Downsizing (2017)
Directed by Alexander Payne
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
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What critics say influenced Downsizing
This is no The Incredible Shrinking Man or even Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, films which took this concept to a much more realized degree.
…similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in the visual presentation…
There is a tiny bit of Swift here – or The Incredible Shrinking Man, or Ant-Man, or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
They seem to be aiming for something Charlie Kaufman-esque, but can’t even match Fantastic Voyage, or Innerspace… or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
It’s not to sit back and simply have fun with the concept, his own personal Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
“Downsizing” will perplex viewers who approach it as though it were something along the lines of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” for grown-ups.
…good, though not as remarkable as in the 1957 little person classic, “The Incredible Shrinking Man.”
From Attack of the 50-Foot Woman to The Incredible Shrinking Man, we can’t get enough of this concept.
There is a tiny bit of Swift here – or The Incredible Shrinking Man, or Ant-Man, or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
This is no The Incredible Shrinking Man or even Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, films which took this concept to a much more realized degree.
By way of such classics as “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957), the less well known 1940 mini-classic “Dr. Cyclops” and the Lilliputian episodes of Jonathan Swift’s 18th century masterpiece “Gulliver’s Travels,” “Downsizing” makes a serious attempt to be a “Gulliver’s Travels” for these times, a fantasy/science-fiction film with a Swiftian sense of purpose and political/social satire, and it works best on this level.
There’s something touching at the heart of this movie, just as there was in the thoughtful 50s sci-fi classic The Incredible Shrinking Man, which is that if we could stop thinking that we’re big in the universe, we might appreciate what has meaning within our cosmic insignificance.
As always, Payne explores the plight of the male in contemporary America with ease (as he has so effectively before, in Sideways, Election and Nebraska).
After a whole string of wry, relatively small-scale, character-driven movies like Sideways and Nebraska, writer/director Alexander Payne goes all high-concept with his latest offering…
…refreshingly eschews the gentle social realism of Sideways and Nebraska…
The film has the same caustic, deadpan humour found in the director’s earlier features such as Election and Sideways…
Films like Election, Sideways and Nebraska, for instance, spotlighted a burgeoning crisis in American masculinity, focusing on men who fear that they’re seen as small by the world.
Payne’s best work examines a single and identifiable character, typically in midlife crises, whose struggles are relatable (Election, Sideways, Nebraska).
After a whole string of wry, relatively small-scale, character-driven movies like Sideways and Nebraska, writer/director Alexander Payne goes all high-concept with his latest offering…
As always, Payne explores the plight of the male in contemporary America with ease (as he has so effectively before, in Sideways, Election and Nebraska).
Films like Election, Sideways and Nebraska, for instance, spotlighted a burgeoning crisis in American masculinity, focusing on men who fear that they’re seen as small by the world.
Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska are all, in some respects, about mediocre men reaching an impasse…
…refreshingly eschews the gentle social realism of Sideways and Nebraska…
While director Alexander Payne has long been fascinated with ordinary guys struggling with their lot in life — think Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska…
As always, Payne explores the plight of the male in contemporary America with ease (as he has so effectively before, in Sideways, Election and Nebraska).
This is Payne’s most political film since Election…
While they’ve been brilliant before at incisively probing deeply flawed characters (Sideways) and dissecting microcosms of modern society (Election, pretty much a perfect movie), they can’t decide what to do with their characters here and find themselves stumped when exploring a literal microcosm of contemporary American life.
Payne’s early, acidic satires like “Citizen Ruth” and “Election” used to cut through this exact sort of self-congratulatory, limousine liberal BS.
His six previous films (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska) center around characters at a crossroads, American dreamers grabbing at intangibles.
Payne brings some of the bright, crisp satirical feel of his 1999 movie Election to these segments…
His six previous films (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska) center around characters at a crossroads, American dreamers grabbing at intangibles.
And, although the sci-fi trappings of Downsizing make it seem like a big departure from Payne's previous work — The Descendants, Sideways, About Schmidt — it is the same in important ways.
Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska are all, in some respects, about mediocre men reaching an impasse…
Payne famously kept Jack Nicholson within bounds for his 2002 comedy About Schmidt, but Waltz has not been so amenable.
In keeping with Payne’s recent penchant for struggling men trying to navigate their way through their ordinary existence — as seen in About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska — Downsizing spends the bulk of its time with Paul Safranek (Matt Damon).
“Downsizing” operates from the recognizably humane level of such films as “Nebraska,” “Sideways” and “About Schmidt.”
There were hints at lost lore in the juxtaposition of nature shots and gold-plated man-made edifice monstrosities in the Hawaii of Payne's The Descendants.
One could argue that all of Alexander Payne’s major works – Election, Sideways, The Descendants et al – are about man’s search for meaning.
…middle-aged men finally deigning to reckon with the fact that they haven’t been so great in the husband or dad department, a la The Descendants…
And, although the sci-fi trappings of Downsizing make it seem like a big departure from Payne's previous work — The Descendants, Sideways, About Schmidt — it is the same in important ways.
