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What the F*ck You Just Watched: Netflix’s ‘Earthquake Bird’

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

From Cosmopolitan

Lately, it feels like every movie has us thinking, “What the f*ck did I just watch?” In this series, we will break down exactly what happened in all those wild, mind-bendy, and just plain strange flicks...in a way that’s much easier to understand than the actual film.

THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR NETFLIX’S EARTHQUAKE BIRD.


Netflix’s new movie Earthquake Bird is not a happy movie. Like, it starts with Alicia Vikander’s character, Lucy, being questioned by police about the potential murder of her best friend. So yeah! The movie explores what actually happened to that best friend and whether Lucy is as guilty as she looks in the first few minutes.

There’s lots to discuss about the first hour of this movie, but that’s a separate post for a separate day. We’re here to talk about the ending. It’s confusing, random, and altogether just...weird! Let’s dissect.

Okay! So when Lucy, Lily, and Teiji make their way back from their little weekend throuples disaster trip, Lucy sees Lily and Teiji taking pictures together on the train platform when they were all supposed to be going their separate ways. She’s pissed, naturally, and that’s when we realize sh*t might go down very soon. Like, how would you feel if your boyfriend were suddenly treating your best friend like his muse? Not great!

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

The ending

That’s when it cuts back to the police station and Lucy admits to the police officers that she killed Lily. At this point, you’re like, “Wait, how is that possible? We have 30 minutes left in this movie! That’s the big reveal?” But no! It’s not!

It’s revealed that the body part the cops found isn’t actually Lily’s, so this whole thing was a mistake? IDK how it happens that they bring a person in for questioning for the murder of their best friend without confirming the dead person is actually the best friend, but I digress.

She leaves the police station, seemingly cleared of all charges even though she confessed to a murder, and goes to try to figure out what happened to Teiji and Lily. Did they actually run away together like the cops suggested? She breaks into the house, finds the pictures that imply Lily is dead, and goes home. Teiji is there waiting for her, and she kills him with a glass vase. Total flex.

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

The question

It seems like the movie wraps itself up in a fairly dark bow. But the question here is whether Lucy, who seems to be a pretty unreliable narrator, is actually seeing all of this clearly. At one point, her coworker comes to visit her and bring her flowers, except then we’re led to believe she made that moment up. And earlier in the movie, she admits to losing her virginity to her best friend’s dad and thinking she’s pregnant after the fact. She then reveals the baby “wasn’t real.” Very suspicious.

So did Lily really come talk to her? Is Lily actually dead? Did Lucy really kill Teiji? Or did they actually run away together like the police suggested?

The (potential) answer

The final scene of the movie is Lucy speaking with her friend from the string quartet. The woman admits she feels guilty about the other member of their string quartet who died in the first few minutes of the movie (literally SO much death), and then she tells Lucy not to grieve Teiji’s death. So Teiji for sure died. The rest? I guess we’ll have to wait for Earthquake Bird 2.

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