Film of the Week: Downsizing

The premise intrigued me when I saw the trailer. My curiosity drove me to the cinema, and I wasn’t really knowing what to expect. The trailer laid out the storyline where a couple, husband and wife, Paul and Audrey Safranek (Matt Damon and Kristen Wig), struggling financially decide to change their life by committing to the irreversible procedure that is downsizing. After this process is complete, they would be five inches – and their money would escalate comparatively as they won’t need to use so much resources, subsequently reducing the amount of waste produced overall. However, Audrey backs out of the procedure just before, whereas Paul completes the process. He’s now five inches, and she’s still normal size. This throws their marriage into disarray and they divorce. Paul now has to adjust to life being small.

The film itself contains much more information than what the trailers offered, which is a good thing as trailers have a habit of revealing far too much. The storyline is original, and the world is fully established. With a unique idea, it needs to answer several questions regarding how certain aspects work, and this does so well – either through a few lines here and there, but it does make sense. It’s world building was brilliant.

My only criticism is the flow of the film. It’s a little clunky in areas. The storyline works as a whole, but how it progresses from one scene to another in certain sections feels rather inelegant. It increases in speed in areas and slowdown in others – and whilst that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as plenty of films do, do speed shifts, but Downsizing seems to have the wrong areas fast and slow; especially the ending.

The reveal of why the downsizing program was established felt tact on – there were a few references here and there, but not really enough for the audience to focus on properly, so when the characters explain what’s happening, it’s almost as if it’s completely out of the blue, as if we’ve entered a new film without realising it. Whilst I can see the intention behind the ending, given that we’re seeing the world through the eyes of the main character, and so this new information is sudden to him just as much as it is for us – but the way it was done as a whole felt as if they added it last minute and forgot to transition between one scene and the reveal. I’m not saying they should explain everything as if we’re completely ignorant, but considering this is a newly built world we haven’t seen before, it felt as if we needed a bit more information that what we were given.

The acting was on point throughout, along with the editing for blending the people who’re small with those who are not – as well as the special effects.

In conclusion – it’s well-established world that is unique and interesting, but the way it was put together in some places let it down and the clunky feeling can snap you out of the world, meaning you have to try and find a way back in – which can lead to you not fully understanding what’s going on in one scene as you’re not consistently paying full attention. I would recommend Downsizing for those who enjoy original ideas and unique explorations of how to solve the world’s problems, but unfortunately it does have that one-time-watch-esque about it.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)