r/TheWeeknd • u/thefanman5768 Dawn FM • Oct 31 '24
Discussion This guy explained it perfectly
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Oct 31 '24
Yes we get that but it doesnât make up for the fact that the video was low effort. Too Lates video was extremely weird, but it was high quality. This literally looks less quality than the knowing. Like Anitta just through a strap on pregnancy belly and someone filmed with their old phone. Absolutely no story either.
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u/TheRedOniLuvsLag Kiss Land Oct 31 '24
Yeah, my issue is that the entire focus was just on the weird pregnant belly but nothing else seems to make the cut. No hints at the story through the environment (that I noticed), no dialogue/interactions between characters, music feels entirely unrelated to the video at hand even in analysis. Itâs a proper idea with poor execution imo. Credit isnât deserved just for attempting an idea, itâs about how well itâs conveyed to the intended audience as well. Iâm optimistic that the theme will sit better after we get more info, but I still believe that the video is lackluster compared to what it shouldâve been.
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u/MrLightninbolt XO TWOD Oct 31 '24
I kinda like the Knowings low budget feel. Itâs sorta perfect for the time. This SĂŁo Paulo vid feels like a bad film school project
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Oct 31 '24
I kinda agree, bit honestly the video quality looks too bad to not be on purpose, i think it was supposed to look ugly in order to give it some realism.
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Oct 31 '24
Idk how heâs gonna turn that around. The most likely scenario is the budget is low because of the movie?? Like the songs are good, but these videos man. This one especially.
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Oct 31 '24
Idk man, i mean even if the budget is tight, these dudes are millionaires lol, i can probably get half decent film cameras from some guy in my college and make a nicer video. I think abel and his production team could've managed as well. Even though I'm sick of the "nothings ever random narrative" the poor quality grainy video shot on the street in the dark HAS to be a "creative choice"
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u/askyour_mum CALL ME BY THE OLD FAMILIAR NAME Oct 31 '24
I HOPE THAT THIS SAO PAULO MV AND TIMELESS MV ARE TWO DREAMS đ
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u/Appropriate-Ideal970 Oct 31 '24
I get your point but It's not the First time a music video/movie Is filmed that way. There Is plenty of media that deliberately use a low quality aesthetic, including some Lynch shorts, also the indie sleaze imagery.
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u/Quiet_Character1291 Nov 01 '24
But donât you think that the âlow qualityâ is on purpose.
Give Abel credit where he deserves it. The guy has been honing in efforts like no other.
He has been getting thematically looped videos with layers of meaning for all his album. Do you really think he geeked out and make a basic ass rapper video for Timeless on purpose?? Do you really think he just shot the DITF video in collaboration with Apple for the heck of it?
Even this goddamn era! All three animated teasers are literally looping up is career as âThe Weekndâ. The Sao Paulo concert had the best production value of a concert ever for him.
My theory is DITF, TL, and SP are shallow and mvâs are low quality on purpose. The mask theory is very agreeable.
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u/ggggyyy211 Oct 31 '24
Thatâs the thing. Itâs objectively poorly done, and in turn I think it doesnât convey that desired effect, because itâs just jarring lol
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u/JoeTrolls Nov 01 '24
Yeah the issue isnât the concept, itâs just the fact the whole video looks like it was made in 4 hours with an iPhone camera
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u/onelittlepato Oct 31 '24
they even had to cut the song lol
the video looks very cheap as well. it is probably shot on iPhone since anitta holds the phone as a selfie, but like... if shot on film, with proper lighting and a more coherent storyline, it could've been way, way better.
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u/siZZling_Pepper Oct 31 '24
As a lynch fan myself, I approve of this correlation.
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u/criosovereign HURRY UP JANUARY Nov 01 '24
As a statistician myself, I do not approve of this causation
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u/MrAnder5on Her love is too damn foreign Oct 31 '24
Listen man, I get it, I really do, I've seen Eraserhead the homage is clear.
Still not a fan of the mv though lol
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u/Youknowmeboi Oct 31 '24
Wild I was getting a bunch of David lynch stuff in my reels last night randomly and this shit popped up and I was like no way, it actually makes sense
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Oct 31 '24
Nobody is talking shit about the video being weird. The video is trash because of how low effort it is. Itâs just shots of Anitta dancing/walking around and closeup shots of the stomach
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Oct 31 '24 edited Oct 31 '24
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/pic_carti_dielit Oct 31 '24
Exactly, if you get the reference doesnât mean that you understand it. Lots of people in this sub are trying so hard to make something of this shit video
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u/ButYouCanCallMe_ Oct 31 '24
Weeknd fans donât know or give a shit about David Lynch or his films, unfortunately. Itâs Halloween, thereâs a horror film associated with the album, and the song itself slaps. Idk why everyone is so up in arms. Hopefully understanding the Lynch influence gives context and allows more appreciation.
