DVD Review: Downsizing

Posted in DVDs, Film, Reviews
By Martin Roberts on 23 May 2018

Downsizing, the latest from much-liked director Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Nebraska), has many ingredients that could have added up to an excellent film – a strong concept, good performances, daring ideas – but the sum of those ingredients never quite coalesces into a truly memorable experience. It didn’t fare overly well in cinemas, despite some good reviews, but may now find more of an audience on home media.

The basic concept is that a new scientific procedure has been invented which can shrink humans down to a tiny proportion of their natural size, the primary goal of which is to literally reduce the size of the population, thus helping humanity deal with its overpopulation crisis. It’s a smart idea, and Payne uses the first third of his film to investigate it from many different angles –psychologically, environmentally, even scientifically. Little details – like people having to have their fillings removed so their heads don’t explode when they’re shrunk down – give the film a sense of believability, and playful fun, that really help bed in the concept.

The film then takes a series of turns that most viewers won’t be expecting, and the story begins to weave in a new set of ideas and characters, some of which mesh more than others. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig star as Paul and Audrey, who volunteer to undergo the ‘downsizing’ procedure, partially as a way of cleansing themselves of the money issues they’ve been facing. In the miniature cities, you see, almost everyone is comparatively rich. Damon’s co-star actually turns out to be Hong Chau, whose character is introduced later than we might expect, given how important she is to the narrative. But Chau’s performance is really lovely, and her character ends up leaving the biggest mark on the film. Damon plays his character well, but the quirks of the narrative mean Paul and his journey actually become less interesting as time goes on, which I don’t think was intentional.

The film moves into a final act which feels simultaneously bold and underwhelming, and one can’t help but think back to the first movement of the film and wonder if there are simply too many ideas in Downsizing, without a clear enough throughline. That said, even while the film is failing to live up to its own high sta ndards, there are still moments that stick with you. A line delivered by Chau in the final movement is really quite beautiful, and makes one wonder how good the film could have been.

3/5

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