REVIEW: Not Even A Spectacular Cast Can Save FOE
Set in a Dystopian future, Director Garth Davis’ FOE attempts to create its own narrative in the overdone genre. But rather than bring something new to the table, the film falls right into the typical Dytopian tropes leading to a lackluster film. Focused on married couple, Hen (Saoirse Ronan) and Junior (Paul Mescal), the film opens with the couple living their day-to-day mundane lives in a dilapidated farmhouse in the Midwest in 2065. They are surrounded by absolutely nothing and spend their days either maintaining their crumbling estate or working their blue collar jobs. It’s all quite bleak and boring. But all of this changes when a government agent, Terrance (Aaron Pierre), arrives to their home to inform the couple that Junior, and not Hen, has been chosen to head to space for a government mission. The date of the mission is a mystery, but Terrance reassures Junior that when the day comes for the mission Hen will not be left to fend for herself. Instead, an A.I. replica of Junior will come to take his place. Fast forward a year, and Terrance returns to let them know the date is drawing nearer and he must now observe the couple to help gather data for the A.I. Junior. This is where the story really begins to unfold, and the focus on this couple, and their relationship becomes the film’s sole focus.
Even though the film is based on Iain Reid’s novel of the same name, the translation from page to screen seemed to just get lost in translation. The couple is clearly not happy, but who would be when you are surrounded by nothing, and only see your significant other and one other living being when you are at work. Add in the fact, Earth is becoming less hospitable for humans, climates have changed to the point of no return, and humans are taking to escaping the dangers by heading to Space. It’s a miserable way to live, and writer-director Davis, and writer, Iain Reid, only make the film more dreary with their storytelling. Rather than create a narrative that is intriguing to the audience, the duo leans heavily on this bleakness. They choose to carry it throughout the film, which makes for a very confusing and boring experience. I continuously found myself asking, “If Hen is so unhappy, why does she stick around? What is keeping her at this home and in this marriage?” In the case of Junior, “Why does he feel so connected to this farm and life? Is it because it is his family’s farm? Of course, these are the same questions that popped up throughout the film, with the help of Terrance, but the audience never feels like they get a definitive answer. The film bounces around the different questions to instead draw out melodramatic moments from our leads, that fail to be anything more than comical.
Ronan and Mescal are far too talented for this film, and it shows. Their characters don’t allow for either actor to truly shine, though there is a brief scene where Mescal gets the chance show off his acting chops, but even that scene feels a little to forced. Pierre, on the other hand, is wonderful in this film. His character is the driving nail that brings the couple’s complicated relationship to a head, and he plays it with such charisma, that it is so easy to see why Junior believes something might be going on between him and Hen.
FOE is a film that will leave you unsatisfied. There are too many unanswered questions, and the film is not worth a re-watch to see if maybe you missed the answer sometime during your first watch. Ronan, Mescal, and Pierre may be what makes you consider giving the film a watch, but its ends up being nothing more than a bleak mess.
Source: C-