Downsizing (15)
How would you like to be five-inches tall and live in a community that could fit into a shoebox?
That is the fascinating central idea at the heart of Alexander Payne’s sci-fi dramedy, with couple Paul (Matt Damon) and Audrey (Kristen Wiig) Safranek facing the choice of permanently shrinking to enjoy a life of luxury.
Payne re-teams with his Sideways and Election writer Jim Taylor on a clever script that makes Downsizing unlike any other movie you’ve ever seen.
It’s bristling with social satire as what could have been a gimmick-only, height-joke-led watch is instead packed with overarching themes like overpopulation and its impact on the environment.
There are sizeist barbs too with people told to “get small” and others proclaiming themselves “normal sized-people”, and even in a new smaller world the elite and poor are separated.
Still, life for Paul in the plush Leisureland is far from idyllic as he has to put up with loud playboy neighbour Dusan (a grandstanding Christoph Waltz) who keeps referring to himself in the third person.
The visuals and Stefania Cella’s (Black Mass) production design are top notch and bring this unusual reality to eye-catching life as groups choosing to undergo the downsizing procedure end up looking like the world’s most realistic Subbuteo sets.