Downsizing

Ein niedlich positives Drama und eine erfrischende sowie überraschende Auffassung eines scheinbar großartigen Science-Fiction-Stoffes, der einem ganz gewöhnlichen Menschen (es scheint, dass Matt Damon in dieser Hinsicht langsam den Staffelstab von Tom Hanks übernimmt) und seinen ganz gewöhnlichen Sorgen gewidmet ist. Alexander Payne hat es auf seine eigene Art und Weise geschrieben und gedreht, die Trailer haben bei weitem nicht alles verraten (man wird also auch überrascht), der Humor ist sehr angenehm, die Musik von Rolfe Kent macht süchtig und Christoph Waltz ist einfach toll. Das einzige, was mir leidgetan hat, war die kleine Rolle von Laura Dern… Aber andererseits war sie wenigstens für einen Moment da. (24.01.2018)

Das möchte ich von Wes Anderson sehen! Ein spannender Start in eine originelle und – was das Zuschauererlebnis betrifft – auch vielversprechende Filmwelt, in der sich die Autoren mit interessanten Themen auseinandersetzen, die ich nicht sehr ansprechend fand (die Lösungen). Es ist kein verschwendetes Potenzial eines außergewöhnlichen Filmereignisses, es ist nur ein Filmereignis für eine Zuschauergruppe, zu der ich einfach nicht gehöre. Über Waltz’ Dušan habe ich mich amüsiert. Ich hoffe, dass ihn in einer Komödie im Stil von The Big Lebowski die Brüder Coen nutzen werden! (24.01.2018)

In recent years, Alexander Payne has been filming the same story about aging white men who discover rather too late that they have wasted most of their lives and so they set out to find something that gives their empty lives meaning. Set in a world where people can be shrunk down to roughly six inches in order to improve their lives and save the planet, Downsizing is basically no exception; it just has a more ambitious scope and, in addition to the crisis of the individual, attempts to also address the crisis of western society, or rather the whole world, to which Payne adapted the genre and narrative structure. ___ At the beginning, the film switches from an individual point of view to a global perspective and subsequently applies the same technique to Damon’s physiotherapist character, who finds the solution to his problems by becoming more interested in the world around him so that he comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to start with smaller goals (i.e. local, not global). The core of the film comprising a bitter comedy that questions faith in the American dream and never-ending American prosperity is supplemented with a sci-fi satire and (melo)drama with a relatively explicit political-environmental message. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if a scene was supposed to come across as sardonic (because a character says something terribly kitschy and literal and Christoph Waltz smiles like a simpleton) or touching. ___ A bigger problem is the fact that Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor are at times unable to decide whether they are more interested in the characters or in the downsized world they invented for them and whose laws we are now discovering together with the protagonists. The whole idea of downsizing seemed to me like a gimmick serving more or less only as scathing commentary on what people are willing to go through to improve their social status. At its core, this is a variation of a well-known Payne story that could happen even in the real world. I see the sci-fi level mainly as a way to facilitate the work and to more quickly confront the characters with the dilemmas that the screenplay is intended to address. __ The resulting hybrid holds together primarily thanks to Matt Damon, who is just as convincing as a paunchy forty-something with mild depression as he is as secret agent with lethal skills. The genre transformations that the film undergoes partly reflect the development of his character, toward whom Payne is far too indulgent in comparison with his earlier films (often at the expense of stereotyped female characters). ___ In many respects, Downsizing is a rather problematic film and definitely not perfect, but it clearly made an impression on me. And perhaps the real reason I feel the need to defend it instead of maligning it is the laughing Christoph Waltz as a Serbian smuggler named Dusan Mirkovic, who is ably supported Udo Kier. 75% (07.01.2018)

A great premise that initially made me feel as if I was watching something by the director Frank Oz. It is appropriately off-the-wall, crazy, and features a number of great actors. I didn’t actually laugh, but it was oozing with great ideas, which could be expected from a movie like this. With time the story started to evolve (especially in Norway) into a pretty strange something, which is trying to give its point global importance and educate us about the topic of the current population of the Earth. Over time I started to question what the creators actually wanted to convey, and I ended up questioning what they were actually trying to achieve. It stopped making sense to me. And if it wasn’t for the final “earthquake” I wouldn’t even laugh. In the end, I was glad that I ended up at three stars. It could have been worse, even though I didn’t think so in the beginning. (02.10.2018)

I like Alexander Payne's work very much and so far he has never disappointed me, but this one was a misstep. The basic premise is fine, I get what he wanted to convey to the audience, at the beginning it's full of interesting scenes and ideas, but in the last act it completely falls apart under the director's hands, when you get the feeling that Payne is either taking a solid piss at you or showing a loss of judgement. The only thing missing was Monty Python in a hug with Ashtar Sheran, I guess that's how unintentionally self-parodic it made me feel. It’s just a mess, what can I tell you? (11.04.2018)