I may have gotten around to seeing Leave the World Behind (I wear an invisible Ethan Hawke number one fan badge), but Renee and Trish, the super giving, sweet owners of Burns Court pushed me to do it asap.
Hence, the start of a second new feature of people telling me to watch films: Roxanne On Demand. Next up for my hip, funny boss James Mammone, a Zac Efron number. I owe him since he watched Red Rocket.
———————–Back to Leave the World Behind (on Netflix)
Ok, first, I get super freaked out by scary movies, especially apocalyptic films….I still remember (not the title but the feeling) this nuclear bomb movie of the week they played back in the late 70’s. Point being: I started this in the dark December night, only to finish it on the light of a cloudy December day.
I was in for the ride during the first three chapters. The acting is super fine: Julia Roberts as the bitchy racist mom, Ethan Hawke as his typical amiable, sexy, college prof dad and the two children played by Farrah MacKenzie and Charlie Evans, the amazing Mahershala Ali and finally Myha’la (who doesn’t go by one name for nothin’) were also amazing as the ensemble remainders.
Even better than the acting and story telling (based on the novel by Rumaan Alam) and adapted for the screen by Sam Esmail (of The Robot’s fame, but I confess I never saw it) was the cinematography (multiple exclamation points):
Tod Campbell.
Give this man some more work!! The camera was the disorienting factor that propelled the movie to better hallucinatory heights.
What lost me in the last two chapters were the characters’ choices, which petered out to be silly horror flick tropes. There’s no way I’m letting my husband nor my kids out of my sight in such a situation, so as cutesy it is that Mahershala and Julia wind up in his amazing record room to dance, I could not buy it. Ditto for Ethan and Mahershala’s daughter winding up vaping out by the pool. Nope, nope and nope.
I did truly enjoy the Kevin Bacon cameo as the doomsday prepper, he can do no wrong in my book. And I also enjoyed the media mentions, especially The Friends subplot, which actually makes me want to give that show another look. Worth seeing for the cinematography alone and as a testament to getting down on your hands and knees and praying that we have it damn good in present day America. If this is a metaphor for the US’s stupidity in acting all divided and accusatory, then let’s grasp it, get a grip on it and realize people with differing opinions (AS LONG AS THEY ARE PEACE LOVING) should be embraced.
