Why would anyone leave Leisureland? Seriously, why Alexander Payne?!
Regardless of what you think of Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, you have to give Paramount some much-deserved applause for saying yes to a film with such a high-concept premise. The studio’s decision to green light both this film and Darren Aronofsky’s mother! shows how much the powerhouse studio believes in the old mogul mentality of rolling the dice and gambling on material which other executives would run away and cower from. The studio’s embracing of mother!, which has received nearly equal amounts praise and criticism, shows that sometimes such a gamble can more or less work. However, Downsizing’s unstructured plot, half-drawn characters, and lack of belief in its own vision show that sometimes the gamble doesn’t pay off.
In Downsizing, scientists in Norway have discovered a method of shrinking humans to a fraction of their actual size. The news is truly earth-shattering, and within a matter of years entire communities are built housing tiny-sized populations who have elected to undergo the procedure known as “downsizing” for various reasons. When the bored and listless Paul (Matt Damon) hears of all the lifestyle benefits from a now-shrunken former classmate (Jason Sudeikis), he and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) decide to “go small.” However, Audrey gets cold feet, leaving Paul all alone to start a new life by himself in “Leisureland.” After some time, Paul makes the acquaintance of upstairs neighbor Dusan (Christoph Waltz), an aging European party boy, his sidekick Konrad (Udo Kier), and Ngoc (Hong Chau), a Vietnamese political prisoner shrunk against her will now working as a cleaning woman. Together, the trio will open Paul’s eyes to the giant wonders that lay ahead.
What’s rather sad about Downsizing is just how much of the movie’s first half actually works. Payne and his crew clearly relish the overall concept. This is especially true in the inspirations behind what makes Paul go small, particularly the feeling of isolation he lets take him over. When Paul is settled into his shrunken life post-Audrey, Downsizing begins to be a semi-involving tale about someone who learns how to live again and embrace what is in front of him as well as the world outside his front door. Aiding in this effort best of all is Ngoc. By far the film’s most effective secret weapon, Ngoc is the most intelligent and well-rounded individual seen in Downsizing. The audience is reminded on numerous occasions about her tragic past. She’s been victimized, but full of unwavering strength, dignity, and purpose, Ngoc is never once painted as a victim. It’s easy to see why Paul is so taken by her. The character, with her awe-inspiring “I’m still here and I’m going to do the best I can while I’m alive” mentality, is everything Paul doesn’t believe himself to be. The filmmakers also manage some fun with the visuals, and the movie eventually makes a thoughtful comment on the socioeconomic problems which plague even those who have downsized.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD*
Unfortunately, they all decide to go to Norway. What begins as a ruse ends up with Paul, Dusan, Ngoc, and Konrad traveling to Norway in order to meet and talk with the scientist who perfected downsizing. What they discover throws them for a loop, though not as much as it does the audience who find themselves uncomfortably placed into a sort of doomsday story. Although the reasoning behind the dramatic change in the plot is explained and elaborated on to death, it never fully clicks, proving ridiculous even by the standards of Downsizing’s plot. Eventually, Downsizing descends into a look inside a hippie cult with Damon banging drums and wearing a poncho. Not helping its case is the film’s insistence on being both humorous and serious all at once. Movies have accomplished such a tone, proving it a feat that is indeed possible. But for whatever reason, Downsizing doesn’t have the necessary touch for it. The most obvious example of this is the scene when a tearful Ngoc is asking Paul what their tryst the night before meant to him by listing the different kinds of fucks, their various meanings, and which one theirs was. Maybe Payne and his cohorts were afraid to stay and explore Leisureland to its fullest for whatever reason, but the film’s second half wastes no time in swiftly undoing all of the audience goodwill it had rightfully earned up until then.
There are number of blink-and-miss ’em cameos from Neil Patrick Harris, Margo Martindale, and Laura Dern. Kier reminds us he’s still on earth as he watches Waltz chew the scenery, or try to anyhow. Meanwhile Sudeikis and Wiig both seem game to play in Payne’s world, but the director and his script send them on their way before the film’s midpoint. Damon has nowhere to take Paul besides showing exasperation in his pre-shrunk size and continuous stages of wonder and disbelief thereafter. Only Chau emerges as the film’s sole true character. Ngoc’s story is simultaneously heartwrenching and inspiring. The actress brings both aspects to life in one of most raw and soulful performances to ever come from a studio film of this magnitude. Downsizing may not be worth seeing, but Chau is; she’s even worth sitting through the horrible film an unthinkable second time, if only just to bask in the magic she weaves on the screen. The actress delivers pathos, humanity, strength, and vulnerability in what is one of the year’s finest and most beautiful performances.
By now Downsizing has been poised as Paramount’s big Oscar movie, with a number of industry screenings popping up and FYC ads galore. Maybe the awards push is due to Payne’s reputation, which boasts such classics as Election, Sideways, and Nebraska; all are stellar films which comment on their societies in the most funny and poignant of ways. Yet Downsizing couldn’t be further from an Oscar movie if it tried. Its attempts at making a socially-conscious statement are so jumbled and convoluted, while its humor is awkward and hard to embrace. The film could indeed have been a telling reflection of the way we live now. Instead, we have a somewhat half-baked effort from a filmmaker proven capable of so much more. If only he believed it himself.
Downsizing opens in theaters December 22, 2017.
