,” she added. “There are very long sentences spoken that are difficult to follow, and don’t suit the short duration of this video. A rewrite could help a lot to simplify and focus the intent. The wardrobe of a white shirt doesn’t give us much … information about the character…”
In one of the other videos Bateman critiqued, a woman (not AOC) was crying and freaking out, having an utter meltdown over the election results — and Bateman wrote, “My biggest problem with this is that it feels like it was take 2 or take 3. The emotional performance feels drummed up, like it was fresh on take 1, but they couldn’t really get the same intensity back on subsequent takes.”
“The second major issue is the unpredictability of the camera movements. Because the emotions are high, the scene would have benefitted from a locked-off camera position, or a slow, graceful movement. The jiggling of the camera doubles down on the emotions, and is overkill.”
Related: Actress Delivers Brutal Film Critic’s Take On Trump Victory Meltdown Videos
