Annihilation

Annihilation 2018

• Director: Alex Garland
• Based on the book by Jeff Vandermeer
• Cast: Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoyo Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, John Schwab, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Portman – Thor, I’m Still Here, Black Swan, The Other Boleyn Girl, Darjeeling Limited, Paris je t’aime, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Closer, Anywhere but Here, Mars Attacks, Beautiful Girls, Heat, Léon
• Benedict Wong – The Martian, Prometheus, Sunshine, Tristram Shandy, Dirty Pretty Things
• Sonoya Mizuno – La La Land, Ex Machina
• David Gyasi – Interstellar, Cloud Atlas, Doctor Who, The Dark Knight Rises
• Oscar Isaac – Star Wars, Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis, Robin Hood
• Jennifer Jason Leigh – Margot at the Wedding, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Tuva Novotny – Jalla! Jalla!
• Why? The book
• Seen: 24 January 2020      

       We read the book this week and liked it a lot. The film got from 1* to 10* on IMDb. One thing for sure – the film has to be different from the book.

       Yapp. Very different, but let’s just watch the film now.

       Biologist Lena (Portman) believes she is a widow because her husband Kane (Isaac) has been gone a year but then he comes back. He’s very changed, remembers almost nothing, barely recognises her. He becomes very ill. Lena is taken by the military and questioned extensively.

       She joins a mission into the mysterious Area X. Aliens? Ecological disaster? Expeditions are sent and never come back. And it’s spreading.

       With her are four other women, all scientists. In they go.

       While reading we saw similarities to Stalker and Solaris. Here too. Bur never mind. This is weird in its own way. Weird and inexplicable, unexplained, visually stunning and fascinating. As good in its own way as the book.

4 * of 5

PS - I wonder if those who gave it a bad rating had trouble accepting women as the major characters in a philosophical sci fi action film?