…who’s followed protagonists through winding, incident-packed, emotionally complicated journeys of self-discovery in movies from Citizen Ruth to The Descendents to Sideways to Nebraska…
While director Alexander Payne has long been fascinated with ordinary guys struggling with their lot in life — think Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska…
His six previous films (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska) center around characters at a crossroads, American dreamers grabbing at intangibles.
…who’s followed protagonists through winding, incident-packed, emotionally complicated journeys of self-discovery in movies from Citizen Ruth to The Descendents to Sideways to Nebraska…
Payne’s early, acidic satires like “Citizen Ruth” and “Election” used to cut through this exact sort of self-congratulatory, limousine liberal BS.
Writer/director Alexander Payne and his longtime writing partner Jim Taylor aim for a more expansive storyline here than in such previous projects as Sideways, Election, About Schmidt, and Citizen Ruth.
With the exception of his 1996 debut Citizen Ruth, men have been the focus of this two-time Oscar-winner…
From his late-’90s breakthroughs, with Election and Citizen Ruth…
…the shanty town that Paul is amazed to find beyond a hole in the security wall of his Truman-Show parody of leisure-class America.
It’s like being in The Truman Show without the 24/7 surveillance.
In a way, “Downsizing” performs a sleight of hand similar to that of “The Truman Show” in that you come for the high-concept sci-fi, but stay for the characters.
It’s like a Marxist spin on The Truman Show, where the set decorations fall away and reveal the capitalist machinery behind every quick-fix’s false promises.
As medium-grade satire (hardly another 'The Truman Show')…
It’s one of those infernal ideas that Hollywood occasionally mistakes for brilliant even though it always becomes tiring (like Groundhog Day, The Truman Show, Her, and the granddaddy of conceptual tedium, John Frankenheimer’s Seconds).
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On Kaufman, rather than any one film
Alexander Payne’s Kaufmanesque crowd-pleaser…
They seem to be aiming for something Charlie Kaufman-esque…
Kaufmanesque high concept…
…a quirky Charlie Kaufman-like sci-fi political tale…
Charlie Kaufman, the mind-bending writer of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…
Perhaps Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jones would've made this film would've been more wildly entertaining, clever, and imaginative.
…if you want to watch a fun shrinking comedy, I would go watch “Ant-Man” or even that “Rick & Morty” episode entitled “The Ricks Must Be Crazy,”…
“Ant-Man was a lot more fun”…
There is a tiny bit of Swift here – or The Incredible Shrinking Man, or Ant-Man, or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
…it gives you the hope that one day Payne might direct Ant-Man 9.
…this story destined to be a scathing satire (sort of High Rise meets Ant-Man)…
…there are a few good Ant Man-style gags about the difference between normal objects and minuscule ones…
Director
Frank Capra
Critics invoke Capra by name, and compare Downsizing to 2 of Capra’s films.
Themes Visuals Characters
On Capra, rather than any one film
But I think Downsizing follows more in the footsteps of Frank Capra, updating the latter’s Depression-era message comedies to the new, blatant and crass Trump era.
Despite these imaginative moments, inside Downsizing there’s the beating heart of a Frank Capra movie.
…like the hero of a Frank Capra or Preston Sturges film of 75 years ago…
…as the kind of decent everyman that James Stewart once played for Frank Capra.
Como en Lost Horizon (1937), la aparente utopía de aquel otro gran humanista cinematográfico llamado Frank Capra, Payne crea un mundo que en su intención de erradicar la desigualdad y crear una sociedad sustentable, solo es capaz de generar una maqueta del mundo…
There are definite shades of It’s a Wonderful Life here too, when Damon’s everyman protagonist suddenly finds himself exposed to human nature at its worst…
They seem to be aiming for something Charlie Kaufman-esque, but can’t even match Fantastic Voyage, or Innerspace… or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
…after an early lab sequence that plays like a dorky update of 1966's 'Fantastic Voyage'…
In “Fantastic Voyage” (1966), a submarine crew is shrunk all the way down to microscopic size so they can be injected into a prominent scientist’s bloodstream and attempt to repair the damage to his brain.
Paul’s Fantastic Voyage may seems miles away from Payne’s previous efforts, but Downsizing regards its characters and their alienation with the same compassionate eye as its predecessors…
…dwindling resources reaching “Soylent Green” critical levels has triggered a worldwide movement to conserve and cut back without sacrificing the lush life.
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On Anderson, rather than any one film
These caricatures (like the vicious sows in Anderson’s melodrama)…
…as controlled as the cine-worlds of the Coens or Wes Anderson…
Es fan de Sofia Coppola y la estética de Wes Anderson…
On Sturges, rather than any one film
In the past, Payne has been compared to Preston Sturges in his subtle mode of social satire.
In the vein of such great cinematic satirists as Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges…
…like the hero of a Frank Capra or Preston Sturges film of 75 years ago…