• Film: An Invasion and a Disappearance

• • Art for Progress
  • Film
• 4 years ago
• Little Joe, Austrian director Jessica Hausner’s first English-language film, is as spare and deliberate as it is visually arresting. With its chilly tone and gorgeous, pastel-hued visuals, the sci-fi drama is both beautiful and creepy, despite a familiar plot. The film opens with an overhead shot of row-upon-symmetrical-row of red-hued plants in a sterile, brightly lit lab, staffed by technicians in lab coats. New to Planthouse Biotechnologies, Alice (Emily Beecham, who won Best Actress award for the film at Cannes), is lead scientist on this particular project. She has succeeded in synthetically breeding plants that will emit a scent with antidepressant properties in exchange for an abundance of TLC, including temperature control and affectionate conversation. Alice and her associate Chris (a solid-as-always Ben Whishaw) discuss the plant's readiness for market, specifically the fast-approaching Plant Fair at which it will be unveiled. Already, we feel a sense of foreboding, as the scene is punctuated by Teiji Ito and Markus Binder’s spare, haunting score. The divorced Alice lives with her son Joe, a young teen who believes that she and Chris would make a great couple, but she has no time for romance, what with the upcoming debut of “Little Joe” (the plant is named after her son). Alice discusses this with her therapist (Lindsay Duncan), along with foreshadowy concerns about her son and the frankenplant itself. (“You never know what might happen.”) She also goes agai[...]
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