DOWNSIZING

DOWNSIZING PAYNE SECOND HIT

Film Review by FIORE

When Alexander Payne began making films, I was not a fan.  His work was mundane and preachy and generally had characters I did not care about nor found interesting.  He reached a career low with George Clooney in THE DESCENDANTS, an absolutely dreadful film.  After that debacle, I thought Payne would make my avoidance list, much like Nicholas Sparks. 

He took some time off, and came back with NEBRASKA.  The film was excellent.  I even used it in my university classes.  He now follows NEBRASKA with DOWNSIZING and once again rolls the ball down the alley for a strike.  I found myself laughing out loud at the hijinks in DOWNSIZING, and was amazed at how much the script seemed to poke parody of its star, Matt Damon.  By the time Hong Chau comes into the plot as Ngoc Lan Tran, the film had me hooked.

DOWNSIZING is a science-fiction film written with scorching sarcasm towards those immersed in the environmental movement.  Al Gore, still thinking the Earth has a fever, would not appreciate this movie.

The film begins with the premise of overpopulation as the planet’s crisis dilemma.  Scientists in Norway discover a method for shrinking man to a mere five inches, thereby allowing less consumption of raw materials and more space on earth.  There is a subtle reference to one of the greatest sci-fi films made, John Carpenter’s THE THING, when Damon’s character avers:  “They’re not Swedish, they’re Norwegian.”

Overpopulation is not the impending doom scenario it espoused to be in the late ‘60’s; yet scriptwriter Jim Taylor, working with Director Payne, easily persuades the audience the condition is real, and shrinking people is a most logical manner to rectify the problem.  Soon, however, they transform the tale into environmentalists living in the lap of luxury, as a net worth of $150,000 translates into $12.5 million when you’re small.  The most noble effort to save the planet quickly becomes a get rich scheme, much like Gore’s carbon tax.

Damon is Paul Safranek, a common man living a simple life.  His wife Audrey, played by Kristen Wiig, like most wives, is not content with life and wants more.  DOWNSIZING becomes their path to a luxurious lifestyle, while helping the planet.   Plans go awry when Audrey bucks the operation while doctors are shrinking Paul.  Now, their idyllic life becomes a nightmare of epic proportions.

 

Trapped in the world of Lilliputians, Paul discovers people, regardless of size, are just people.  His high moral ground of saving the planet is unmasked as idiotic futility.  Christoph Waltz and Udo Kier star as two entrepreneurs who attempt to reason with Paul and Chau is simply great as a survivor of the great TV box tragedy, who becomes, through brutal honesty, a dominating force in all their lives.

Technically, DOWNSIZING is weak, more on par with films of an earlier time, like  LAND OF THE GIANTS, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN AND THE THREE VOYAGES OF GULLIVER.  Phedon Papamichael keeps the matting purposely cheesy, adding to the absurdity of the script.

DOWNSIZING runs a tad long, clocking in at nearly two and a half hours.  Editor Kevin Tent is a bit heavy-handed, like with the drug party scene, and could easily have trimmed this to under two hours while maintaining the film’s integrity.  But the humor and script of DOWNSIZING is enough to carry the viewer through these foibles.  

DOWNSIZING is Payne’s second consecutive solid film.  It demonstrates a growing maturity in filmmaking and a better appreciation for mass audiences, something sorely lacking in previous endeavors.  It covers all the fundamental bases for the sci-fi genre, which always carries an element of social satire, while also ridiculing the very tenants of the premise.  This now brings to total, three films I can actually watch and enjoy Matt Damon in; truly a rare feat.  I found DOWNSIZING exceptionally biting and funny, though anyone believing in man’s arrogance that he can control nature, is sure to disapprove.