Dejar el mundo atrás

Después del No mires arriba de hace dos años, Netflix, con el final del año sirve una nueva comedia y al mismo tiempo  una sátira apocalíptica helada, y si esta tendencia continúa durante otro año, estaré bastante satisfecho, aunque esta vez tengo más reservas. Buen elenco, gran creación de atmósfera. Es admirable que Sam Esmail pueda mantener al espectador en suspenso durante toda la duración de las 140 minutos, sin embargo, el problema surge al final, donde se le explica al espectador todo el desarrollo previo y al mismo tiempo el mensaje de la película de una manera tan literal para que incluso un tonto analfabeto lo entendiera. Además, el mensaje está relacionado con personajes cuyo comportamiento caricaturesco y la sobre-dramatización de problemas importantes sirven al tono de la película, pero resultan artificial y un poco molestos. Lástima. Sin embargo, pulgar arriba por la escena final enfatizando la importancia de poseer soportes físicos a pesar de ser lanzados en Netflix. Heh. (20.12.2023)

De la fiesta de Netflix No mires arriba y Ruido de fondo. Y apuntando al blanco tan bien como las dos películas mencionadas, pero no acertando como uno esperaba. Diálogos cognitivos con algunos pensamientos existenciales, pero que no son reveladores en modo alguno. El dramatismo de la película potencia las escenas de tensión creciente, que cada vez sólo nos dan una pista de lo que podría estar pasando "ahí fuera". Y ciervos digitales para darle un toque de misticismo, pero sin una integración significativa en la estructura de la trama. La elegante cámara que intenta lograr cierta invención envuelve, pero no alcanza la atrevida creatividad de Jordan Peele. Y el nivel conversacional sólo intenta hacer sociología a nivel de guionista europeo o asiático. Aun así, la película es divertida y vale la pena verla. Y también entiendo que alguien puede considerarla una interesante contribución alternativa al género de desastres. Así es exactamente como eso podría suceder. (13.12.2023)

Sam Esmail, the creator of the praised series Mr. Robot, directs an apocalyptic psychological thriller about a cyber attack for Netflix, with a decent cast and definitely higher potential. But Esmail and Netflix deserve a thumbs up, as there can never be enough good mystery conspiracy thrillers. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and even Kevin Bacon in a smaller role make a for a good ensemble cast, so even though it is mainly a conversational drama-thriller with a longer running time than healthy, the film is fortunately not boring. (Of course, it depends on the individual.) I liked the mysterious atmosphere that accompanies the whole film, the division into chapters, and the craftsmanship. The few apocalyptic shots are very nice (although they could have been longer and there could have been more of them). There are plenty of questions and few answers, which wouldn't be a problem if the film didn't have a strange ending where you expect a proper twist and gets that instead. I always have the feeling that when filmmakers are unsure how to end the film and are afraid they don't have a well-thought-out twist, they end it randomly like this, but this doesn't apply in this case. I'm not completely thrilled about it, I expected a bigger mindfuck experience, but compared to the latest Shyamalan, it's definitely a class better. Although there were a few things that bothered me, overall I have no problem with it, and the film receives a weaker 4 stars from me. However, the idea is definitely terrifying. 7/10. (12.12.2023)

Praise for the first four chapters: It's as if elements from the best disaster flicks of the last three decades came together. The suspicion of something dangerous, like in Take Shelter, and the view of a global catastrophe through the microcosm of ordinary people who have no influence on the situation, like in Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Sam Esmail builds the tension of each scene fantastically (I'll remember the tanker for a long time), with clever camera rides that make it all look very cinematic – I couldn't count the iconic scenes with the fingers on one hand. The actors are all man great, except for the young boy, and Mahershala Ali gives it his best performance. With him, all it takes is one scene of him telling his ominous tale to Juliet over wine and it gives you the chills of a first-rate horror film. The daughter's adoration of Friends and her main concern for how the last episode turned out, even though everything is going to shit around her in real life, is such an apt satirical dig at the need of some shallow-minded individuals for whom even the slightest banality is enough to fulfill life. Unfortunately, it loses it's previous mojo in the last instructional chapter. The mystery evaporates and its explanation is like something out of a Trumpist paranoid pamphlet about how the whole world is against the US and that the truth is in the hands of the preppers who have had their packs of basic necessities ready for years, or who have thrown their entire savings into an underground bunker. I think that on Judgment Day I’ll be taking a quiet nap :o) (05.01.2024)

Concentrated building of apocalyptic tension that employs clever work with perspective reminiscent of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (including the way Esmail microdoses the disaster). In emotional terms, we find ourselves between the brightest moments of Shyamalan, Peele and the masterful Take Shelter, but transposed from the working class to New York’s upper middle class. In my opinion, Leave the World Behind is a much more accurate depiction of the catastrophic zeitgeist than all of those hyped-up eco-anti-capitalist satires. It works primarily as a film and some of the statements from the mouths of the believable characters directed against the system and society come off better than in the case of pompous puppet shows. Great work with the camera trajectories, precise actors (Mahershala Ali winner by KO), excellent sound design... If not for a few tonal stumbles, this would be without doubt one of the best disaster films of recent years. (20.12.2023)