Parts Per Billion

"Nothing is left. The radio stopped. There's no more planes or helicopters. When's the last time we heard anything other then birds?" After a man made virus escapes the entire world is threatened. The fast moving and fast acting bug is bringing about the end of the world with no hope for a cure. Three couples each deal with it in their own way. Even though their stories and experiences are different they realize that life revolves around one thing, love. For some reason ideas and plots for movies seem to come in clumps and no matter what they get made back to back to back. Armageddon and Deep Impact came out very close together. So did Volcano & Dante's Peak, Olympus Has Fallen & White House Down, and Legend Of Hercules and soon Hercules. This movie is part of the new up and coming trend, movies about a man made virus that causes the apocalypse. Contagion, It's A Disaster, Goodbye World and the more recent ones just to name a few. All of them have their good qualities but like so many copy cat movies they are never as good as the original. This one is no exception. Overall, good movie with a very good cast but it is very depressing so you must be in the mood for it. Not as good as Contagion. I give this a B-.

Brian Horiuchi's "Parts per Billion" is about rising chaos as trade winds blow toxins from the Middle East westward, but the focus is on the characters and how they try to get on with their lives amid the disorder. I interpret this to mean that the movie's gist is that we have to avoid giving into sheer hysteria when something bad happens. We've seen how psychotic people can get when they're scared, whether with 9/11 or with Ebola. As for the movie itself, most of it came across as a little slow. I did think that "Outbreak" (which emphasized the biology) and "Contagion" (which depicted the government agencies as competent*) were better.

*This is in stark contrast to the movies that portray the rugged individual saving the day.

"Parts Per Billion" is a film written and directed by Brian Horiuchi. It's very well made—with some really nice acting. However, it's also one of the most depressing films you could ever watch and I don't think most folks would want to see a film quite like this—especially since it seems very obvious where all this is headed.

When the film begins, you learn that some sort of biological weapon was unleashed in the Middle East. Soon, folks in that part of the world start dropping dead and it seems like the weapon will spare no one in the immediate area. However, when the effects start spreading globally, it seems like perhaps no one will be left alive. However, this film is not so much about this directly but how a few individuals react to all this. Some fight desperately to survive, some ignore the inevitable and some can't stand to face life in this post-apocalyptic world and are ready to just give up. Naturally, these scenarios are depressing and the film keeps cutting back from one story to the next.

The film stars a few famous folks—with some really nice performances by veteran actors Frank Langella and Gena Rowlands as well as Josh Hartnett and Rosario Dawson (among others). The direction is also good, though in a few scenes I was annoyed by a modern filming technique which I think is way overused—the unsteady cam (it can make you nauseous if you see too much of this on the big screen). But the combination of the music, writing, acting and director's touch is quite good.

I am going to make this review rather short. Suffice to say if you like Robin Cook stories about pandemics, then you'll probably enjoy "Parts Per Billion" (well, enjoy might not be the right word for this). However, it's a lot more depressing than most of Cook's doom and gloom scenarios—much! Well made but so thoroughly unpleasant I am not sure who would really want to see this one. My advice is see it if you want, but if you are suffering from depression or are worried that this one might make it tough for you to sleep, I suggest you try something else. Well done but awful to watch at times.

But with a Whimper, that is how the world ends" So wrote TS Eliot. Spoiler Alert, some plot points revealed. I have seen many of the, "End of the World" scenarios played out, of late. This one takes a more intimate approach then many, closer in spirit to movies like, "Melancholia" which only hinted at the global repercussions. Three or more couples, journey to meet their fate. The cutting from past to present,to a possible future, is done seemingly randomly, As is the mixing and interweaving of each couples background recollections. It's all here folks, the love and the tears, the hopes and the fears, only in the end to seem pathetic and meaningless. with the exception of the little girl shot, which if showing the future offers the possibility of redemption. Ultimately it did get wearisome, toward the end, even all the passionate embraces could not enliven. I am grateful for these independent films to hire senior actors,and younger actors too. There were a few touching moments, scenes well played, I liked the soap label scene, having had personally met Dr Bronner, of the "All One" persuasion. I thought the "sick boy" parable was creditable.

I suppose my biggest objection with, "Parts in a Billion" was the seeming haphazard editing. For example; We see a nurses body, and then we flashback to get the story of the nurse. Things like that made the events anti climatic. Not a good story telling device.

The actors took their parts in earnest, the film was capably shot, with good production values, The music was marginal, pared down to suit the action. last word, Yeah, it was a depressingly serious little movie.

I kept watching thinking surely this movie would develop and do something other than bad mush. The bubble gum philosophy was mangled to the point it begged to be put out of it's misery. The acting was first rate but the script doesn't even move enough to be coherent or incoherent. It just lays there softly whimpering and perhaps whimpering is too strong a word. It would be impossible to write a spoiler for this movie since something would need to happen to spoil. What a waste of a great cast. Give me a week and I could write something considerably better than this. Even the romantic angle was bled out so painfully slow with so many pointless interruptions that it does not even rate up with a trashy romance novel. Save your eyes, mind and any other organs you wish to spare the agony of enduring this movie.