Friday, November 5, 2021

Weekend Screen Scene: Finch, 7 Prisoners

Finch had a troubled journey to the small screen. It was filmed back in 2019, and had a few release dates, the last being late 2020, but like many 2020 films, it was pulled. Eventually, it was bought by Apple TV+, where it can be viewed starting today.

It's somewhat surprising, since the film stars the beloved Tom Hanks. Of course who can say whether he's still a box office draw since his last two films were released during a global pandemic. I will say that Finch, while filled with some stunning vistas and good special effects, is perhaps better suited for the small screen, at least right now. I'm not sure venturing out to the theater to watch a movie about the end of the world, where the star coughs up blood and is visibly emaciated is all that appealing?

Instead you can feel uncomfortable, laugh, and cry in the comfort of your own home. And yes, Finch will probably make you cry. Hanks stars as the titular Finch, an engineer, and one of the few survivors of a global climate catastrophe. He designs a humanoid robot for the primary purposes of caring for his dog, Goodyear, after he dies. And Finch is definitely dying. (I will gladly spoil that the dog does NOT die, something I wish I knew before going into the film; it was a needless and distracting concern.)

There's a lot wrong with Finch, things like tremendous plot holes, a lack of world building, and an overall maudlin sensibility. But two things save it. One is Hanks, who remains an engaging screen presence you can't help but root for. And the other is the robot "Jeff," who is voiced (and was performed on set) by Caleb Landry Jones. This came as a complete surprise to me because I best remember Jones as the loathsome and villainous brother in Get Out. But his Jeff starts as a robot that sounds like your typical Stephen Hawkins-voiced stiff, but eventually grows into the equivalent of a precocious child, eager to learn and please his father, making plenty of mistakes along the way. Ultimately, I couldn't help but find this flawed robot, and this flawed film, endearing.

Finch is currently streaming on Apple TV+.

Alexandre Moratto's 7 Prisoners is a brutal drama examining modern day slavery and human trafficking in São Paulo, Brazil. Christian Malheiros stars as Mateus, a rural teenager who, along with a several other young men, accept a job offer in the city. Once there, they are overworked, denied pay, and locked into their sleeping quarters, essentially prisoners. Any attempts to escape are thwarted by their tyrannical boss, Luca (Rodrigo Santoro) who controls them via violence, and the threat of violence against their families back home. 

Malheiros is excellent as Mateus, the defaco leader of the group who quickly learns that survival depends on a certain level of duplicity, and that a shitty boss probably has someone even shittier above him. 7 Prisoners is a depressing but effective dramatization of the evils of human trafficking and the capitalist system that allows these, and often more subtle crimes against workers, to continue.

7 Prisoners is currently playing in select theaters and will begin streaming on Netflix on November 11th.

No comments:

Post a Comment