As a member of Cannes’s direct line, Austrian female director Jessica Hausne (Jessica Hausne) was shortlisted for the Cannes "One Kind of Attention" three times before. This year, she was finally shortlisted for the first time in the main competition with "Little Joe" and won the award for the actresses in the play. Big prize after filming. Her works are diverse and difficult to generalize. There are horror and thriller types as well as classical drama adaptations. This year this is science fiction. But her author's style is the same as before. The weird photographic lens is like falling into the fog, and the shocking audio-visual effects are often criticized. The soundtrack of this new film is more terrifying than the storyline. It uses the timbre of traditional Japanese instrumental music to create a sense of alienation and inexplicable atmosphere. The percussion instruments and sudden sound effects in the soundtrack successfully highlight the trembling mental state of the characters. , While pushing the ubiquitous weirdness to the extreme.
Similar to "Miraculous Clouds", the film kicks off with a weird long lens. The suspended lens overlooks the greenhouse where the plants are cultivated. In the film, the lens is pointed at the space between the characters and the focus is zoomed in multiple times. The design renders a sense of mystery that continues to spread. In "Miraculous Clouds", it seems that God is controlling the fate of the heroine, while in this work, it is the mysterious plants that control the thoughts and emotions of human beings. This sci-fi theme is not the most terrifying. Instead, it is a discussion about the illusion of happiness, which has an extensible political metaphor, especially in the face of the prevalence of authoritarianism, there is even more shuddering realistic reflection. Individual destiny and choices must be surrendered to collective consciousness, even though this consciousness seems to be pleasing and harmless. The colors of the flowers and plants in the film also coincidentally move closer to the representative symbol of totalitarianism, leaving a vast space for associations. Unfortunately, the script did not advance in this direction, but only revolved in a small pattern.
The plot in the script that tells the personality change of people infected by plant pollen is just a cliché in common science fiction themes, and the fact that children become rebellious as they grow up seems to be related to the heroine’s subconscious desire to achieve an independent life. It is one of the few in the film. Many bright spots, but ultimately failed to fully elaborate. As mentioned by most film critics, this work is more like an episode in the American drama "Black Mirror". The content is obviously insufficient. At best, it can only be regarded as a sci-fi thriller that has just passed.
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