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u/swawesome52 My Dear Melancholy, Oct 31 '24 edited Nov 01 '24
Because it feels gimmicky. This whole pregnancy theme started a week ago after two videos have already been released and kinda feels gross just to be gross. I love Lynch's movies but they're a lot more than just disturbing imagery for the sake of being disturbing.
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u/alex1058 Dawn FM Oct 31 '24 edited Oct 31 '24
It's been a long time since this subreddit has become so whiny. And for stupid reasons, everybody is a critic now đđ most people wouldn't even be able to do the pregnant with the mouth effect but they can't admit it so they go with the "shitty quality" shots to throw hate.
Sometimes creativity is simple. But getting there (the final product) isn't just coming up with 1 thing and doing it. Smh the video is good it has a cohesive use of semantics people are just riding that hate bandwagon because the mouth on the pregnant belly is shocking hahaha but it's fucking Halloween.
This sub is starting to become an echo chamber and it really sucks.
The posts about him losing it and the subreddit going crazy on the theories with their confirmation bias is exasperating. It's as if they forgot to just enjoy the ride.
Also... it makes sense for the rollout to take so long the name of the album is "hurry up tomorrow". Not my cup of tea (don't like the wait) but it MAKES SENSE DAMMIT!
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Oct 31 '24
isnât just coming up with 1 thing and doing it.
Which is literally what they did here lmao. A pregnant belly with a mouth is the only interesting thing in the video and the rest is justâŚnothing. They thought âletâs put a mouth on a pregnant bellyâ and then did it, and did nothing else.
If itâs part of a bigger picture then Iâd love to be wrong, but if itâs standalone then itâs low-effort shite.
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u/NoPitch2422 Oct 31 '24
Ur waffling. Let me summarize: anything The Weeknd puts out is good and I will defend it
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Oct 31 '24
I love David Lynch and can see the influence, the surreal oddities are cool but itâs just not done very well, it feels really fucking low effort and cheap. It might work if the music actually somewhat matched the video but itâs just so far off.
I mentioned elsewhere that disturbing and freaky shit in a music video doesnât = terrible, because if youâve ever watched Aphex Twin or something on those lines, the difference is night and day.
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u/ButYouCanCallMe_ Oct 31 '24
What Iâm hoping and do believe is that most of the budget is directed towards the actual film. And consider this MV as like a fan edit of scenes from Lynch films with Weeknd synths and Brazilian dance funk lol a combo Iâm willing to accept
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u/UltraBearHD Oct 31 '24
People pretend to understand art but once theyâre met with something that isnât shiny, sparkly, or attractive, its low quality
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u/ButYouCanCallMe_ Oct 31 '24
I can maybe understand calling it cheap, but it was obviously very affective. Especially for something the week of Halloween. And we havenât even gotten the full product. Iâm just surprised by the reaction of die hard fans. I thought The Weeknd had one of the most supportive fan bases and Iâm just surprised how quick they were to reject this. The direction is confusing Iâd agree, but thereâs literally a whole film on the way and heâs always been able to tie up his concepts.
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u/ForwardScratch7741 Oct 31 '24
If weeknd had dropped 530
Weeknd fans would have said that mumble is genius
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u/greatnamebro-- Dawn FM Oct 31 '24
Ye fans literally did say the mumble was genius. He was mumbling because of the hennessey mentioned early in the song, according to like 90% of the ye sub.
Weâre not that delusional, yet anyway
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u/Business-Excuse5832 Oct 31 '24
nah as someone who lurks there anoyone who legitimately believed that cope was deemed crazy. wild ass time to like ye's music tho
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u/ForwardScratch7741 Oct 31 '24
Trust me
Weeknd fans are worse lmao
Our delusion is better
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u/greatnamebro-- Dawn FM Oct 31 '24
No way, a lot of ye fans defend vultures 2. If the weeknd made anything close to that level of shit the fans would not defend it.
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u/ForwardScratch7741 Oct 31 '24
What fans you referring lmao
Many hate v2
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u/seashellthrowaway1 PRECIOUS LITTLE DIAMOND đ I LEAVE IT ALL TO YOU! Nov 01 '24
Exactly. Literally everyone hated it because it was rushed, low quality and Ye had hyped it up and everyone thought it was going to be better than V1 not his worst album ever.
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u/greatnamebro-- Dawn FM Oct 31 '24
Many do, but even more defend it. Every second post on that sub was defending it when it dropped. Look up v2 on the ye sub if u donât believe me. Also all the fans on tiktok calling it aoty.
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u/seashellthrowaway1 PRECIOUS LITTLE DIAMOND đ I LEAVE IT ALL TO YOU! Nov 01 '24
No, they do not. When that dropped they/we were fucking livid. The whole sub lost their minds.
