What a beautiful place... to be with friends.

Harry Potter's 7th installment goes full-on survival mode for our protagonists. We're no longer surrounded by the comfort of Hogwarts' walls and most allies are trying to survive for themselves. This grim world with Voldemort in power is both beautiful (metaphorically) and scary.

Even though the atmosphere is mostly desperate with no clear direction of where to go, I loved all these little moments the movie created to lighten up the atmosphere. The shot of Harry and Hermione dancing and going from glum to smiling for a little bit was probably my favorite shot in the movie for its natural comforting manner. Of course, it's not a key moment in the movie, but it's just something that made me feel very human (my obsession with coming-of-age stories is coming out during Harry Potter movies now, great...).

Since the story of the last book was split into two movies, the first one (this one) didn't feel rushed at all. In fact, this felt like a story with many layers, filled with action, drama, thriller elements that felt more mature than the previous installments.

And my obsession with villains also started showing, as I was gasping with each scene where Voldemort was present. There weren't a lot but each of them felt menacing and I truly feel like Voldemort might be the villain that defined a generation, sort of like Darth Vader in the 70's and 80's or slasher movie villains (Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers) during the 80's.

I think this film was an improvement in both the tone and the storytelling, creating a wonderful experience that takes us into a dystopia of a wizard world.