The Dark Year: Annihilation

2018, Alex Garland (Civil War) -- Netflix

Because we never have enough projects in this Blog, I am creating one of my own, wherein I indulge my desire to rewatch a movie (because sometimes a rewatch is easier than absorbing a new movie) but also fill in a blank left by the Great Hiatus of 2018. It will be more interesting to me to see what I will be willing to rewatch, than see what I missed writing about.

Its safe to say we, as in Kent and I, like Alex Garland. And yet, as I began to rewatch this for the first time since it came out, I realized I almost never rewatch his movies, or TV for that matter, even though his body of directorial work is tiny. To be honest, even if I include his writing, his full collection of work is not that large. And yet, the emotional impact of what he creates has left a vast impression on me. And I bethinks I am generally uncomfortable with revisiting that emotional reaction. Except Dredd -- I will continue to watch the shit out of that movie.

I recall being on the fence about this movie. In the theoretical world of Toast (me, not the bread), there is a nebulous genre that is just perfect, a weird cross-over of scifi and horror, odd but contemplative and something different. This was that, in fact coming from the renowned Southern Cross book series by Jeff VanderMeer, one of the seminal books of the "new weird" sub-genre. And yet, I cannot get into the books, having made at least three attempts to read. And I recall appreciating this movie more than ... enjoying it. And I came out of this second viewing pretty much affirming that opinion.

Can you consider yourself as finding something perfect, yet never actually having truly been exposed to it?

We start with the "tell us what happened" interrogation scene common enough in movies -- Lena (Natalie Portman, Black Swan) is in the chair, Lomax (Benedict Wong, 3 Body Problem) is in a containment suit, asking the questions, surrounded by a wall of others also in suits, just listening. She is the lone survivor of something. Cut to a meteor hitting... well not so much as hitting, as coming to a halt beside a lighthouse on the coast.

Lena is a biology professor who knows cells. She also knows grief, as its been a year since her husband went on a mission and never returned. And yet, as she finally settles on acceptance enough to repaint their bedroom, he appears behind her. He's confused, he's off, he's acting ... alien. He doesn't know where he was or even how he got there. And then they're in an ambulance, and he is bleeding out. And then they are stopped by the men in the black helicopters.

Lena is introduced to Southern Cross, a facility on the edge of something they call The Shimmer, not very creative but that's what it looks like, as if a section of a swamp on the east coast was encased in a shimmering oily bubble. Its what struck the lighthouse and over the years its been expanding. They have sent drones in, equipment in, people in but nothing ever comes back. Until Lena's husband Kane (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight). And his body is breaking down.

So, Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Possessor) is going in. If male soldiers couldn't do the job, then maybe female specialists could? Anya (Gina Rodriguez, Awake) is an EMT, Josie (Tessa Thompson, Westworld) is a physicist, Sheppard (Tuva Novotny, The Abyss) is a geomorphologist, Lena is a biologist and Ventress is a psychologist. Its a rare choice in scifi to dominate the screen with women, with zero hint of sexualizing anything. Its refreshing, but also its not really called out beyond the obvious. Once inside their gender is not at play, at all.

Once inside, shit gets real weird, and for me, it played out well, but disappointingly... not weird enough? This is a slow-take movie, it takes its time, let's us absorb that something beyond comprehension is happening here. To make the moment hit home, right after they step through the barrier, we see Lena crawl out of a tent, somewhat confused. So are the others. They don't remember anything after pass through the shimmer. But their rations show they have been there at least three days. Gulp.

Inside shit is real weird. Light bends and refracts and ...shimmers. Swamps are already places teeming with life, but here the green is supplemented by bright colours, molds and vines and flowers all growing and mutating all over the place --- multiple species growing on the same plant. A doubling of things. Its definitely showing us something about growth, about constant mutation. Like the giant albino gator that jump-scares Anya, but cold-blooded Lena shoots down before it can eat anyone, its mouth a fractal spiral of teeth, sort of like a shark but... not. Like the bear that eats Sheppard, and then returns mimicking her dying screams like a terrible lyrebird. Like the body of the soldier found in a swimming pool, a member of Kane's mission team, which has burst, spread, grown, reached ... out. 

But for me, the movie fell apart as it reached its climax. It went beyond the weird, and entered the entirely alien. As Lena and Ventress went further in, closer to the lighthouse, as the other women were ended, one by one, the movie embraces the otherness of the region they are in, the absolute alien nature. There are brief glimpses of something, someone that has come here, that wishes to double us, but there is little attempt at explanation. The ending of the movie plays out like Lost on hallucinogenics. 

And sure, it played out as all Garland movies play out, left me rung out emotionally, struck dumb by the experience. But in this movie, the climax was not ... satisfying. The journey weighed more than the destination. I was left wanting.

Wait what? Kent didn't write about it?