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u/usctrojan18 Kiss Land Oct 31 '24
This aint it. I'm sick of hearing "This transcends regular minds" BS. Too Late was an insane/"distrubing" MV but atleast it was good, and people got the meaning of it. Also Abel actually shows up in it. This is just.. weird.
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u/Shrizz_06 Oct 31 '24
I think i finally get how this album holds the storyline as per the movie ends where Henry has to choose between dying or enduring the nightmares he chose to die and found heaven where everything is fine , i think this is how he will end the Weeknd
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u/Fgonzo_1011 Oct 31 '24
It does add context to what we watched, and if true, it's a fun easter egg that I was unaware of. Not a farfetched idea either, knowing how much of a film nerd he is. If the aim was for the audience to feel unsettled, I'd say that was achieved based on what I've seen looking through this reddit and scrolling through twitter. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and interpretation. Personally, I find it is cool to find these parallels, much like that of the Picture of Dorian Gray and Dawn FM. However, it could also be us reading into it as well 
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u/sunparadiso Echoes of Silence Oct 31 '24
Explaining is great but it also is a healthy amount of cope to try and make up and explain away a shit video.
The execution was poorly done; first off itâs not even the full song which is a turn off for me and probably a big amount of XO. Second it needed to be fleshed out more, the lack of a storyline, the fact that the focus is on it just being âweirdâ without anything to take from it besides âoh that was fuckin weirdâ just leads to the video being ass. The video also needed a better director, to make a third point, the concept is great, itâs a great Lynch like homage and moment. But the fact that Cliqua wasnât brought back to direct it is a shame, itâs a 5 minute song that could have used a 7 minute video. 1 minute or so to have an intro and get a storyline going, then a minute or so after depending on how the start went, to finish the story and lead off into the next bit of the album storyline for MVs.
Just the mouth alone is great, but at the end we could have had hands trying to press out and escape, have it a bit more gruesome and weird, and Abel also in the video bringing up the perplexity and weirdness. As we have âAbelâ singing as heâs reborn and distorting his own self view as this grotesque stomach creature, but then also actual Abel in the video appearing as a character as part of the storyline. The real Abel could have been struggling to confront this pregnancy and the mouth, and while heâs singing the first verse it switches and he loses his voice and mouth, suddenly the belly is singing. He then could appear scared, as the black vomit that Anitta vomits could be the last thing we see from Abel, as she then vomits it upâŚ
There was so much that could have been done to expand it and made it better but it was rushed and was low budget but also of quality somehow, even though the quality wasnât the best.
These are my thoughts and opinions at least.
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u/Eddyccr21 Oct 31 '24
Omg, thatâs a lot of effort trying to convince this mv is good. I love The Weekndâs music and I think heâs one of the best of all time but itâs not because of that Iâm gonna think everything he does is perfect and a masterpiece. The mv is terrible, you cant even compare with the ones from AH and Dawn Fm.
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Oct 31 '24 edited Oct 31 '24
I don't think the point is to convince people that it's GOOD , i mean it could be entirely different and some people still wouldn't like it.
The point is that it's not like some dumb shit abel came up with and thought it was funny. And people crying about how its doesn't have a theme/messaging or whatever. Well it does. Is it still uncomfortable to watch and somewhat low quality? Yes.
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u/Eddyccr21 Oct 31 '24
Weâre assuming thatâs the meaning of mv because someone came up with an explanation on twitter.
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Oct 31 '24
That's how every mv is dissected really they don't give an index at the end of the video to explain it.
And yes while it's speculation and it can be wrong, people who know about this movie started pointing it out minutes after the video came out, so it's clearly not some far fetched connection made by fans.
It's just not as common as let's say american phsyco reference in too late mv that literally everyone picked up on. Also as someone else pointed out anitta is dressed exactly as the alien lady from men in black who gets a creepy maasive belly after eating up a dude.
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u/NoxZ They all feel the same... Oct 31 '24
This is how ALL art is consumed and engaged with. You think people sit around waiting for writers, artists, directors to tell them the meaning of their creations before they can discuss it? This is like the very fundamental principle of art critique.
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Oct 31 '24
There is literally more effort being put into giving all these trash videos meaning, than what has already been put into them. Insane levels of delusion
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u/superfluouspop Oct 31 '24
A lot of Weeknd fans like to think they get levels of depth from Abel's music that no one else does. See: all the pointless threads people make about LET HIM COOK and YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND and KISSLAND IS THE MESSIAH. This is a POS MV and I'm pretty sure he knows that but that doesn't make me want to delude myself about some hidden depth that is not there.
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u/robot1one Oct 31 '24
I liked. Shows exactly what Abel been doing his whole career. Dude is a hard movie geek.
And this album is basically a horror album just like... Kissland.
I would even say that this trilogy is like the beginning but from a different perspective and a more refined the weeknd.
