Year of Release: 2023
Director: Sam Esmail
Starring: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Kevin Bacon, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
Sam Esmail who has steadily built a name for himself with the shows "Mr. Robot" and "Homecoming" has finally released his feature sophomore directorial effort, and has done so by adapting the novel from Rumaan Alam, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2020. The narrative focuses on the Sandford family, comprised of parents Amanda and Clay and their children (teenagers), Rose and Archie. They live comfortably in Brooklyn, but one day Amanda spontaneously decides to rent a house in Long Island and take the whole family for a vacation. The house Amanda has rented is stunning, and the following day while the family is enjoying the beach, Rose notices that an oil tanker in the distance seems to be moving in their direction. Things take a turn for the unexpected when that tanker runs ashore. The family escapes and gets back to the house, only to realize that the television is no longer working, nor is their Wi-Fi. Later that evening, when Rose and Archie have already gone to bed, Amanda and Clay are interrupted by two people who show up at the house. It turns out to be a father and his daughter, and they introduce themselves as G.H. Scott and Ruth. G.H. mentions that the house is theirs and that a blackout in the city made them come that way (traffic issues and so on). While Amanda wants to revisit the renter's contract (until she realizes there's no internet), Clay is more forgiving and allows the couple to spend the night. The following day Clay goes into town to get a newspaper, something that may indicate what has happened with the blackout, while G.H. goes to one of the neighbor's houses to enquire what's going on. The neighbor's house is in shambles, and when he investigates a bit more around the area, he realizes he's on a crash site for an airplane. G.H. quickly escapes the scene when another airplane starts coming in the same direction and he barely has time to take refuge in the house as it crashes, much like the previous one.
"Leave the World Behind" is one of the rare Netflix films that actually delivers on quality across the board. The output of Netflix produced feature films is all over the place, but mostly and primarily on the mediocre side, so this has been an unexpected delight. Sam Esmail crafts a great adaption of the novel with the same name, introducing an interesting array of characters who slowly peel away at their own layers and who progressively show who they are, particularly in such an extreme scenario. And that's one of the great things the director manages to stage so perfectly, the combination of almost a theatrical piece, where characters unveil themselves to each other, very much like a character piece, but combined with a cataclysmic event, where all their lives are at stake, where their fears are heightened, and their quest for survival is toppling everything else. Another very smart thing about this feature lies on the progressive disclosure that occurs during the narrative, where the context of what is actually happening is slowly presented, the same going for the impact that it has on the characters and their relationships (and also how these characters morph and adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves in). And while there are some borderline clichés the film touches upon, particularly when it comes to its characters, it's still a very smartly conceived film, one that doesn't fall trap to typical destroy-cinema type of tropes, opting instead for a more microcosms type of analysis, dealing with very relevant concerns that exist these days. The cast is all uniformly fantastic, with Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Kevin Bacon crafting indelible performances, with good support from the younger actors, in particular Myha'la and Farrah Mackenzie. The production team is also impeccable, featuring the great cinematography from Tod Campbell, score from Mac Quayle, and production design by Anastasia White. A good film worth watching.
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