“we’ve been alone for a long time.”
“yeah, well… we’re not alone anymore.”

a couple awaits to be finally reunited after being kept apart from each for quite some time now. like many relationships, they go through their ups and downs together, getting used to the changes both have made since they last saw one another — one now smokes, the other became a vegan for moral choice; those seem minor and definitely wouldn’t heavily affect the couple’s overall relationship. 

Ben (Sathya Sridharan) has arrived in Sri Lanka, 10 days with his long-time partner, Suzanne (Anastasia Olowin), hoping to spend Christmas and New Year’s with her — but, instead life caught up to them, only to be met with disappointment…

I am confident in saying this is the best new film I have seen this year. The premise — of two long-distance lovers reunited for a vacation in Sri Lanka, during which one has to work the whole time — opens up so much room to explore the intricacies of sharing a history with a loved one. ‘Ben and Suzanne’ is a film of distance and longing. It charts romance butting heads with reality, and the hopes, expectations, and the crushing disappointments that arise when the feelings of distance just never quite go away, despite being next to the person you’ve been missing. The film is stunning. Its compositions are often something to marvel at. But Seneviratne is also spoiled…

So lovely, looks gorgeous, hysterical, and gets at some of the weird shit that happens in relationships, both sensual and disgusting in ways I haven't really seen before. I also haven't seen something nail something so specific as being in a long-distance relationship, visiting your partner, who you haven't seen, and being so pent up with anticipation and realizing immediately that it's over. Then having to spend an entire vacation with a person that you've completely fallen out of love with, hadn't realized it until the second you saw them, and lie to yourself and them about what you're feeling. Or at least that's how I took it! The beauty of this is that there are many ways to read…

Third watch of 2026 has been recommended to me by a myriad of people (Jordan Lisi, Brett Wright, etc.) for a little over a year now. I finally popped it on via Fandor after DM'ing Shaun -- who has become a friend of mine in recent months -- and telling him to yell at me if I didn't watch it by the end of the week. Well, I watched it, and to no one's surprise, it was amazing.

Shaun Seneviratne really knows what he is doing. Considering this was shot in Sri Lanka on an incredibly limited budget in the midst of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes (luckily, the crew got an interim agreement), it is a huge feat.…

— so i sifted through these words and i found the beautiful human thing: we choose each other

ben and suzanne, a reunion in 4 parts was a by-chance watch for me and for that i’m so grateful. i happened to get to the roxy cinema earlier than anticipated, and lucky for me they were screening this with a q&a! the tickets were actually sold out online, but because i was there early, i managed to snag one at the box office. i saw the director, and he was given flowers which i thought was really nice, and it made me look forward to watching his work.

this film was a pleasant surprise to me. little did i know what…