u/redbeard_av

Review on Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/gzYw2V

TL;DR - Go watch it in the theatre.

Satire, farce, dramedy - What genre does Digger fall in? 

If you polled 10 random people who have seen this film, you probably would get 6-7 different answers to the above question. Of course, it is easy to poll 10 people when that is the total number of movie goers in your showing. I guess the genre question is a wrong one to ask as Jesse Plemmon's character explicitly points out at one point during the movie. Oh yes, we are going balls to the wall meta commentary within this one. The satire in this movie is a bit too on the nose even for Innaritu.

And yet I um... kinda liked it.

I think more than trying to pinpoint its genre, it is more helpful to think of this movie in the tradition of "the big swing". The big swing has always been a part of various art forms as a tradition since humans have started creating art. And this movie is a ball to the walls big swing. Every artist, and I do mean every artist - the director, the actors, the production designer, the cinematographer, the makeup and costume team - is going for a big swing here.

When it works and much of it did work for me, you are just glued to the screen in anticipation. When it doesn't, well... lets just say there were easily 30 mins of this movie which could have been cut without really losing anything from the core text.

There is a lot of self-indulgence from Inarritu at play here and yet when he is actually making some of his themes clear, and boy does this guy like making his themes super duper clear, the movie does engross you. 

I was particularly enthralled by a scene wherein Digger has to give a speech within a bizzaro version of what can only be described as the European parliament. This scene is the movie at its best with Innaritu providing a scathing critique of this neo-liberal delusion that we can somehow reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and solve the climate crisis without giving up the excess comforts that the bourgeoisie of the developed world consider their right.

There is another scene which expertly dissects our tendency of making fun of the evil men who have taken control of the world as incompetent clowns when these men are far from incompetent. They are formidable forces of nature, that's why they rule over us. While seeing them as these morons might give us some sense of power over these people, the truth is that we live in a world created and being run by them.

The big problem with the movie is that in between these lofty ideas are multiple attempts at being funny. Some of the gags are funny, but many are not. The movie even hints at a point that the flat humor in parts might be intentional. But who wants to watch an unfunny farce? Can the movie be even called a farce when it has multiple moments of grandstanding sincerity within its story structure?

I could easily see myself disliking this movie if I saw it on a different day in a different mood. Rarely do you encounter a piece of media that is truly divisive. I was thinking about this movie all the way on my drive back and yet I can't for the life of me assign a star rating to it. There are so many big moments that I want to watch again and yet the sluggish pace in between all those big moments will probably prevent me from ever rewatching it.

One thing I will give this movie is that this is not awards bait of any kind even with all the Oscar buzz. In fact its most scathing critiques are aimed at the class of people that many Oscar voters are a part of. This is not a pat yourself on the back soapbox Hollywood piece like Don't Look Up that I was expecting it to be. It has much deeper themes and ideas that it wants to discuss. Unfortunately, it is only mildly successful at that discussion.

Oh and also, Tom Cruise gives a marvelous performance. I think around 20 mins into the movie, I completely forgot that I was watching Mr. Cruise going big. I was watching Mr. Digger Rockwell from that point onwards. The supporting cast does what is expected out of them. Riz Ahmed is the clear stand out for me. His role demands the most out of the whole supporting cast and he excels in it. I am rooting for this guy to have a proper leading man career in Hollywood.

Go watch it in the theaters. I would much rather have established names within Hollywood taking swings like this than make generic slop like Heart of the Beast any day.

Cheers.