Évolution

Lucile Hadzihalilovic's long awaited follow-up to 2004's 'Innocence', the main characters in 'Évolution' are once again children nearing puberty, but whereas 'Innocence''s young cast consists of girls, all of the children here are boys. The plot involves one such boy discovering the dead body of another with a starfish attached to him, which seems to provoke all the mothers in town to send their boys to hospital, despite none feeling ill. As with 'Innocence', the plot is hardly straightforward here and it would be remiss to fixate over working out what is going on when it is such a thematically rich experience. The ideas at hand all pertain to normal growing up experiences, from a fascination with how humans reproduce to interest in the naked female form. One might even interpret the film as a living nightmare with the boy's very worst fears over such things manifesting themselves. Is human reproduction really that monstrous do naked women really have such strange bodies? The film is certainly littered with enough lush imagery and moments of eerie beauty that it is hard to bring a straightforward reading to the film. And yet, whereas the same can be said about 'Innocence', it is easier to interpret what is happening there. 'Innocence' also benefits from all its girls being three dimensional characters whereas all of the boys here are interchangeable. Simply put, 'Évolution' is not nearly as satisfying as 'Innocence' with an equal dearth of answers - but it is still a wondrous audiovisual experience the causes one to think as per Hadzihalilovic's earlier work.

This movie is the equivalent of watching a famous painter perform his craft; you stand there, amazed at the beauty being demonstrated, and then when it's all over, you wonder, "What did he just paint?". I am all for films that make you think and create an ambiguous air in both storytelling and message, but this film is beyond absurd. The premise, the events that transpire throughout the movie, the lack of rhyme or reason as to why the events are taking place in the first place, etc. It was like a puzzle with not only missing pieces, but with each piece a part of a different puzzle. It's beautiful shot with some amazing cinematography, so be prepared to be amazed at some of the vistas shown throughout the film. But the movie just does not make any sense, and the ending does not clarify anything, nor does it bring it all together. Had it clarified some of the events, it actually would have been a great art film. As it stands, it's quite possibly the most nonsensical movie I have ever seen. I would not recommend watching it.

Evolution looked interesting in the previews, which left me wanting to see more. Sadly, after watching the movie, I was left feeling like I had walked somewhere but stayed in the same place.

The movie is a very stylistic an artful rendering of some place near the water where children play and their mothers care for them. The strangeness of the place slowly (and I mean slowly) becomes obvious. We soon notice that there are no grown adult males, for instance. There is very little that I can say that will spoil the movie, but I will refrain from going into anything that might be construed as a plot element. Suffice it to say, the movie is about 90% ambiance, with some beautiful shots. The underwater shots contrastingly more beautiful than the starkness and dullness of the village life. There were shots in which I measured a character literally staring at the lens for nearly one minute - and yes, I looked at my watch.

Evolution is, sadly, like riding in a beautiful elevator with some soothing background music playing through ceiling-mounted speakers. We feel like we are enveloped in the ambiance of that moment, staring in the same direction as everyone else. We may or may not notice the music, the ornate trim, or the polished floor. We just want to get to our floor. Or, perhaps, if it takes too long, we may consciously notice what song is playing. Nevertheless, at the end, the doors open and we get out, the elevator not leaving any impression on us. It got us somewhere, but we don't care, we are here where we always thought we would be, no thanks to the elevator. That is Evolution, a mildly satisfying piece of semi-conscious background images and sounds that dumps us at the end of the ride and lets us go on with our lives - we don't know if we liked it, it was beautiful but we are indifferent and only thankful that we did not go crashing, because it could have been worse.

OK, so where was I going before? .... oh yes, here is my floor.

A little like an abstract painting that refuses to represent recognizable subject matter in favor of expressing a "mood." Contrary to what others here have said, there *is* a story-line. The problem is that the underlying narrative structure is too basic to support so many elaborate, mystifying trappings.

It helps to know that the director based the movie on the experience she had when she was 10 and went to a hospital to get her appendix taken out. So given the main character's nightmarish attempt to figure out what's happening to him, we're basically seeing an elaborate series of puzzling visual metaphors for the director's disorienting personal experience as a child in hospital.

This movie isn't hiding anything or failing to be coherent. It just wants to be a darkly evocative visual collage instead of a straight-up narrative. Accordingly, it's rewardingly rich visually, but it's like a poem that sounds great but doesn't involve you in anything really important. All of the many unanswered questions it raises make it hard to let the visuals just wash over you.

In other words, behind all the evocative, disturbing imagery (again "unsettling" is the best word) it's *just* a retelling of a personal experience; there isn't a deeper message than "fear of the unknown." For me that wasn't enough.

The mood is conveyed. The story is told. It's just not terribly profound.

I never write reviews, but I feel compelled in this instance to do so. It seems to me that this movie is done a grave injustice by giving it the moniker of "horror" film.

Horror implies a lot of things, and some of them are present here. There is a sense of unease and tension. The main character certainly has reason to doubt the sincerity of those who are "caring" for him. For some people, there are elements which might be "disturbing." However, the same can be said for films like Boys Don't Cry and Eraser Head. Though these two films have little to nothing in common either with each other or with Evolution, they two contain "distressing" elements, but are not horror movies.

The reason this seems important to me is that horror comes with expectations that this film is not meant to fulfill. This film would better be viewed with the idea, instead, that it is portraying, beautifully, an archetypal dream world, that it is something of a Jungian fantasy.

It is full of references to the chthonic nature of the mothers - the ocean, the cave, dark mysterious rooms, the mysterious nature of the mothers themselves. The androgynous nature of the mothers is important, as well. The doors left open through which the boy can, if he chooses, pass.The boy's sketch book in which he draws his OWN archetypes, ferris wheels and cars among other things which we are to understand are not among those he has consciously experienced is perhaps the most brilliant example. All of these things are part of the boy's hero myth, of his gradual act of individuation as he questions his way through this world. There are two possible fates awaiting this boy as there are for any active mind. Will he passively accept his fate among the mothers, or will he rebel? The thing is, you don't have to be interested in psychology to feel these things - they are natural. They are dream elements, and this film is, in a way, a beautiful dream. If it is watched without an expectation of that which makes a horror movie "horrible," there are layers and layers here that can be enjoyed without reference to terminology. You can FEEL them. You can SEE them.

In the latter department, this film succeeds wondrously. Every single frame is perfectly positioned to draw us in. It is glorious to look at. The score is also very subtle and beautiful.

It really is an amazing film. I just think you have to come at it with as few preconceptions as possible. And you definitely should leave the notion of "horror" at the door. If, then, you DO experience horror, it will be a genuine reaction, and if you don't, you won't feel like the film has failed you.