Foe

Originally published on 10/10/23 on Letterboxd

The consequences of Black Mirror- profoundly inane speculative fiction with its head so far up its ass it can’t see daylight, much less the fact that its central thematic conceit is just so fundamentally dull. Every conversation here is hollow bloviating, not aided by the absolute bare minimum (and at times below-average) shot coverage that descends below “perfunctory” and instead strives for “qualifies as technically having a cameraperson on set”. Even the occasional interspersion of sexual intrigue through the arrival of a government bureaucrat threatening a marriage through shattering the barrier between their relative rural idyll and aspirations to interstellar conquest- something that is increasingly becoming a source of genuine concern in the real world- is never really explored with any genuine interest in the implications it might have for the emotional fabric of this couple’s marriage. In that vein, it resembles Cassavetes less than it does David Lowery (whose portentous sludge seems to have irrevocably shaped the course of indie film over the past decade).

Saoirse Roman shines as Saoirse Ronan and little more in a role that demands little else than strained mawkishness- in fairness, though, Garth David has such little concern for how his Malcolm-Gladwell-level intellectual facade (very much trying to answer Big Questions™️ in the mode of dimwits like Gladwell) treats the inner world of a housewife that I’m not sure whether Ronan could have really made more out of the role than she does here. Mescal, bless his heart, makes a valiant attempt, but no amount of a well-fabricated Midwest accent will stop you from cackling at his emotional crescendo being a pained monologue about fucking snot. By the time of the denouement that doesn’t do much as hit you with the head of the film’s themes as much as it does curbstomp you with it, I felt the impulse to walk out- something that is exceedingly rare for me.

Foe suggests that the future will be a cruel, ugly and pointless place- it’s a shame it lets that concern bleed into rendering the film cruel, ugly and pointless.