Yeahh, I think this movie might actually be perfect.

I was shown this for the first time a couple of years ago, and I don't think it resonated with me properly. I missed what was going on or something. I didn't realize the incredible depth there is to every character, the world, all events as they play out. I'm not sure why I didn't think too much of it until this rewatch. But it's very emotionally resonant now in a way that I didn't see before, and I think a big part of that is because of the excellent worldbuilding and character detail. I love to see Truman being himself, his mind being blown by the revelations he gets, and how he forces Meryl to break character and to subsequently leave the show. The interactions play out exactly like what a real fake scenario would be like. The characters act like real people would act, if they were forced to pretend like they were in this film.

In a deleted scene where the "new main cast" have a meeting, it's revealed that Christof plans to keep Truman in his fake world until he dies, to be replaced by his son-to-be. It's truly dystopian. Marlon is the one who asks this question as a direct confrontation to Christof, who ignores the question and ends the meeting. You can tell by his face, and it bleeds into a lot of the subtext of Marlon's scenes, that Marlon genuinely cares about Truman. He knew him his entire life, and despite him always knowing in the back of his mind that he wouldn't be there spending time with him if not for the show, he's concerned about what's going to happen to him. It's like he thinks Truman deserves to know one day, and that day is coming soon. I wish there was more of this arc explored, but objectively the story functions without it.

Christof's character is intentionally implied to be synonymous to Truman's true father. In the interview, they drop exposition revealing he was legally adopted by the corporation. The way he watches him sleep, lightly caressing the screen. The way he confronts the woman who truly loved him, how he tells her she doesn't know what's best for him. The way he's pained to see him go and tries his utmost to keep him from walking out of that door and out of the lives of him and all the others who watch his show. Christof truly thinks what he's doing is not only okay, but he cares for Truman in his own twisted way. Perhaps when he started out, it was all for money and for doing something unprecedented. But in the end, he became a sort of starving artist, all he cared about was keeping Truman in his world, and for keeping the world happy. I love the way that when it counted, we saw him feeding his lines directly to the actors, but at that final moment, he finally spoke to him himself for the first time in his life.

I could talk about this movie endlessly, there's so much depth to every second. But I won't do it today.