2025, Flying Lotus (Kuso) -- Amazon
Contradicting that statement, Ash came along square in the Toasty Realm as "of course you will be watching it", the realm of scifi, of horror, of a movie with style. And it starred Eiza González, whom I am never adverse to watching. But not long into the movie I felt as if the whole red-alarm-bells tinted movie was devised with only the "male gaze" in mind. Sure, she is the star and therefore the camera should focus on her, have lots of close-ups on her anxiety and fear filled face, and sure, the movie didn't go down the path of a "token nude scene" (though, it did setup one via the "wash the blood off shower scene") but so very little of consequence actually happens in the movie, I felt as if the only reason we were here was to gaze upon her.
Riya (Eiza González, 3 Body Problem) wakes up on the floor of her room, the lights flickering, alarms going off, covered in blood. She has no idea what is going on, no recent memory, no understanding why people are dead throughout the station, and why she is having flashes of violence. She steps outside the facility she is in, an unfamiliar sky above, more flashes but of a psychedelic nature, the sky folding in upon itself, and then she starts having issues breathing. This is an atmosphere not meant for humans.
Back inside she investigates, but soon after the airlock cycles and while she almost attacks him, it is Brion (Aaron Paul, Westworld), from their orbiter, who was monitoring things in this station. He fills her in on a bit of who she is, why they are there and what they have to do next. They are one of a number of interstellar expeditions seeking habitable planets for Earth to escape to. The other missions have failed; it is now all on them. They have 12 hours before the orbital aligns with their launch vehicle, so there is time to better understand what is going on.
Except this is a scifi horror movie with muddy intentions.
I have no idea who Flying Lotus is, but from what Kent said, they are known in the music industry, from music videos to producing. And it is clear they had a visual intent for this movie, from the dominating colours (just Google the movie and you will see the Red vs Blue) to the chosen camera angles (let's all stare at González's face in terror and confusion) and the weird blobby CGI alien stuff. But despite having some budget to work with, none of it actually works. Its all cobbled together from better, and TBF worse, movies with competing ideas. Why does she keep on seeing imagery of faces melting? Nobody had their face melted off, so its just for effect. What was up with that sky? What was up with the brief scene of an idyllic planet and a field of flowers? Once the "real story" is explained to us, we can fill in some blanks on our own, but none are satisfying and much felt like "look at this! this is neat!" imagery best left for music videos. I think back to movies made by music video producers, and The Cell comes to mind, with its insane imagery and intent and style and I recall being moved along by their heavy choices and loving it, just being swept up in what came out Tarsem's head. This is not that.
It leaves me frustrated and just a bit angry. Is it me? Am I expecting too much? Am I allowing all the other aspects of my frustrating and anger inducing life influence how I watch movies? Would Toasty in a better mood have liked this movie more, maybe during 31 Days of Halloween ? Am I doomed to being bored by or disliking just about everything I watch? Or is it the industry right now...
No comments:
Post a Comment