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Downsizing -- Is this the Best -- or the Worst -- of Payne? Or Somewhere in Between? SPOILERS

posted 7 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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I went to see Downsizing having skimmed one review that said "it is the masterpiece that replaces Sideways as the masterpiece of Alexander Payne" and another that gave it one-and-one-half stars(Roger Ebert's website) for, basically, wasting a fascinating premise and going nowhere with it.

Hmm. This happens from time to time. One man's masterpiece is another man's failure.

So I went and found the film...somewhere in between.

It is not the masterpiece that Sideways(my favorite movie of 2004) was, in the Payne collection. Nor(to me, of course) is it as good as The Descendants(my second favorite movie of 2011) was, or that About Schmidt was(though, intriguingly, the film shares the most WITH Schmidt.) I liked it better than Nebraska (Bruce Dern's return to late fame), and I liked it better than Payne's highly regarded "Election"(a big early one in the Payne canon, but a hard watch given the very unlikeable characters.) And I haven't seen Payne's first one about the young woman caught between pro-life and pro-choice forces.

Hey, that's the whole Alexander Payne canon, right there. Like Kubrick and like QT so far, Payne hasn't made many movies. Indeed, much as QT took six years off between Jackie Brown and Kill Bill 1, Payne took SEVEN years off between Sideways(of which he said, "even I think its overrated) and The Descendants. So a movie like Downsizing doesn't have much competition, but can slide down the list pretty quickly when not "buried in 53 films"(as Hitchcocks movies could be.)

The greatness of Sideways crept up on me. I liked it on the first viewing, very much, but it took about four more to get more fully into it, to have a sense that I was even coming close to getting it.

It was, famously, about two middle-aged guys -- once college roomates at San Diego State -- who go on a road trip north of LA to the Central Coast wine country and "have adventures." But very SMALL adventures. One gets sex, one finds love. One gets his face bashed in with a motorcycle helmet, and has to run naked through an Ostrich farm. The other gets his car wrecked, and has sneak into a house to retrieve a wallet from a bedroom while two very overweight naked people are having sex on their bed. And that's about it, "plot wise." But oh, everything else -- the characterizations, the dialogue, the in-depth discussion of wine, the pain of career failure and lost love.

And this, as just two thoughts about the film: (1) This is a "bachelor party" for one of the guys, where he can only attract ONE OTHER GUY to join him(think about it) and (2) at film's end, the giant novel that one guy can't get published turns out to win back a lost love -- because SHE read it, and liked it. Failed projects can be big wins in other contexts.

And this: as a matter of "personal biography," I liked what "Sideways" posits: you're going on that yearly trip with some guy friends to drive somewhere, play golf, eat, and drink. You don't know, when you start off, exactly what's going to happen. Three days later, you come back -- and you DID have an adventure. Maybe a really small one, maybe with only a few memorable things happening but...it was unexpected. And the trip was worth taking. "Sideways" got that.

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Downsizing shares with Sideways certain things: a sense of pace; the music, which has a certain whimsy to it(actually, the score in Downsizing more directly lines up with the score in About Schmidt, and both films are about a rather boring man who lives and works in Omaha), a certain occasional snobbery about people who eat in buffets or go to bowling alleys(Payne hit this note most hard with the middle-class schlubs of Schmidt, though I felt he was being real rather than snobbish...exploring their world.)

But most of what I think Downsizing shares with Sideways is: I think I'll need to see it a few times to "get" it. At least get it better. What IS Payne trying to say with this movie?

For instance, the film posits something interesting I think: the reason Matt Damon and his wife Kirsten Wiig decide to irrevocably change their size to just a few inches -- never able to go back to the size they were, making one of those decisions you can never back away from -- is this: they're strapped for cash and being teeny-tiny people will make them millionaires. Without the financial incentive, the massive life change of downsizing would be too scary and horrible a life change. With the financial incentive: you'd do it. (Well, THEY would do it.)

And thus the inverse idea emerges: this downsizing thing is a way for the more successful in society to literally rid themselves of their economic losers.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

The film in one early scene -- before Matt and Kirsten make the plunge to little people -- has an overt political argument. A mean drunk guy in a bar comes up to them and starts attacking them for downsizing -- "Should you get a vote equal to mine? You're not paying taxes! You're not contributing to society up here anymore! You're escaping the rat race." A sizeable male friend of Damon's steps up to the drunk and pushes him away, and the scene feels real and nasty and suddenly one realizes that another theme of Downsizing is: Envy. Plus: Dislike of the Other.

Downsizing is unlike any other Alexander Payne film, of course, because of its reliance on special effects to give us these little teeny tiny people in juxtaposition -- perfectly, no seams, no blue screen lines -- with regular-sized people. As the trailer suggested, it is a marvel to watch whenever the small are shown in context with "the big."

