There are movies with an action set in only one location. We also have productions that can evoke a feeling of claustrophobia and even attach the viewer to the screen. All these elements are included in the new movie by Alexandre Aja entitled Oxygen.
Oxygen is a film that is very interesting in its structure, because we follow the fate of a woman locked in a cryo-chamber. After waking up, she doesn't remember who she is or how she ended up in a high-tech box. In order for an escape from a small prison to be possible at all, the heroine must remember her previous life and make extremely difficult choices. The more that time, unfortunately, is not made of rubber and runs like crazy, and the oxygen level in the chamber decreases every moment.
It is therefore not difficult to see what the director of this film, Alexandre Aja, is following. These types of stories centered around an enclosed space with the accompanying feeling of claustrophobia can be found without difficulty. However, oxygen does not fall into genre traps, skillfully mocking patterns and cliches. It was similar with the director's previous film, Creeping Death. When it comes to the genre classification, it is a completely different movie, but also there the creator combined the different genres efficiently and ingeniously entertained a monster movie with elements of survival. Moreover, he added a bit more ambitious tropes to the B-movie. He does the same in the film Oxygen, thanks to which he manages to induce a breathless effect, but also the screening strikes subcutaneously with its tension and plot solutions.
Oxygen is therefore a science fiction film with intellectual but not over-intellectual content woven into it. Despite the sparse exposure, the artist balances very well on the verge of pathetic attention to the social condition in the face of a catastrophe, but also shows the tragedy of an individual in an interesting way. In the case of this film, we can also talk about a full-fledged thriller, which keeps you in suspense until the very end, because the main theme is primarily an attempt to escape from a closed container. It is no coincidence that we repeatedly watch shots with a rat trying to pass the maze. This is a clear suggestion, but given in a justified manner by the plot, so there is no question of simplifications or bluffiness.
Films with one character in the center of events, in such a small space, must have an actress who can bear the burden of such an unusual role. In this case, the casting selection was definitely successful and Mélanie Laurent did very well, capturing the emotions of a closed, lost and terrified person. The more so because the actress's movements were limited and she had to base her game mainly on the facial expressions and emotions accompanying the spoken lines. Definitely a role worth attention and awards.
Oxygen does not offer an intricately prepared plot, but reveals the pieces of the puzzle in such a way that the viewer is still intrigued by the final solutions. This is accompanied by the use of very interesting treatments that evoke claustrophobic feelings, which is undoubtedly a great advantage of the film. As in the aforementioned Creepy Death, Tlen contains illogical moments, a bit too much to suspend disbelief, but thanks to the acting and the means of expression used, the story is full of tension and keeps the viewer interested until the last minute.
One of the problems is the involvement of the viewer with the fate of the heroine, because despite the tension and stuffiness, the story of Liz is somewhere blurry in all of this. The number of twists and turns effectively draws us to the screen, but ultimately leads to a loss of gravity. Certainly, however, numerous twists mean that, despite the difficult and closed space of the cryogenic capsule, there is no feeling of fatigue with this form. Alexandre Aja once again delivers a film that plays with habits, which is both entertainment and revealing of slightly greater ambitions. At least because of this prism, it is worth getting interested in the new Netflix production.