2073

Ignore this being called a "movie". It is not. It is a documentary punctuated by some illustrative fictional moments. Just keep in mind that this can be a very upsetting viewing experience.

As if we needed anything else to make us angry, divided, stressed, worried, etc, this hard slap across our faces is meant to wake us up to what is actually happening in our world...and where we are heading if we let it. No wonder the 1% want us to keep our eyes locked on our smartphones and Tik Tok.

I was not expecting this when I pressed play, but I'm glad I squirmed through it.

Be sure and stay beyond the credits, as there is an interesting hidden scene.

I need a drink...

The documentary parts and the fictional parts did not really link together well. Perhaps if the short running time had been extended a more involving narrative to connect the two could have been presented.

But it was well edited, with news footage included that is often censored from the mainstream media, making an uncomfortable watch for some. Whatever message you get is likely distorted by your own left/right biases, though its likely that those with right wing views will opt out after a few minutes, after all, there is much to think about here.

On the very day I watched this, the news was filled with out of control wildfires in California, mark Zuckerberg joining Elon Musk on his ' free unmoderated speech' crusade, The Trump proclaiming how he might invade Greenland, Canada, and Panama?

A few years back, crises would arise, take up all of the news, fade away, then everything back to normal. Its possible we might never see normal again?

I almost skipped out on this movie after taking a glance at the lackluster reviews. But then I noticed a pattern: It really felt like a lot of the reviewers didn't even give the movie a chance before tuning out.

Samantha Morton truly shines in this film - she does a great job at conveying a staggering amount of emotion with her facial expressions alone. (Her character is mute.) The story is mainly told from her POV through narration that is both nostalgic and pensively depressing.

The movie paints a prescient and chilling vision of what our future could look like in the next ~50 years, given our current trajectory. Blending real-life archival footage and stark depictions of an authoritarian future, it offers a sobering reminder of how fragile our freedoms can be.

While the movie doesn't provide much hope or a clear way to fight back against 'the machine,' I felt this was intentional. The bleakness perfectly reflects the circumstances of the characters, leaving you with a haunting sense of inevitability.

It's not a light or hopeful film, but it's one that left an impression which will stick with me for a long time.

As "2073" (2024 release from the UK; 84 min) opens, we are in the year 2073 in New San Francisco, "capital of the Americas". The US has become a very dystopian police state. We get to know a mute woman named Ghost, whose grandmother was disappeared years ago. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Oscar-winning British director Asip Kapadia ("Amy"), Here he brings a movie that is half fiction and half fact. The fictional part looks at what it might be like in the year 2073. The factual part comes in flashbacks as we see the terrible things playing in the world with authoritarians and wanna-be authoritarians (take a bow, Mr. T., you're almost there), with climate change and worse, etc. Etc. It's just that fiction and fact don't mix very well. And yes, also this: it makes for a mostly depressing viewing experience. But I will give Kapadia credit for the audacity to try. And of course he simply reflects what 's playing out in the world, and it ain't a pretty picture, that's for sure...

"2071" premiered at last year's Venice film festival. Not sure if it ever got a US theatrical release (I kinda doubt it). But I stumbled on this on Max just the other night, and decided to give it a shot. The movie is currently rated only 53% Certified Fresh, and here also I believe it is more a reflection of the movie being anything but an uplifting viewing experience, rather than being a bad movie. If you have an interest in geopolitics (both current and projected), I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Let me start by saying that I agree with all of the politics, and all of the warnings in this movie.

Despite that, this is a terrible movie. There is no story, the characters are not developed, the plot is thin as wax paper, and I honestly don't think much effort was made for it to be otherwise. The film is a vehicle for delivering the political message.

For me, that's not good enough. Better to call it a documentary and to just explicitly make that argument.

The producers intersperse political history from 1980s-2024 to explain how the world tumbled into a fascist global system, where average people are serfs, and only a few wealthy people survive, on the backs of labor performed by robots and AI.

I agree. I agree. But a movie also has to be entertaining. This was slow, boring, depressing (as is the news today), and painful to watch.