And the film gets great mileage out of the rather sterile and creepy downsizing process itself -- Damon and others are stripped naked in unflattering light, shaved of all hair(head, eyebrows, genitals) , "put to sleep" and then processed by an unnervingly "regular joe worker" squad of hired help who complete the process and use spatulas to pick up the tiny specimens as if they were pancakes. A great, imaginative sequence -- with MORE food for thought -- is a human being at five inches tall LESS than human?

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

What I'm about to say is a spoiler only if you haven't seen the second trailer to Downsizing, but it is a spoiler: Damon completes the Downsizing process and arrives in "Leisure World" only to find out(via a cell phone call) that his wife got cold feet and backed out of the process(she was in the Women's Downsizing unit.) The massive lifechange was simply too much for her to bear, and she could only follow her husband so far. Another little theme: in marriage, men often find that women sign on for only so much, only so far...and if they don't like it...gone. Soon teeny-tiny Matt Damon is putting a teeny-tiny signature on divorce papers signed by Kirsten in Big Giant Regular People writing.

The FIRST trailer for Downsizing (like, it occurs to me, the only trailer for Matt Damon's flop Suburbicon) refused to relate what the movie was really going to be about. In Suburbicon, the trailer promised a Coen-brothers like comedy crime film -- but left out the part about the persecution of a black family in suburbia. In Downsizing, the trailer promises a whimsical world of little people, with deft SNL comedians Wiig and Jason Sudekis(a great, underused handsome comedy star) helping Damon along on his adventure.

Nope. THAT movie disappears about halfway through, Wiig and Sudekis disappear, and events take a turn for the grim and the philosophical. Weird: after awhile, since all the scenes are AMONG little people, we forget that they've been downsized. It starts to play like a regular movie, with regular sized-people.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

She's gotten Golden Globe notice and might get Oscar notice, but an Asian actress comes in to take over "Downsizing" and I found the character rather "affected." She plays one of the poor people in this shrunken world; she has lost a leg and does cleaning lady work to survive. She goes from tough and practical and bullying to a sponge-face full of tears in a millisecond; actors' tricks that will bait Oscar but become tough to take. Some have written that she takes over the movie from Damon. I didn't think so -- like most established stars, Damon's role is to give us "a familiar face," somebody we know and like, to anchor this weirdly abstract tale. But the woman certainly subverts Damon's star role. It becomes "all about her."

And Christoph Waltz as a delightful sidebar. In fact, to finish this up, I'd like to shift to a discussion of Waltz in this film,and, ultimately, Damon in this film.

Which looks to be a flop.

As some critic wrote, "Christoph Waltz does his Christoph Waltz schtick" in Downsizing, and I loved it. I swear he delivers one short speech with the exact cadence and exact hand gestures he used in the early saloon scene in Django. He's not an Oscar darling anymore, we're all used to him but I say -- bring it on. Waltz lifts Downsizing up the moment he appears on screen. Richard Boone and Robert Preston are long-dead; Rip Torn is elderly and retired -- I say let's keep Christoph Waltz around for the flamboyant, big-gesture entertainment value of his acting style.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

Waltz is cleverly cast as the big talking Cool Guy to Matt Damon's reserved, plain nebbish. The newly-single Damon finds out that Waltz is his upstairs neigbhor -- and totally into partying all the time, sex, drinking, dancing, drugs, the whole deal. Waltz for his part at once admires the forthright Damon and is out to spice up his life a bit. Best of all: Waltz has a roomate, played by that spooky vampire-looking Eurofilm actor Udo Kier. If Downsizing has a satirical heart, it is Waltz and Udo invading the pristine all-white Disneyland of "Downsizing" with their Eurotrash wildness(and, it turns out, hearts of gold.)

And recall that Udo Kier was the star of the "Grindhouse" trailer "Werewolf Women of the SS" that appeared alongside QT's Death Proof. So Waltz and Udo make sure that this is an Alexander Payne film with a QT twist.

Nice: dominating Waltz's swinging bachelor pad is a gigantic photograph of Young Christoph Waltz, a huge cigar sticking out of his teeth in a trademark Big Christoph Waltz smile. I laughed at the sheer comic egotism of what has to be a real photo.

But Waltz is the side deal to the Emotional Asian Actress and Matt Damon. It all comes down to them and some environmental-related twists at the end that I, for one, didn't fully understand. I don't quite think these twists meant what they were supposed to mean. I felt an Art Film happening, and a in a good way. And my mind will linger on a question: Damon is disturbed to learn, when he thinks he is joining a survivalist group walking DOWN to the center of the earth, that they are actually walking UP. What gives? Damon's pondering of that question will always matter to me.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

Now on Mr. Damon. Years ago, Downsizing was to star Paul Giamatti, right after Sideways. Well, that fell through and now we have a more generic Accepted Movie Star in the movie. That Damon is a movie star who has lasted a long time is undeniable. Whether or not that will continue is debatable.

