Downsizing (2017)

“When you know death comes soon, you look around things more close” – Ngoc Lan Tran

Number of Times Seen – 1 (14 Jun 2018)

Brief Synopsis – After technology has a breakthrough that allows for the ability to miniaturize people, a man and his wife consider making the change in order to get a better social standing since it would allow them to life a rich lifestyle.

My Take on it – This is a film that had a lot of hype around Awards time at the end of 2017, but for some reason didn’t do as well as it probably should have.

In all honesty, I always assumed that this film was a bout a company letting it’s workers go in order to “downsize” the work force and was extremely surprised when it turned out that was very far from the truth.

The idea of this film works really well and Alexander Payne and his team do a wonderful job creating a world in that not too far distant future that could be realistic.

The story and film work on numerous levels and they manage to keep surprising along the way with new and fresh ideas on where the story can go.

The main concept of the film about overpopulation and changing the cost of living while trying to find a solution works because it tries to show how the world will always be the same no matter how much some well intentioned people try to change things for the better.

As with Payne’s previous work, this film is filled with great dialogue and some of his characters get to say some great lines most notably Christopher Waltz and Hong Chau.

Matt Damon was a good choice for the lead role, but as good as he is, I think Payne’s original choice of Paul Giamatti might have worked even better here.

This is clearly a film that required numerous viewings in order to fully take it all in and I look forward to seeing it again in the future to get a better perspective on it all.

Bottom Line – Great idea that is done extremely well by Payne. This film works on numerous levels and keeps surprising the whole way through,. The main concept of the film shows that social changes cannot always help make life better because the world will continue to move forward no matter which changes that are made. As with all of Payne’s work, the dialogue is superb and some of the characters get to say some really amazing things along the way. Damon works as the lead character but I think Payne’s original choice of Giamatti might have worked even better. This is a film that needs multiple viewing to completely appreciate and I look forward to seeing it again.  Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – “Downsizing” was Alexander Payne’s most expensive project to date, costing somewhere between $65m and $90m. In it’s opening weekend, it took less than $9m at the US box-office. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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