Alexander Payne
Downsizing

As often happens, the modest box office success of this film is accompanied by an overall negative judgment from critics. Despite its premises, "Downsizing" is a film devoid of special effects and without scientific and/or cerebral content and cues. Contrary to what might appear, there are not even particularly important themes developed on the social level, and if you say you perceive a certain rhetoric in its content, you are probably right. Far from being a film of catastrophic and apocalyptic content, the film still represents a certain decadence concerning human behavior: but precisely at the decisive moment, it instead shows us (perhaps predictably) that decisive push that drives the individual not only to self-preservation and instead chooses to finally live his life with others and among others.

Alexander Payne relies on an actor who has become a classic in the sci-fi genre like Matt Damon. We are in the near future, and the world is experiencing a global economic crisis, and global warming is increasingly a threatening and looming reality. The protagonist of the story is Paul Safranek, a physiotherapist who, to give a turn to his existence, decides to undergo the irreversible miniaturization procedure designed by the scientist and benefactor Dr. Jorgen Asbjornsen (Rolf Lassgard). "Downsizing" is presented as a solution to economic problems (after all, everything miniaturized obviously costs much less) and as the only possible response to a started process of self-destruction of the human race due to massive pollution (obviously reduced in the case of a completely miniaturized world). However, it will soon be evident that this type of solution is clearly insufficient and a kind of illusion regarding solving both problems and that this micro-system is also destined to deteriorate and end up destroyed like the "big world," of which, after all, it constitutes a kind of living diorama.

The film is not a masterpiece, and the idea is not original and has been a classic since the fifties; perhaps those over thirty will remember the great popularity of a children's film like "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" by Joe Johnston and starring the legendary Rick Moranis... But there are two or three strong points for which it is worth watching this film. 1. Matt Damon is at ease in a role that appears "tailored" just for him. In any case, the fact that he has now become a classic actor in the sci-fi genre is a great merit that will be recognized in the years to come. 2. The cinematography is very good. The rendering of some scenes of the miniaturized world is certainly very pleasing (but how could it be otherwise), and more than bombastically spectacular, they are like watching villages built with Lego. 3. The lack of big themes and cerebral pushes makes this film akin to good old classic sci-fi. Perhaps naive, but on a cinematic level, it always works better than other solutions precisely because of its simplicity and linearity. No cheap tricks, but simply space for ideas and room for real contents. It works.