The trade papers and the political gossip rags are pointing out that Damon had three big bombs this year: The Great Wall, Suburbicon, and now Downsizing(which is evidently flopping.) Is the problem...Matt Damon.

For the take is this: Damon already lost Red State Republican fans by professing things like W. wasn't his President and Trump can't be impeached soon enough. Fair enough -- and not really hurtful. Plenty of Dems and Indies buy movie tickets.

But the attack on Damon is now from the LEFT, too -- the Weinstein thing. A petition is circulating to have Damon's cameo removed from the all-woman-caper "Ocean's Eight." He's been targeted.

So supposedly no Reps will go to Damon's movies and no Dems will now, either.

I dunno. I think there will be some struggle, but Damon still has fans.

His stardom is based on one franchise -- Bourne. He pulled off a surprise hit movie a coupla years ago: The Martian. He was very good in True Grit. And he was with the boys in the old Ocean's movies, but those are a decade old now.

Sprinkled among those hits are a whole lotta movies that didn't do well (I Bought a Zoo) and...well...it remains to be seen if his career is really over or not.

Matt Damon fits Downsizing well. He's truly an everyman in this, wide-eyed and innocent and caring, a bit plump and doughy(I thought he lost the Suburbicon weight; nope.) A more charismatic actor wouldn't have worked -- and Paul Giamatti might have been TOO nerdy.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

Time to dust off critic Anthony Lane's insult about the too-young Matt Damon when he became an action star years ago: "In another era, Cary Grant would have given Matt Damon his keys to park his car." True. In another era. But that was then, this is now, and once-boyish, now-doughy Matt Damon seems to be the Everyman we need.

Or needed.

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In About Schmidt near the end, Nicholson's doughy old guy stops to take in a "Nebraska pioneer history" exhibit near a freeway. The tour is all every sterile and Disneylandish and a bit satirical: American history for white people. Downsizing plays like that -- again the scores(both by Nick Rolfe) are almost identical. As are the edits, deadpan close ups, "air pockets of silence."

In short, if you like Alexander Payne films, rest assured, Downsizing feels and sounds and moves like all the rest of them. There's a comfort level to that kind of auteurism. Its what Hitchcock was talking about when he said the plots were secondary to his movies -- the style came first.

I liked Downsizing. I didn't love it. And I will most certainly see it again in my quest to "get it."

[–] edge (126) 7 years ago

I am putting it in the weak set. This had a great concept but it was wasted. What could have been a tongue in cheek farce with a point, ended up being a polemic on ecology. Not that message films are a bad thing. Payne forgot to also entertain.

Leave the gun take the .........

Stay Gold
Marty

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

An interesting analysis of the journey. Thank you!

[–] catsidhe (1649) 7 years ago

Another little theme: in marriage, men often find that women sign on for only so much, only so far...and if they don't like it...gone.

Yeah, men never do that. Ever.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

Yeah, men never do that. Ever.

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Ha. Yeah.

Edited sentence:

In marriage, women often find that men sign on for only so much, only so far...and if they don't like it..gone. And often women treat men the same way.

(I was thinking in terms of the context of this story.)

With modern divorce rates, it seems like EVERYBODY signs on for only so much, only so far...and if they don't like it...gone.

Or in affairs.

[–] CraigJamesReview (1716) 7 years ago

For a man who has Sideways, Nebraska, About Schmidt, Election on his resume, this is by far his weakest I think. He posits some interesting alternatives here- that life would be so much easier if we were small and consuming less but Damon going through the loss of his wife is a needless side plot, we never really get to experience any of sights and sounds of leisure land, the romance between Damon and Chau seems very forced, and the environmental messages very heavy handed. It just never seemed like it had a solid direction it wanted to go into.

I'm trying to go for an engaging, funny youtube channel so, if you have the time, take a look. Hope you enjoy what you see and if you have any thoughts or criticisms, i'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance. A review of the movie here-https://youtu.be/tn12vJcJawY

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

I have, since seeing Downsizing, viewed both Sideways and The Descendants again, and it sure feels like this one is a big miss.

I continue to believe that a man of Payne's intelligence may have more on his mind that what the surface of the story shows. Take "the environmental messages" --- getting people to reduce themselves and effectively live in a "contained environment" is quite a change in life. And not everyone makes the choice. Granted, these tiny people can travel the world -- I love that Udo Kier has his boat shipped FedEx to Norway -- but they are really being removed from "society" for environmental reasons and, again, lured into the deal with promises of incredible wealth.

In short, is Payne really in FAVOR of this downsizing idea, or making satirical comment upon it?

