Daily Movie Rec 6/22/2023

Last and First Men (2020)

"These poor human wrecks have shown a phobia of the stars and of all that is not human. They dare not go out at night. They cannot find companionship. They cling piteously to the sweets of individual life, a mere defense against reality."

Directed by: Jóhann Jóhannsson

Cinematography by: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen

Country: Iceland

Genre: Sci-fi/Mystery/Documentary

Plot:

A race of humans 2 billion years in the future and facing a cosmic extinction event send a message into the past. Narrated by Tilda Swinton and based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Olaf Stapledon.

Reasons to watch:

This posthumous directorial debut from acclaimed film composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything [2014], Sicario [2015], Arrival [2016]), his last and first feature, is a spellbinding piece of speculative fiction with inspired experimental filmmaking that fuses unadorned simplicity with astronomical grandeur in its future-ambient faux-documentary approach. The lore hounds out there will be salivating at its fathomless wonder, and all will be at the mercy of Jóhannsson's sublime score. It all tore through me like a four-dimensional blade through the fabric of time and space. About every ten minutes, I let out a big sigh, paused the movie, put my head in my hands, and muttered, "...that's a lot to think about..."

Where to watch:

Shudder