“Don’t Look Up”: the film that critics hated and that sweeps the 2022 Oscar | REVIEW

Kate Diabiaski (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) discover that a giant comet will destroy the earth upon impact in just over six months. After overcoming the surprise of the finding, they decide to reveal it to the White House, where a megalomaniac president (meryl streep) will wildly ignore the seriousness of the matter. So, if the person in charge of the first power is not interested in the fact that the world will end, what other ways do a couple of scientists of little renown have to make themselves heard?

Thus we could summarize the initial idea of ​​“don’t look up” (“Don’t Look Up”), the bet with which Netflix hopes to captivate the attention of its millions of users around the world in the last week of 2021. In this purpose they have spared no effort. The first is the summoned casting millionaire. To the three actors already mentioned above, this film by Adam McKay includes, among others, Cate Blanchett (as a TV presenter), Jonah Hill (as the son and presidential adviser, Jason Orlean), Mark Rylance (as a millionaire tech entrepreneur), Timothée Chalamet and even Ariana Grande in a particular musical appearance.

After the presidential door slammed, the duo made up of Kate and Randall look for other alternatives to alert the world population about their dark outlook. The first and foreseeable option is the media. The astronomers (she in a ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ look and he in a washed-up mathematician look) will be invited to a highly tuned-in morning show. From here on, references to ‘reality’ jump across the screen very quickly. For the hosts (one played by Tyler Perry and the other by the aforementioned Blanchett) all the guests matter the same. In this sense, despite the fact that these ‘prophets of the end of time’ want to impose seriousness on the interview, they end up involved in a dialogue of the deaf. And it is Kate – because of her youth and impetus – who quickly loses her roles on TV.

There is a detail that runs through the entire film: its actuality. As Kate loses her temper seeing that nobody cares about the ‘end of everything’, social networks make her the appearance of her to quickly make her a trend. Thus, not even the fact that she is about to become a doctor frees her from being just “the woman who says that we are all going to die.” Something almost similar happens with Randall, a mathematician who takes six pills a day to control everything from his hypertension to his weight, passing through a sexual ‘help’ when it is necessary. Well, he ends up being ‘the world’s sexiest astronomer’. All this is fertile ground for the emergence of hashtags and irreverent memes. Another defeat for the seriousness of the budding matter.

The political level cannot be avoided either when seeing “don’t look up”. Meryl Streep is superb in embodying what many might consider a female Donald Trump. If she first seemed totally uninterested in the ‘end of the world’ alert, her character quickly transforms when public opinion begins to worry about the imminent impact of the comet. But returning to her role, Streep confirms (as if that were necessary) her talent by showing us a politician who is good at screwing up and bad at making strategic decisions. Although many of the decisions of her character, that is, are left in the hands of her son and her adviser Jason Orlean. Here it is worth saying that the role of Jonah Hill – a young political strategist who boasts of his money and power to belittle even the most brilliant scientists – starts out well, but little by little ends up being reduced to one more element in a presidential family out of it. .

In a capitalist society like the current one, technology companies are just as or more important than banks and mining companies. Thus, to “don’t look up” could not miss the classic entrepreneur technology. Here he enters the role of Oscar winner Mark Rylance, playing Peter Isherwell, founder and CEO of the Bash company. Behind you you are free to imagine Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk or even the late Steve Jobs. The important thing will always be that our character has one foot in the conference where he announces his new and innovative gadget and the other in the office of the president of the United States. And it is particularly in this last place where he will influence key decisions not only for his country but for the world.

Returning to the plot, as Kate and Randall take slightly different paths in their quest to save us from a ‘planet-killing’ comet, “don’t look up” will also show us personal breakdowns. She is dumped by her boyfriend, and he succumbs to an exuberant TV host who has a life full of luxury, but empty. Due to details like these, this film is not only a technological and/or science fiction comedy, but also a crude account of life itself: disappointments, deceptions and loves that end.

Adam McKay has built a movie that serves its purpose. His version of the end of the world is not only ‘scientific’ (there are calculations, telescopes and rockets), but also moral (politicians who cheat and people willing to die for those lies). We are then facing a remarkable satire of a hyper-connected society, but at the same time empty. A fantastic opportunity to — between hashtags, memes and nonsense challenges – see ourselves reflected without having the extra pressure of knowing the exact time when ‘a comet’ will really come and end all this.

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Synopsis: Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humanity of a deadly comet that is on a collision course with Earth. The world’s answer: So?

Original title: “Don’t Look Up”.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprioJennifer LawrenceMeryl Streep

Duration: 2 hours and 18 minutes

Classification: +16 years

Gender: Comedy drama

Qualification: ★★★★.

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“Don’t Look Up” will compete at the 2022 Oscars in the categories Best Soundtrack, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Picture.

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