Johannes Roberts’s prequel ultimately remains buried by its indifference to unchecked corporate power.
Behind the film’s self-awareness and irony is a hollow emotional core.
Ultimately, the only truly retro thing about this weirdly reactionary potboiler is its politics.
Madelyn Deutch’s songs, ironically, obfuscate the allure and richness of her character and performance.
Bette Gordon’s film proffers the East Coast couple as an inevitably miserable institution without really meaning to.
Justin Kelly’s film is more interested in rushing through the narrative’s events than contemplating their environment.
Even when tragedy strikes early on, the revelation is just another “growing up is hard” dot on the grid.
An interesting opening for what could be a unique spin on an old sci-fi trope.