Downsizing is an often overlooked film from 2017 starring Matt Damon, Hong Chau, Kinsten Wig and Christoph Waltz.
The premise is great – “A new world of possibilities awaits, thanks to a revolutionary medical procedure known as Downsizing. Billed as environmentally-friendly, many people choose to downsize for economic benefits. When the kindly occupational therapist, Paul, undergoes the new procedure, finding himself in this brand-new existence, he must choose between a sheltered life or making an impact in his own small way. Can he help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time?”
In the hands of someone like Will Farrell the movie could be a totally crazy comedy but it actually is a light-hearted story about family, connections and what really matters in the end as the earth reached it’s end of life.
It comes down to what is really important. A big mansion in a neighborhood of other people living in big mansions trying to out spend each other on ridiculous luxury goods? Or living in a community of people who look out after each other and care for each other?
Should the goal of life be making sure humanity lives into the future by colonizing Mars or creating an underground bunker — or should we simply enjoy what little time we have left?
Is life just about having great toys or is it building relationships?
The movie didn’t do well at the box office. My guess is that it was too heavy for the main stream audience expecting a light comedy and it’s critique on modern society. No doubt it made some viewers self-conscuous and uncomfortable as it question the value of a life based on consumption and a reminder that the planet is headed in a very bad direction.
The film also contrasts the America ideas of “bigger is better” and more consumption is always the right call, to the International characters ideas of using science and looking to nature to pave the way forward and using kindness and community to build a fullfilling life.
No doubt The Villiages or similar retirement community would see themselves depicted in the film as a reflection of their similar escape from the “real world” into a self-contained party zone.
There is plenty subtle and black humor through out the film and Matt Damon’s character remains curious and entralled by the idea of new concepts and ideas that might make the world better despite his hardships via a divorce when his wife decides at the last minute not to join him in becoming small.
Downsizing comes from the collatorators Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor who gave us Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011).
The film received mixed reviews but Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, who eventually named the film his best of 2017, praised it as “big and beautiful”, highlighting the direction and the lead performances, and saying “this is a deeply humane film that, like the best Hollywood classics, feels both entirely of its moment and timeless. It was a risky roll of the dice, but one that hits the creative jackpot.”
Matt Damon’s performance if great as the very normal human main character. I put him in the category with Tom Hanks as an actor who an play a range of characters but has such a humility or down to earthness at their core.
