jack_ryder: (Default)
jack_ryder ([personal profile] jack_ryder) wrote2009-09-30 07:20 am

District 9

murasaki_1966 and I finally saw this last night and I can't say I was disappointed because-


-it was exactly what I thought it would be like before I heard all the hype.


Kudos to Blomkamp for attempting a serious SF film in today's climate, especially one about a refugee crisis but I found it heavy handed and confused.


How much agency do the "prawns" actually have? There was no attempt (at least, if there was, I missed it) to give them any kind of distinct culture other than the now traditional slumdog aestheticised poverty.


The documentary aesthetic also bothered me. I think it's overused for across exposition but, as this was a film with a political intent, I felt I also needed to know who was making the documentary and for what reason. Like with Van De Merwe's Fly like transformation I was hoping for more, not exactly subtlety, but more exploration.

I can recommend the film (it is one of those parables that I fear will never be outdated) but I think we are so starved of genuinely thoughtful mainstream cinema that we tend to over-appreciate a fairly indifferently prepared meal.