I found it rather engrossing. I’ve only saw it once, in a theatre so it’s easier to be more engaged, I guess.

What you refer to as “woke politics” (what is this in the film, according to you? I’m curious.) is just serious drama to me. There’s no distinguishing the two. In fact, I think it’s the crutch of the movie because it grounds it to the present world that we live in. I didn’t find it uneven because of that.

I don’t know if you can compare her performance in it to someone in a Cassavetes movie because they’re just different. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad. By that measure every naturalistic actor is “good” and everyone else is “bad” when really it should be there’s good and bad naturalistic actors and good and bad non-naturalistic actors.

Even then, in this instance Lydia should be a theatrical person. She’s a conductor, not a violinist. I’ve met people like that, someone at the top of their creative field. I have literally worked backstage on plays and orchestras. Go watch interviews of some of these people. That’s just how they are.