I wasn't going to watch this. That's what I said to myself after watching a few seconds of the trailer on Netflix. It looked like it was going to be one of those tiring apocalyptic movies in the middle of nowhere with zombies(which everyone seems to have taking a liking to these days). However, as I was editing a video yesterday and with some time to kill , I decided to give it another shot. How bad can it really be?
I'm glad I did because it wasn't bad at all.
At the heart of this movie is a modern, goofy/nerdy looking couple in their early thirties who want to disconnect from technology. Their phones, laptops, opinions--all of that. Luckily, they meet a friend of theirs, Jack who conveniently has a cabin at a remote destination and happily offers them the keys and time at the place. So, Su and Jack(names of the couple) take up this offer just at a time when Su loses her job. What other motivation do they need to take this time out to connect with themselves and nature?
Off they go without informing their families to this cabin. They have all the time in the world and Su brings along paper written meditative/motivation exercises that Jack has no interest in. Existential questions like 'What are your gifts?' etc. For Jack, this negates the whole principle of leaving the internet behind, hand written on a paper on not. And well, he doesn't think he has gifts. Soon enough, that becomes inconsequential, because together with Su's desire to accomplish stuff, at least emotionally and mentally, they have to deal with an alien invasion. Yes, an alien invasion :). Like I said earlier. Not too bad.
Okay, this alien invasion is of a different kind. It's of the non-threatening kind really. There are no aliens with eyes or slimy bodies who can speak and abduct people. Infact, on one of the days when Su and Jack have a minor disagreement, she breaks their pact and switches on her phone where she hears in the voicemails sent by her mother that there are giant rats in New York and the rest of the world who are taking over the world. They love ethanol.Think petrol and alcohol. They gobble this up. At this cabin, they soon notice strange happenings like alcohol vanishing in bottles, and the presence of a furry looking thing resting on the floor. They call it a pouffe. Thinking it to be inanimate, they don't pay it any attention until the day mister pouffe sticks his sticky tongue and moves around the place setting off an operation save your souls in action.
That's just a little of the back story, but more than these events is the funny way it is done. As unassuming as this pouffe is in appearance, it is actually quite dangerous. It kills people and Su and Jack have to navigate this event to try to escape. So for me, the movie was held on it's shoudlers mainly by the funny things they would do in their panic. The conversations they would have and their selflessness in a world that was about to end.
The way this movie ended was quite strange. We see Su and Jack and a little baby they'd rescued(baby Jack) in a bubble on their way to space I guess. I tried to make sense of that. Does it mean Su and Jack were spared because unlike other people, they'd stopped to rescue a baby? Were they some chosen humans who the aliens thought would be beneficial to their society? Also, why did the aliens invade earth anyway just to drink some alcohol and petrol? That's some bad alien behaviour and probably points to the fact that they're probably starving in their alien world, so again, why waste resources to take Su and Jack up? Typing all these things have actually made me see things I didn't consider earlier to be problematic, but I suppose you could agree that those are things that require some answers.
All the same, it was quite entertaining and I'll rate it an 8/10.
Share your thoughts if you have watched this and let me know if you enjoyed it as much.
Cheers!
