A cool idea that takes too long
Film critic Jason Evans has made it his mission to tell you everything you need to know about movies in less time than it takes to let AI ruin your relationship. His reviews are exactly 100 words long (99 would be too short, but 101 is just excessive). Here is his 100-word review of Foe.
The Premise – In the year 2065, Earth is rapidly becoming
unlivable due to climate change. Junior (Paul Mescal) and his wife Henrietta (Saorise
Ronan) live on a remote farm in middle America. One day they are approached by
a scientist (Aaron Pierre) who says the government has drafted Junior to be
part of an experiment where he would live on a space station for two years.
But, the scientists don’t want to leave Henrietta all alone so they are going
to provide her with a perfect replica of Junior in the form of an AI robot.
Junior is very skeptical of this plan and does not want to leave his wife. As
the deadline for Junior to leave (and for the AI to replace him) approaches,
the couple’s relationship begins to twist and turn in unexpected ways. The film
is written and directed by Garth Davis who won numerous awards for his film “Lion”
back in 2016.
The 100 Words – Foe is a challenging film that has some
interesting things to say, but struggles with a glacial pace that may cause
audiences to tune out**. I suspect Garth Davis though the sci-fi mystery at the
core of the film would make up for the long moments of quiet contemplation and
dust that seem to permeate so much of this flick, but the mystery isn’t nearly
as clever as he thinks. The premise here is compelling and the acting is first
rate, but this would have been better as an hour-long episode of Black Mirror
rather than a 110 minute feature.
**- I saw this in a theater, but I really worry that folks
watching at home via streaming on Amazon will lose interest.
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