MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review The Stranger, Undertone, and Outcome
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Small isn't necessarily the beautiful solution
MARIA DUARTE remains unconvinced by a sci-fi satire positing miniaturisation as the answer to global overpopulation
Matt Damon in Downsizing
WILL STONE applauds the anniversary tour of Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches by Madchester icons, Shaun and Bez
JAN WOOLF invigilates images that meditate on Palestine, and the people who witness them
A murderous convention of crime writers, a hymn to nursing, a monster hunt, and robber baron capitalism
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a three-hander that broaches big themes, but doesn’t transcend dry academia
DAN GLAZEBROOK eavesdrops on the bourgeois intelligentsia and the stories it tells itself at this moment of crisis
Downsizing (15)
Directed by Alexander Payne
DESPITE brimming with big ideas and a fascinating premise providing a small-size solution to the world's overpopulation problem, sadly this social satire can't escape its many shortcomings.
It starts with Norwegian scientists discovering how to successfully shrink human beings to five inches tall and thus devise a radical solution to global overcrowding.
It then follows occupational therapist Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) from Omaha who, barely making ends meet on his meagre salary, decides to give himself and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) the life they had always dreamt of by convincing her to downsize.
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