Indeed, the wife's decision NOT to may reflect her humanity, as she feels the pain of breaking away from parents and hometown pretty irrevocably -- yeah, she can visit them, but not the same size any more.

Humanity is what mattered in Sideways(despite the jerkiness of the characters -- who didn't feel Miles' pain when he caught up with his ex-wife, her perfect husband and news of the wife's pregnancy -- and in "The Descendants"(pain upon pain upon pain visited upon Clooney and his kids -- even as they were all "rich.") Humanity seems missing from Downsizing even with the bringing on of Chau and the impoverished part of the Downsized world. They're all in the same soup in that story.

Downsizing starts so well that its third act shift seems to be a real falldown. Is this the only Payne movie NOT from a source novel? That could be it. An original screenplay without the solid foundation of a good novel is in trouble.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

I'm also intrigued that Payne was originally going to do Downsizing after Sideways, but instead took 7 years off before giving us the (very good) Descendants instead and the (pretty good) Nebraska fairly soon after that(2 years.)

Maybe Payne sensed problems with Downsizing years ago - and "put it in his back pocket" until he could get a coupla more stories told.

Its a shake-up to his career. Sideways and The Descendants were hits and Oscar-bait. (Election and Schmidt roughly the same if less "from an auteur.") Nebraska felt like a smallish bow to Payne's roots and a big bow to Bruce Dern(landing a role turned down by the retired Gene Hackman and the semi-retired Jack Nicholson.) It was too small to matter if it didn't quite hit.

But Downsizing has a Big Star(Damon), Big Special Effects, and Big Ideas. Its failure hurts.

[–] Cathexis (112) 7 years ago

I can't think of anything in the movie that would remotely indicate Payne is in favor of the idea. The entire thing is commenting on how dangerous it is - it's as crystal clear a metaphor for isolationism and retreating from reality as you could think up. The inventor of downsizing intended it so that people would reduce their carbon footprints and help save the planet, but as we see in the movie literally nobody chose to downsize for that reason. Instead they did it so they could have luxurious lifestyles without the cost. They aren't helping anybody. That's why Damon balks at the end when given the opportunity to retreat *again*, even further away from society. He rightly decides to stay and do what he can to give back to the society he's now trapped in.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

I can't think of anything in the movie that would remotely indicate Payne is in favor of the idea. The entire thing is commenting on how dangerous it is - it's as crystal clear a metaphor for isolationism and retreating from reality as you could think up.

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I like this. You are putting your finger on what I was struggling to express.

I've seen some reviews and "analysis" that suggest the movie has "environmental themes," but I think it goes to another place. We never feel particularly happy or comfortable in Leisure World -- it does not seem like a happy place. Just a place to retreat to. And without the huge money lure, I doubt many would choose it at all.

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The inventor of downsizing intended it so that people would reduce their carbon footprints and help save the planet, but as we see in the movie literally nobody chose to downsize for that reason. Instead they did it so they could have luxurious lifestyles without the cost.

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Bingo. And the environmental benefits seem like an originating idea that is eventually lost.

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They aren't helping anybody.

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Which is perhaps why Payne gives us the scene before Damon downsizes where the drunk insults his downsizing decision.

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That's why Damon balks at the end when given the opportunity to retreat *again*, even further away from society. He rightly decides to stay and do what he can to give back to the society he's now trapped in.

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I very much like this.

Again, I feel that I need to give Downsizing at least one more look before rendering a judgment on it. However, The Descendants hit me with a wallop from Viewing One, and Sideways had a certain emotional effect as well, and, well -- Payne just isn't going for that this time. This is a movie of ideas.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

Which is why I think even the ostensibly emotional and sympathetic character of the Asian woman doesn't draw the emotion it should -- the movie never gets past HER as much of a symbol too. (BTW, her quizzing Damon as to exactly what kind of er, sex, they had seemed out of left field and rather demeaning of the character -- like some sort of stand-up comic's patter transferred to a woman presented in rather sympatheic terms.)

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 7 years ago

A pathetic 5.8 on IMDB and 51% on RT. I dunno. Sounds like a turd to me. And I think the Oscars are safe.

😎

[–] Lucia2016 (612) a year ago

Damon's character was definitely in the same vein as Broderick in Election and Schmitt. An impotent loser who craves a purpose and feel like they are doing something useful but gets zero respect from anybody, a plodder.

This film appears to have suffered from the misleading trailer (deliberate) and most people not realizing it was an Alexander Payne film. I would like to see the rating of just the Payne fans i'm not saying it will be the best but a damn better than 5.8.

The Vietemese woman does bring the film down but i love the Norway part mainly for the beautiful setting and i don't think this film should be written off completely. It does have value despite the flaws

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) a year ago

Holy Crap! A blast from the past!

😦