Downsizing

There’s no denying Downsizing has many excellent filmmaking ideas and processes that make it an interesting and original movie even today. The main narrative corridor initially is the premise of downsizing people in order to save a moribund Mother Earth, and it dramatises mainly the radical process of physical shrinkage, while the attention is led towards the characters’ getting used to the world of the future, which is described as an incredible adventure to the people of the “past”. After the anticipated key twist, however, Payne defies all expectations and presents an alternative world that essentially duplicates the real one in a small scale, including its social ills, and instead of the adventure and the discovery of the unknown, he focuses on expanding the knowledge of the protagonist, who becomes the dominant of the narration. The differences between the big and the small world gradually fade and blend in the closing part in Norway, which also brings in the idea of that huge, poverty-stricken world represented by the earnest and human Vietnamese girl, while the raunchy playboy Dušan represents that tiny corner of the world where everything is plentiful. Downsizing is definitely a peculiar statement about the state of modern society, though it’s hard to pinpoint in what sense it is actually special: as futuristic sci-fi with elements of social tragicomedy, or as a funny drama about people that portrays big and small social or economical differences with a subtle form of science fiction. Though I think the ending is intellectually shabby and that the potential duality of the fictional world is drowning in indecisiveness about how to best capture said duality (whether through the characters or the environment), I had pretty good fun despite the excessive runtime. I’m adding the fourth star also for the fact that, as it’s usual here, this is a very underrated movie. 70% (10/29/2018)

It's just so tricky to do these movies as pure social metaphor, because it’s terribly appealing to fall into simple, totally bitter theses. At least Lanthimos regularly churns these types of movies out with absurdity, comfortless visuals, and regular shrapnel erupting out of otherwise slow pacing and postmodern form. Instead, Payne has no distinctive formal method, and so he just kind of opportunistically flails around in it, at one point wanting to move us on a humane level or get us to empathize with his characters, then switching them whenever it suits him into simple caricatures that manage to redefine themselves abruptly in the span of a single sentence. Thus, in Downsizing, we find scenes straight out of South Park (the explosion of the vault entrance, Matt Damon suddenly drumming in hippie rags at sunset), scenes that look like the result of a movie fan party (a trashed Matt Damon partying with Christopher Waltz and Udo Kier), and scenes that are long enough and sensitive enough that someone might actually realize they're supposed to be sobbing and shaking their head with a wistful grin at the power of love, even in the most unlikely moments. And my nerve centers in my brain are simply no longer flexible enough to switch between all these modes so quickly and randomly. (01/16/2018)

I like Alexander Payne's work very much and so far he has never disappointed me, but this one was a misstep. The basic premise is fine, I get what he wanted to convey to the audience, at the beginning it's full of interesting scenes and ideas, but in the last act it completely falls apart under the director's hands, when you get the feeling that Payne is either taking a solid piss at you or showing a loss of judgement. The only thing missing was Monty Python in a hug with Ashtar Sheran, I guess that's how unintentionally self-parodic it made me feel. It’s just a mess, what can I tell you? (04/11/2018)

A cute positive drama and a freshly startling conceptualization of a seemingly spectacular sci-fi subject devoted to a completely common man (as if Matt Damon is slowly taking over from Tom Hanks) and his completely ordinary worries. Alexander Payne wrote and filmed it his way, the trailers hardly divulged everything, so there is no lack of surprises, the humor is very enjoyable, Rolfe Kent's music is addictive and Christoph Waltz is totally great. If something was missing for me, then it was that Laura Dern had only a small role... But then again, she was there for a while at least. (01/24/2018)

I want to see this filmed by Wes Anderson! An engaging start takes the audience into an original film world promising unique viewing experiences, but then the creators resort to resolving some interesting issues in a way I didn’t really care for. It is not a case of wasted potential of an extraordinary film event, just a film event for a group of viewers I don’t belong to. Christoph Waltz’s Dušan amused me. I hope he’ll be discovered by the Coen brothers in The Big Lebowski type of comedy! (01/24/2018)