Summary:
After a plague wipes out most of the female population, a father must fight to keep his immune eleven-year-old daughter safe from the men who might wish her harm.
My Thoughts:
Well, it turns out Casey Affleck (“Interstellar”) can’t only act, he can really direct too. This is technically Affleck’s second feature, but his first feature was “I’m Still Here”, the mockumentary about his friend Joaquin Phoenix (“Gladiator”) as he made a faux transition from acting into rapping. I remember that film garnered some buzz when it came out because people were really unsure if Phoenix’s transition was genuine or not, but I also remember hearing that the film itself was pretty middling, so I never went out of my way to watch it (I may now). So, barring technicalities, I’m going to say this is (sort of) Affleck’s narrative directorial debut, and honestly, it’s pretty impressive in a lot of ways. I can’t wait to see what comes next from him. Good for the Affleck brothers.
“Just because people aren’t getting sick anymore doesn’t mean the world is right again.”
A decade after a plague wiped out the majority of the female population, a Father (Affleck) and his daughter Rag (Anna Pniowsky), short for Raggedy-Ann, must survive in the wilderness, away from others, so that Rag will be safe. As Rag grows older, it becomes more difficult to hide the fact that she is a woman, and her Father must do anything he can to ensure her survival.
This post apocalyptic film feels a lot more like “The Road” than it does “Mad Max Fury Road”. It’s slower, more deliberate, more peaceful, and more alive than most post-apocalyptic films. This also reminded me a lot of a film that came out earlier this year, “Leave No Trace”; both of which deal with a daughter and father surviving out in the wilderness. The quiet nature of the film allows for more intimate scenes, and it also allows for debate and philosophy about the nature of man and the nature of good and evil. This film’s emotional weight relies on the bond between Rag and her father, and the unavoidable troubles that they have to face together. As they traverse the wilderness they talk about all sorts of things, and their conversations range from adult topics to incredibly touching and poignant fairy tales. This is both a coming of age story and a survival story, so there are multiple ways in which our characters change throughout the story.
The dynamic of Rag and her father’s relationship is more contentious after she disobeys him, and I loved this aspect of the film because we got to see a whole different side of both characters. For most of the film, the Father is only focused on keeping Rag safe, and that means covering up her identity to protect her. At the same time, Rag is growing up; she’s learning to think for herself, and she’s trying to discover her own identity for herself. When she comes across items from other females, of course, she’s interested, and because she’s a child, she doesn’t completely take into consideration the danger she might be putting them if she were to, say, don a dress or a bedazzled jean jacket. Her father is constantly thinking about these things; what would happen if she were taken, what would he possibly do? He lives in constant fear, and that fear has infected Rag’s childhood so that she can no longer be a normal little girl, she’s forced to become someone harder. At the same time, her father begins to see Rag’s interest in girly things, and he tries (as best he can) to understand what she’s going through. I loved the scene when Rag and he go to the library, and while Rag scours the children’s section, her father goes to the self-help section to check out books on parenting. There isn’t any dialogue needed; you just know the relationship is strained and the Father is doing his best he can to make things easier; if that’s not love I don’t know what is.
I honestly really loved this film, but if I were to point out a few issues, I’d say that it is a touch slow (not inordinately so, but slow enough), and I think modern audience (ie Marvel junkies) might have a hard time getting through some of the slower bits. I also feel as if this film is slightly predictable: the whole film revolves around the idea that some conflict might happen between the father and some other man, so it felt kind of obvious to me that the formula of this film would be pretty straightforward: run, stand, fight. That’s pretty much what the film is, and though I always sort of knew that’s where the film was headed, I didn’t necessarily have a problem with it because the direction and writing was so solid.
Verdict:
This is a very solid post-apocalyptic/ coming of age story, one that hit me on more emotional levels than I expected. I was very impressed by Casey Affleck’s directing, and even more so impressed with his and Anna Pniowsky’s acting. A very good movie overall, highly recommended.
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