All I knew going in was that this was going to be brutal based on the synopsis and one review on rotten tomatoes that assured me that it wasn't going to be as emotionally manipulative as I thought and they were right. It was a slow burn of a movie, but very rewarding and only mildly devastating. And it's kind of obvious who he's going to choose the entire time, since there really is only one obvious option, but there are complicating factors and as the runtime nears the end, you feel the anxiety creep in as John's time runs out, so overall I really liked the pacing. I really enjoyed both of the conversations with the woman who acts as his "death doula", Dierdre who says that old cliche about the grass seeming greener, which John says that he hasn't experienced and it's a real joy watching him run out of fucks and egg a rude customer's house, chase some alpacas and of course spend time with the real subject of the story, his son Michael, who steals every scene he is in.
Some of the shots have fairly obvious symbolism, the plastic jug caught in the eddy just treading water as John and Michael go about their routines as the clock runs out for John, the constant vignettes into other people's lives as John cleans their windows, or catches a reflection of a passing scene, foreshadowing John's impending spectral status. When I saw the red balloon floating off, I thought, well that's a little on the nose, but when Michael brings it up later in relation to death, I was an absolute gut punch.
Well time to memory-hole this and re-hydrate. God damn.