Filed on iPhone: Paramount and Alexander Payne’s Cinemacon preview of Downsizing was awesome, brilliant, hilarious, sad and a tiny bit scary — an obvious Best Picture contender.
It’s well acted, earnest, scientifically palatable as far as it goes, emotionally honest, fascinating and darkly funny. And the visual & practical effects are top-notch. It’s going to be great — you can tell.
The title refers to shrinking people down to five inches, reducing their needs (less food, smaller houses and cars), expanding their purchasing power and generating a much, much smaller carbon footprint. Makes sense, good move, your banker and accountant approve.
Downsizing is going to be the shit — I only saw ten minutes worth and I just knew. We all did. It was obvious. A metaphor about totalitarianism, dehumanization, submission — it’s the new Metropolis. Wow.
Payne’s Downsizing, George Clooney’s Coen-esque Suburbicon, Darren Aronofsky’s un-screened Mother, Alex Garland’s Annhilation — Paramount’s four critical winners in ‘17, I’m thinking.