Dual

For me a superbly chilling weird artsy festival film that is bizarre, disturbing and very uncomfortable. Riley Stearns is good, his previous debut The Art of Self Defense was already a big hit and he goes for a similar style here. His style reminds me a lot of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and after a long time I enjoyed the dialogue so much that I'm able to tolerate the lack of gore and action. The film is set in the near future where people who die have the opportunity to clone themselves, and that includes Karen Gillan, who learns she is terminally ill and doesn't have much time left. The actors act slightly like robots, but I found it strange and definitely interesting (the reasoning, the dialogue, the unprecedented language – this kept my attention a lot), plus there's a really nasty system with harsh rules; in short a world you don't want to live to see. The acting is great, Aaron Paul is downright excellent, the atmosphere is very depressing, there are some interesting twists and turns, and there's definitely an interesting ending. I loved this provocative and disturbingly bizarre downer. If I can talk about the film for half an hour after it's over, that's a good sign. I was so uncomfortable in places (the situations the main character experiences are hellish) that it had horror elements for me. Story 4/5. Action 1/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 4/5. 7.5/10. (05/22/2022)