I was intrigued by the description of the film Downsizing (2017) starring Matt Damon – it is about a time when many are getting themselves downsized with a newly invented bio-cellular technology, not in an economic or in an infrastructure sense, but in their body size being reduced from about 6 Feet to 5 inches. We have seen this concept in comedy films like “Honey, I shrank the Kids”, but this is a serious take on why humans should consider getting smaller – to reduce their carbon footprint and the resources consumed and thereby saving the planet from an increasing population.

The film starts well with describing the invention, its progression from the research lab to becoming mainstream with gated communities being built worldwide for small people. It even shows a convincing motivation that gets people to downsize, it is that a dollar in the real-world (big world) goes several times in the small world – so a middle-class family will find itself as super-rich living in a mansion with servants and all the luxuries in life. The film progresses well till the time Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) downsizes and settles down in the new world, we can relate to the anxiety and trepidation he goes through while getting used to his new life. Right after that, when we are expecting something interesting will start to happen, the film goes completely downhill.

What starts as a comedy-drama quickly turns into a documentary tackling issues of poverty, inequality, political exile and lastly doomsday – Hollywood is obsessed with the world coming to an end, even all in the planets in our galaxy won’t be enough for the number of times Hollywood has destroyed our planet. When the film finally ends, you curse yourself for watching it. Stay away from this film.

Kristen Wiig and Matt Damon (In the centre)

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

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