zordmaker

I'll admit. From the very beginning and right through the film, this one had me guessing what they would actually do. That's very rare in film in the twenty first century.

A quirky and refreshing concept coupled with very strong strong story and screenplay (9) and excellent performances (8). In many respects it's underlying message is "the only constant in the universe, is change".

There's a tinge of "The Truman Show" in there as well, with a plot that might seem to fit the fantasy/scifi genre but lands more comfortably as a comedy romance.

"Downsizing" is one of these films that could readily skew left or right on a weird tangent at any moment but never does, instead electing to keep you in this sort of extended suspense. Kind of wishing the thing would hurry up and yet at the same time wishing that it wouldn't. The pace will leave you plenty of time for doing things at the back of the cinema and yet will make tears flow and laughter echo at the appropriate times.

Alas there are problems though, as with many modern films and in this case that's with the Art Direction (1). Everybody knows this is a film about shrinking humans, and without spoiling the story we can obviously assume that this results in communities of humans in "little worlds".

However the blatant design and art department errors in these miniature worlds constantly annoy the viewer and betray the fact that this is supposed to be what we're seeing.

There are simply so many props, items and designs visible in these environments which simply cannot exist at this scale. This works to remove the viewer from the film and leave you asking questions as to what we're actually watching at times.

So all in all a great story, great screenplay and great actors - ruined by oppressively lazy and ignorant production design. I've seen better art direction in high school short films than "Downsizing".

If you're looking for a quirky story with morals, great unexpected turns and fantastic performances, "Downsizing" is definitely for you. But if you're a film aficionado and used to watching quality on the screen, this film will annoy and bug the crap out of you and leave you thinking you've seen better on 1970's B grade space films.

7/10, with the three dropped for the awful Art Department work. Looks like someone downsized the Art Dept budget a bit too much.