Movies: Oblivion

Oblivion is the second science fiction epic directed (and in this instance co-written) by Joseph Kosinski, whose previous work was the sequel Tron: Legacy. While both films are beautifully art directed and meticulously designed, Oblivion has a stronger story and more of an emotional connection to the characters from the audience, with crackerjack VFX to boot. Overall it's solid, if not spectacular, and Kosinski does need to keep working on those story skills, but he has improved picture-to-picture.

In 2077, we meet Tom Cruise as Jack, a drone retrieval and repair specialist. Andrea Riseborough plays Victoria, a communications officer. They are a professional and personal partnership (living in the most impressive bit of impossible architecture you'll never have the pleasure of inhabiting), acting as the 'clean up crew' before the remaining members of the human race gather up all the converted ocean hydrogen they can get and leave for Titan in a giant orbiting ship called 'The Tet' (short for tetrahedron). Years previous, Earth was attacked by an alien race (called 'Scavs', possibly short for scavengers) who, as their first offensive, smashed the Moon to smithereens, creating all sorts of earthbound collateral damage. They followed with an invasion that was stopped by humanity going nuclear. The migration to Titan is borne of necessity, as much of the Earth is uninhabitable for one reason or another. The drones are a necessity to protect the giant hydrogen processing plants from attack by the remnants of the failed 'Scav' invasion.

That's the setup, and the setup, as we learn the particulars of the world and the relationships of the characters within it, is the most enjoyable part of the picture. After a certain point Olga Kurylenko is along for the ride, as is Morgan Freeman. There are some man-versus-machine moments that are awesome and terrifying in their fury (those drones!). Interesting twists occur which could have been mind-blowing in the hands of a more skilled director. Toward the end of the film, the story settles into some sci-fi clichés that evolve to their forgone conclusions, and Oblivion loses some steam along the way (for example, reminding the audience of the cheesy film Independence Day during your climax is never a good thing). In retrospect, some of the internal logic (including the twists) doesn't exactly hold up to scrutiny.

One strength Kosinski exercises is his choice in music, again hiring a famed French electronic band to do the score. Where Legacy had Daft Punk making their first go at a motion picture score, here it's music by M83. You can officially stream the whole album from this site. I have to admit that one of the only reasons I went to see Legacy was to hear the Daft Punk score, and M83 is one of my favourite bands. The soundtrack was a little disappointing in that I found it had a little less of the M83 sound I love, and more of the generic Hollywood synth score that I'm mostly indifferent about. Not that the score is bad, but if you've heard their other work, you know how epic it could've been. That's sort of how I feel about the film as a whole.

Recommended to see on the big screen because of its beauty, but with reservations. As I said, it's solid, not spectacular.

Now bring on Elysium!

Movies: Upstream Color

Upstream Color is the second feature film by Shane Carruth, here working as writer, director, composer, and starring in a lead role (as the character Jeff). Carruth's first feature, Primer, was a low budget science fiction tale about a couple of engineers who accidentally invent a time travel device, and the consequences of inventing such a thing. Primer is perhaps the only time-travel film that has a flawlessly mapped out internal logic (and it's no wonder he later acted as a consultant on the film Looper). That first film made a big impression on a lot of people, who anxiously awaited Carruth's next project. Nine years (!) later, we have Upstream Color.

Amy Seimetz stars as Kris, a young professional that works at what appears to be a media company, who one night at a club is tasered, abducted, and subsequently infected (via airway transmission) with a parasite by a man listed in the credits only as 'Thief' (Thiago Martins). The parasite contains (or rather, may actually be) a plant-derived chemical that makes Kris highly suggestible, among other things. The Thief uses Kris' mental state to put her through a series of routines, deprives her of food, and ultimately has her sign away all of her savings to him. When he's done with her, he leaves. The parasite grows within her. The story is just beginning.

Did I mention the film is also deeply concerned about love, loss, identity, memory, and sound?

Here's where I'm going to stop with the plot description because at a certain point it's just going to be a laundry list of strange characters and bizarre occurrences intermingled with ordinary lives and truthful moments, and it will give away the entire film but not make much sense as a synopsis. It makes more sense as you're experiencing it than it does to read about it. It is not a conventional narrative.

Parasites and such might make you think of David Cronenberg's earlier work, but that's not really the tone here. Upstream Color is more dreamily melancholy than nightmarish. If it's reminiscent of the work of any other directors, I would say perhaps a subtle mash-up of Terrence Malick and Steven Soderbergh.

There's poetry to be found, visually (where the similarities between the composition of film frames and their content creates a sort of "rhyming"), and literally (Henry Thoreau's "Walden" plays an important role).

As someone who has a keen interest in the prospects of indie filmmaking but hasn't yet taken the plunge, I should note that the film was shot on a freeware-hacked, $900-ish Panasonic GH2 DSLR. While the image was likely enhanced before its release to theatres, it was slightly soft, especially during the opening. I still find it exciting that you can make a feature for theatrical release using equipment you can buy at Best Buy. The future is now!

While engaging for the most part, the languid, hallucinatory quality of parts of the film did actually put me to sleep at times. It happened mostly towards the very end; I was tired to begin with; and it was those "microsleep" experiences where you wake up, realize you were asleep, but then surmise from where you are in the film that you only missed a few seconds at most. I include this note only to suggest that, while I enjoyed it, I think the film is definitely not for everyone (especially, say, if you like your films with a little more action, and a little less parasitic infection).

I saw it at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. For other cities, here are the film's North American theatrical release dates.

EDIT 04/16/2013

The film's score can be streamed via Soundcloud here.

Also, here's an interesting interview: Shane Carruth on Control and the Self-Distribution of UPSTREAM COLOR.