I think that everybody I knew who saw District 9, loved it, and from what I could tell, the critical assessments in the media were also glowing, and so, it was with an open, optimistic and entirely excited heart that I went to see the movie.
I thought that the premise, the launching point for the movie, was absolutely brilliant. In this case, the mysterious arrival of aliens on the planet-- which is usually portrayed as either catastrophe or salvation in Sci Fi-- appears to be little more than a refugee dump. How would humanity deal with the unwanted class of an alien civilization?
However, after about the first five minutes, I watched in dismay, as District 9 became a very conventional, derivative and annoyingly commercial enterprise.
For reasons that are not clear to me, the lead character was modeled after Steve Carell’s portrayal of Michael Scott in The Office. It was a curious and awkward stab at humour, one that helped drain the movie of the complexity and nuance the premise deserved. Content to use a visual shorthand rather than constructing a style of it’s own, District 9 plundered a variety of sources in what seemed an aimless manner. There were symbolic references to ET, Aliens, X-Files, The Fly, and numerous others, including the documentary frame of The Office (now something of a horror-film cliché), which they sped away from whenever convenient.
The movie itself wasn’t exactly coherent, and to enjoy it as so many did, you have to live in the present, by which I mean allow yourself to propelled along by the visual dynamism, rather than sitting back and thinking about what was actually taking place.
After about half an hour, it struck me that the movie was in fact built to structurally resemble a video game, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it does mean that District 9 is an expression of chaotic, visual energy. It’s explicit and superficial, adhering to the philosophy that the more components it contains, the better it is. The narrative, such as it is, is all about problem solving-- the acquisition and mastery of specific tools in order to solve problems in a shifting landscape--rather than say, the maturation of a character. You don’t learn lessons in District 9, you move from level to level.
After about an hour, I just wanted the movie to end, having nothing invested in any of the characters on the screen. I simply could not shake the feeling that the movie was merely a trailer for the TV series/video game/sequel it was designed to precede and market, and I found myself wishing that the producers had an artistic goal rather than a commercial one, because the premise was so strong.
One word. Tron.
Starts with a 'T.'
Just nod.
signed,
vTi
The presentation is well suited to our short attention span culture, an all-comers crowd pleaser if you will, but I felt there was tons of take away...
How deep is your faith/hope/trust? Could you last three years on hope alone? Do you have the courage to become that which you are prejudiced against instead of giving up? How could you repair those relationships, once broken? Was it the geographical/historical location that led to the story seeming plausible? How is it implausible when we see parallel behaviour occurring every day? Could you imagine advocates for these aliens existing? Would you ever be one? Are they gonna annihilate earth when they get back? Would you? blahblahblah...
I thought a lot about it (sure it's not so deep that you can't resolve your point of view in a short period of time) and I thought there was depth you could take from this film, after yahooing over the gore. Which I did.
Perhaps I'm just really good at making meaning. It helps when you're waiting for the bus.
Replica:
Let me first say that Tilda Swinton is a world of awesome.
That woman knows sexy, and her sexy is strong and unsentimental.
I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Young Adam ( Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton), but Lordy, the scenes with Swinton positively sizzle.
At any rate, the points you make about District 9 are all excellent. However, I would argue that all of the substantive and profound questions you raise, are ones that necessarily spin-off the premise. There was little in the execution of that premise that would lead one such philosophical rumblings. I mean, it was using a shorthand, cribbing recognizable tropes from other cultural artifacts in order to spark a feeling in the audience. This is smart and everything, but it's also superficial, you know, standing on the shoulders of genius sort of thing. I really wish that they concentrated on the internal and personal ( lead character, perhaps), instead of the flush of action that washed over the movie like a tidal wave.
Look, I know that it was a pastiche, and that it was a summer action film, but I still wasn't seized by it the way I am with other stellar action movies, and I think that was because there was really no emotional core to the movie. It wasn't about people, it was about plot.
One thing that I noticed, and kind of bothered me, was the appearance of the aliens. I thought it would have made all sorts of sense to have them similar to humans in appearance, and couldn't understand why they didn't do this, later realizing that for the video game( which is following--the director was to make the movie of Halo) to work, they needed the aliens to be easily distinct from the humans.
HTML allowed: <a href="" title="" rel=""></a> <b></b> <blockquote cite=""></blockquote> <em></em> <i></i> <strike></strike> <strong></strong> <li></li> <ol></ol> <ul></ul>
ie: <b>bold</b>
One word. Tron.
Starts with a 'T.'
Just nod.
signed,
vTi