When I get told that a film is Sci-fi, I kind of expect there to actually be some science fiction sort of stuff going on in the film, when this one turned out to be a movie that is based in the future and they talk about futuristic stuff, they don't really show any of it and therefore I felt more than a bit cheated. Also, this one kind of moves very slowly and is leading up to a sort of big twist at the end, which I could tell was going to be the case when every little had happened in 40 minutes and I checked the time to see that there was only 20 minutes left.
Sure enough, something rather drastic happened in the final 10 minutes of the film but at that point I was already kind of upset at this movie for existing.
I bothered to watch this for 2 reasons: It looked like it could be an interesting sci-fi take on the future, and because I am strangely drawn to Elizabeth Olson who looks like her sisters that lead to any of us knowing who she is, but she looks natural and not all plastic like they do.
The story here is that in the future where the world has been devastated by climate change (I'm happy they didn't linger too much on lecturing us about this) and most of the globe's population lives inside of a giant dome where the rough conditions of planet Earth can be controlled. The fact that they barely show any of this as an actual structure is something that kind of annoyed me. I want to see the dome and the harsh conditions on the outside of it, but we don't get to and that annoyed me.
Instead we get images of an absolutely wonderful looking coastline with fantastic nature and a sprawling property that belongs to the wealthy couple Mia (Olson) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel.) Although it isn't directly told to us at the start, it is hinted at that they want to have a baby, but are not allowed to do so just because they feel like it and this is where the entire story gets going.
The population of the planet is not allowed to have babies unless it is approved by the government and this approval comes from an assessment that is carried out over the course of many days by a government worker, and this is where the best actor in the whole movie comes into play.
Alicia Vikander plays the role of "Virginia" the assessor and when she first turns up she is extremely stoic and "straight to the point" about everything, even if the questions that she is asking are very personal and uncomfortable to the person she is asking. Mia and Aaryan realize very quickly that she is not their friend, and she is very serious about her job and also that the couple must do everything perfectly in order to get approved for a child and therefore go through the motions to appeal to her every whim, even when on day two her attitude changes dramatically when she turns up to breakfast pretending to be a child and then well, behaves like a naughty child would do on one of those days where they are just going to be a pain in the ass no matter what you try to do for them.
Anyone that has had a child or been around one that was having a tantrum can likely very much relate to how hopeless these interactions seem as Virginia displays zero understanding of what is being said to her and just seems to want to destroy everything that she touches. She cannot be reasoned with and only partially responds to anything that is said to her. Then, she all of a sudden starts to play favorites with one of her "parents" and is just awful towards Mia.
These are very tense moments and sometimes difficult to watch because Alicia Vikhander is an extremely gifted actress. I think this is where a lot of the good ratings come from because the acting is quite solid in this story, especially on her part.
In fact, there are no bad actors in this film: Everyone does a great job although we don't really see a great many of them other than the main three. For someone around my age it was a bit shocking to see an actress in one of the scenes where you say to yourself "I think I have seen her in something before" only to realize that she was a constant pretty girl in movies long ago but has gotten old.
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In case you don't recognize her, that is Minnie Driver and she was a regular "pretty girl" in movies in the 80s
Now in my title and brief explanation I complained about how I don't feel as though this is what I consider to be a true sci-fi movie. There is almost zero indication that this movie takes place in the future other than word references that the people in the film state about it being as such. There are a few things here and there but for the most part I felt like we were in the house of a wealthy couple in today's modern age or perhaps even a decade ago, rather than however many years in the future this is meant to take place during.
I guess I can understand why they didn't show more that they did because this film cost a mere $8 million to make and showing futuristic stuff is extremely expensive. I guess they were doing the best they could with a relatively small amount of money.
As it turns out, this "tell but not show" notion is a big part of the reason why professional critics liked it so much and I suppose I can relate to how basically everyone is sick of movies using CGI to substitute for actual substance in the story. This one doesn't rely on special effects really at all and well, I guess I can see the merit in that because I too have gotten annoyed with $200 million dollar movies that look incredible, but have some rubbish story and writing that comes along with it.
Should I watch it?
Despite the really high ratings it has on all review sites I still think this is going to appeal to a relatively small amount of people. The story is really good, and when it is over it leaves you thinking about what just happened, but it takes and awful long time to get there. At nearly 2 hours long I feel as though a lot of this could have been left on the cutting room floor without taking away from the story.
For people that don't like slow burn movies, this is going to be something that you will turn off rather rapidly. However, if you have the patience to get through this and also accept that fact that you are never going to see anything futuristic in it, then maybe you could have stumbled upon something really fresh and new. For me, it took me 3 sittings to get through it because I kept falling asleep.
This is not a film that you can casually watch. You will have to pay close attention to have any idea of what is going on. The end result is good though and it is impacting and makes you think a lot, which is good. I just don't think that the average person, especially if English is not their native language, is ever going to make it to that point though.
At the moment the only legal way to watch this is by buying or renting it on a wide variety of platforms such as AppleTV, Fandango, Amazon, Spectrum, and Plex
