‘significant other’
Stream with Paramount+; Available for rent or purchase on most major platforms.
Dan Burke and Robert Olsen’s film begins with a mysterious red flare raining down from the sky, so it’s easy to guess who (or what) triggers the plot. It might not be friendly, as backpacking trips are pretty unlikely to work out like his sci-fi movies. In fact, after Harry (Jake Lacy, “White Lotus” season 1) and girlfriend Ruth (Maika Monroe, “It Follows”) set out on a remote road in Oregon, things took a turn for the worse. start going crazy She suffers from severe anxiety, takes medication and sees a therapist, but is careful not to ruin Jake’s carefully planned trip. And of course, with some nifty red herrings and plot twists to spice up the script, it all works out. “significant other(the title deftly plays several different meanings) is a close and effective hybrid of sci-fi and horror, where the fear is created not by shock tactics but by growing fear. That anguish is partly created in the viewer by good filmmaking. The movie is fast-paced, well-acted, and moody (just the CGI looks a little cheesy). And some of it is derived from “Significant Others” who deal with common interests. I mean, do we really know who we’re lying next to?
‘Infinity pool’
Following The Possessor (2020), Brandon Cronenberg continues his investigation into the nature of identity. This is the big theme of this week’s column, layered with elements of barbaric satire. It turns out that the wealthy can and will take advantage of the ability to shop on their own terms. everything. Alexander Skarsgård plays James, a struggling author who enjoys a high life thanks to his wealthy wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman). One fateful night, while the couple are vacationing in the fictional country of Li Toluca, James accidentally murders a local man. He escaped the death penalty by agreeing to create an alter ego of himself and see it executed. This shook him from the anomie, and he became involved with a group of wealthy, hedonistic vacationers (including Mia Goth and Jalil Lespert as a particularly perverse couple), who dug legal loopholes to become vile. Indulge in a kick. In “Infinity Pool”, impunity, which is called impunity, is rampant in the real world, and at this point, movie cloning technology may be just around the corner. This nightmare might be presented in the sun-kissed tones of fancy travel brochures, but that’s what makes it even more horrifying.
As Mounia Akul’s lovely understated debut feature begins, the title lets us know that this is the Lebanon of the Near Future. Beirut is almost completely crippled by a garbage crisis that has spiraled out of control. This does not affect the Bakri family, led by the stubborn Walid (Saleha Bakri), who live in self-sufficient isolation on their rural estate. One day, workers appeared and told Bakris that a landfill was coming next door. Walid’s family is less shaken about the matter than he is. His wife Sooraya (Nadine Labaki, director of films such as ‘Capernaum’ and ‘Caramel’), once a famous singer, misses her old life. Her new crisis may be the solution for her. My two young daughters are interested in changes in their routine. As blue garbage bags begin to appear in a previously pristine landscape, it’s hard not to be heartbroken by this vision of the planet slowly heading toward self-destruction. But at its core, “Lebanon, Costa Brava” is a delicately painted portrait of a family desperately trying to stay united in the face of a crazy world.
“Unidentified Object”
Peter (Matthew Jeffers) is in dire need of money, so his neighbor Winona (Sarah Hay) offers $1,700 in cash to drive him to Canada. do. He has other reasons to go with him than money, while Winona has an entirely different kind of mission. She tells Peter that she was abducted by the Andromedans when she was 15, and that she has just been asked to meet with them for the first time in a long time. A specific time and place in Canada. Road movies are a popular subgenre in the low-budget indie space, but Juan Felipe Zuleta’s feature films are by far the best. The director has a solid knack for composing and editing images (which sounds like a basic requirement of filmmaking, but is never taken for granted), and his films are a great example of Jeffers and Haye. supported by acting. Like many travel movies, Unidentified Object is built around a series of strange and heartbreaking encounters until the fateful moment when Peter and Winona arrive at their destination. I’m here. The payoff really works.
Artificial intelligence has long been obsessed with detective fiction, but a big shift is happening now. Reality is catching up. In this Canadian film directed by April Mullen, 7th generation “analogs” are physically indistinguishable from humans. (Nicely numbered like his high-end Apple products.) The big question is whether they’ve come close to us intellectually or emotionally. See, this is also our old friend’s “ambiguous identity”!
Major characters include a couple (Jordana Brewster and Robbie Amell) whose husband has been replaced by an exact android copy due to an accident. An Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement Agency agent (Sam Worthington) tracks down an illegally rebooted “sim”. and an engineer with mysterious intentions (Sim Liu).
“Simulant” falls short every time you try to make an action, and Blitz//Berlin’s fiery score doesn’t help. No one would mistake this for “Blade Runner”. The film stands more firmly as a relationship drama, in the vein of the British series Human, where man-made creations are called “synths”. A major theme is the increasingly blurred line between human and artificial. “Do Sims have souls?” can they love? In this hall of mirrors, you never know who is the original and who is the reflection, and what, if anything, separates the two.