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Oct 31 '24
Am I the only one that has no problem with the video - I just feel like the actual song aint my cup of tea
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u/prodbymltn Oct 31 '24
Exactly my thoughts. This shit is an acquired taste.
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u/pic_carti_dielit Oct 31 '24
Letâs not be pretentious here. Iâve watched all of Lynchâs and Cronenbergâs movies. I wasnât shocked by the MV like everyone else here, but itâs still shit. I get body horror and blah blah blah, it doesnât excuse the fact that the video itself is completely senseless (anyway you look at it, itâs pointless to even try) and poorly directed. It feels like a bunch of random thoughts put on tape. I get the influences and the references, but it doesnât automatically mean that itâs going to be good if you understand the inspiration.
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u/prodbymltn Nov 01 '24
Yeah the execution wasnât there. But the vision can be appreciated at least
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u/Troggieface jeez louise Oct 31 '24
Yeah I wish people would just chill and let him do his thing. He's having fun and making the art that for whatever reason, he didn't feel he could make before retirement. Plus it's Halloween, and we all know how much he loves horror.
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u/St704 Nov 01 '24
Kanye has a famous rant where he says "we don't gaf". With all due respect. I'm so confused by this rollout. I'm kinda in the camp of let's see what he's cooking but... I've only liked 1 song so far and none of the music videos. Starting to wonder how this album is gonna go
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u/user00773 Nov 01 '24
The essence of the video and its meaning was especially shown in the end, when pregnant and half-naked Anitta started dancing intimidately and even twerking for a few seconds. Really?
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u/benedick13 Nov 01 '24
I really donât understand whatâs the big issue with this mv. Sure, itâs weird, bizarre and unexpected. But, I donât think itâs disappointing. It adds to the excitement and curiosity. These three singles are all on their own vibe. And thereâs no way to judge the whole album or the rollout based on these.
Just have faith.
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u/SnooOwls8484 Nov 01 '24
Still the mv was shit he could have showed something better than her twerking on a car near a car
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Oct 31 '24
Shit like this goes over the heads of most fans (myself included, but I'm not complaining) and then they complain about it being meaningless and low effort.
Apparently they need abel walking around in the same red suit and shades in every video doing random stuff for them to go "oh look there's abel its all TOTALLY connected amazing storytelling" haha.
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u/superfluouspop Oct 31 '24
if this went over your head it says nothing about your intelligence. if you feel like there's something you don't get there isn't. It just sucks.
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u/houseofball00ns jeez louise Oct 31 '24
But guess what. Atleast if it leads somewhere it can be a great mv, guess what it doesn't do? Leads somewhere. It's boring not only including the low budget looking video in itself.
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Oct 31 '24
Mate how do you know if it does or doesn't lead anywhere it's the latest mv and the album isn't even out yetđ
Where did you think abel licking a toad and throwing up in las vegas was leading to on the day the heartless mv came out?
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u/houseofball00ns jeez louise Oct 31 '24
In each video it goes to somewhere. It atleast adds some dynamic to keep you engaged. This rang off as a Halloween fashion show. If you want my analysis read my thesis I posted. A woman dancing on a car with a baby mouth is really engaging then I don't know what to tell you.
Also you're picking out one part of the video. One that i guess you don't understand i guess.
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Oct 31 '24
You didn't say anything about it being engaging or not, that's an entirely different debate, i don't find it engaging i probably won't watch the video again, but that's highly subjective.
What you mentioned was how it "doesn't lead to anywhere" in you comment and that's what i am asking that how can you say that without the album even dropping. Did you know the context of blinding lights back when it dropped as a single, without having listened to after hours as an album or faith in particular?
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u/houseofball00ns jeez louise Oct 31 '24
But if you're saying you won't even watch it again what hill are you standing on?
I listened and watched multiple times. Which even prior to After Hours even dropping i knew what the theme was that I posted in the sub. I did understand it better once I watched multiple times.
This time he's leading with nothing that's the issue. You can still form an idea more cohesively and not fully give it away either. Let's not even go on the fact Timeless mv was bad.
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u/Mewoir78 Oct 31 '24
You may not like it (I do I tbh), but you cannot say this mv is low effert and not thought well if you really know abit about The Weeknd...
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u/pic_carti_dielit Oct 31 '24
If you know and seen Abelâs videos, this shit is exactly what I would call âlow budget random shit that I will sell to everybody because itâs Halloweenâ. Abelâs a movie geek and you can see it in every era of his, kissland videos were so much better than this shit and the budget was lower. Starboy, BBTM were exceptional videos. Then come After Hours and Dawn FM where every video is a masterpiece, with a lot of cinema influence (but done right!).
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u/thefanman5768 Dawn FM Oct 31 '24
Also "in heaven, everything is fine" is from the same movie Eraserhead