Advantageous

I can't figure out why this got such a low rating. Those of us who feel our middle class existence slipping away from us and our children will appreciate the contemporary feel. I would think any man with a wife or daughter in the working world (or any women who have a career or aspire to one) may find the film hitting a bit too close to home.

The story was well-written, the acting reasonably good, and the cityscape both attractive and well-created.

It prompts a discussion of the very nature of self: Who am I, who will I be in the future; if I have my heart surgically replaced, I am still me, no? What about my brain? What about ... everything?

It starts out as some parallel future where medical advances allow for certain procedures to be done. And marketing. Single moms exist in the future still and so does aging. Real life problems, drama ensues. Of very vanilla variety plus the sprinkles of sci-fi nefarious experimentalism. It just kind of rolled along, unfolding, doing the thing stories do.

It wasn't until the very last scene that tied it all together for me and then it hit me like a ton of bricks that the whole movie was an elaborate setup of this clincher. And it's not what you think. I burst out in tears as the credits began to roll as I wondered at the brilliance I just witnessed. It was so unexpected. Anyway, I'm probably blowing it out of proportion, but I recommend watching this.

Wow. I had no idea what to expect when I put this on, but it blew me completely away. I am certain that the pacing may alienate many a viewer expecting every, "good" sci-fi to be filled mainly with spectacular future-tech fighting, and maybe scratch the surface of big questions in a futuristic society.

Advantageous do approach the latter, although nuanced, and more subtle than most films in this genre do. First and foremost, Advantageous focus on what defines the parent/child-relationship through portrayals of emotions and behavior that feel real. Not overly dramatic, not "scripted" like in most movies, but like the breathing dialectics of how those mechanics do work in real life.

The stage is set in a dystopian future. There are elements of class conflict, and philosophical approaches to defining the Id and the Ego. But these are still all secondary to the parental element. I didn't feel that the topics were rushed, too complicated, pretentious or superficially presented in any way, but that might be a matter of my approach as a viewer; my focus on the movie while it ran, and my general interest in the subjects in my own life.

I also found Advantageous to be stylistically excellent. From the general designs, locations, wardrobe, make-up, CGI. The lead actors did a great job, and the directing was superbly executed. Same goes for both editing and the atmospheric soundtrack; technical elements that I find myself often annoyed at in many a modern movie.

I'd put Advantageous under the same banner as Her and Ex Machina, for comparison. Although it should be noted that the melancholic joyfulness from Her, and the enigmatic suspense from Ex Machina are both lacking completely here as Advantageous is a lot more of a subtle epic, with a focus on the humane interrelationships much more than what both those movies do. And to me, that was exactly what made Advantageous such a brilliant, unique gem, although I dearly love both Her and Ex Machina as well.

I can't stop thinking how realistic is this view of the future of a trickle down world, hiding behind the cloaks of computerised and anonymous social systems. Well worth watching, a social commentary wrapped up in a scifi blanket. With humanity struggling and failing to define itself.

This is quite an intriguing take on the theme of the singluarity. What happens during uploading (transferring the consciousness to a new vessel)? In terms of the cognition, this work seems to reflect the latest advances in terms of the scientific work that has been done the last years. One of the key one of the findings being that the consciousness that we experience is tied to the body and their intertwined growing process. Studies of evolution, robotics and neuroscientists seem to converge on this idea. Enough of guessing the scientific Zeitgeist... What is astonishing about the movie is the fundamental level the theme is approached. Dance is important. It shows from the beginning to the end. And through the very nature of movement, the archaic, the everyday-things, those striving for that higher purpose will probably halt and think (if they see, and not just watch). This work puts great and visionary ideas in a very human context. This review is written with the movie still undigested, so it might sound a bit raw and weird. In any case it made quite an impression on me.