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Don't Look Up
Dec. 29th, 2021 08:15 pmI watched Don't Look Up today. It was very smart, funny, well written and well acted (especially Mark Rylance; it's rare for someone to upstage Meryl Streep, but he did it). And painful.
The scene where ( Spoiler ) was painful to watch in light of the allegations that the CDC's new guidance on isolation and quarantine was dictated by Delta Airlines.
It was so, so scarily plausible - from the disdain for science unless it's politically convenient and "sexy" (and of course the only person allowed to be a "sexy scientist" is the white man), to science denial and politicization (and accusing people who believe the evidence of their senses as being the real ones politicizing the situation), to the morning news media's need to keep it light even when discussing an extinction-level event, to an angry woman being immediately written off as crazy, to "we support the jobs the comet will bring," to uber-wealthy elites trying to convince the working class that the opposite political party are the real elites, to "they want you to look up because they're looking down their noses at you" to... just all of it.
Anyway, it deserves many awards, it's smart and funny but I don't know whether I can recommend it? I suppose it depends a bit on how sensitive you are to (metaphorical) references to current events. I'm guessing the filmmakers had no idea it would be so current when they were making it.
Other than that, my biggest critique - not of the movie but of most of the reviews I've read is that Rob Morgan often gets listed so low in the cast list when he's essentially the tritagonist. I get it, he's much less famous than even many of the cameo appearances, but Dr. Teddy was the heart and soul of that movie!
In case anyone needs to know how it ends in order to decide whether to watch it, I'll let you know behind the cut.
( Major spoilers ) If you decide to watch it then be sure to continue for mid-credits and end-credits scenes.
The scene where ( Spoiler ) was painful to watch in light of the allegations that the CDC's new guidance on isolation and quarantine was dictated by Delta Airlines.
It was so, so scarily plausible - from the disdain for science unless it's politically convenient and "sexy" (and of course the only person allowed to be a "sexy scientist" is the white man), to science denial and politicization (and accusing people who believe the evidence of their senses as being the real ones politicizing the situation), to the morning news media's need to keep it light even when discussing an extinction-level event, to an angry woman being immediately written off as crazy, to "we support the jobs the comet will bring," to uber-wealthy elites trying to convince the working class that the opposite political party are the real elites, to "they want you to look up because they're looking down their noses at you" to... just all of it.
Anyway, it deserves many awards, it's smart and funny but I don't know whether I can recommend it? I suppose it depends a bit on how sensitive you are to (metaphorical) references to current events. I'm guessing the filmmakers had no idea it would be so current when they were making it.
Other than that, my biggest critique - not of the movie but of most of the reviews I've read is that Rob Morgan often gets listed so low in the cast list when he's essentially the tritagonist. I get it, he's much less famous than even many of the cameo appearances, but Dr. Teddy was the heart and soul of that movie!
In case anyone needs to know how it ends in order to decide whether to watch it, I'll let you know behind the cut.
( Major spoilers ) If you decide to watch it then be sure to continue for mid-credits and end-credits scenes.
