When the Sandford family takes a weekend to escape their busy urban life in Brooklyn, they leave at the beginning of an unprecedented event in history. As the family tries to unravel the implications of what has happened, the family whom they rented their AirBNB from shows up to take shelter, leaving two families in a house that they both believe belongs to them. The breakdown in global communication and trust begins to spiral and, soon, the family’s interpersonal tensions boil over towards violence as the hope for the normalcy that they once held sacred seems to be falling away.
Sam Esmail, showrunner and sole director from Season 2 onwards of the acclaimed Mr.Robot, makes his sophomore breakout with what feels like a pandemic epic with a small but star-studded cast and wide scope (even if the film centres around the drama taking place in one house.) Esmail combines this with lots of long takes that often focus around a very droning camera that was either a very precise drone or a mobile crane that’s used at many parts of the film. These unconventional angles and cuts, along with great use of negative space are the stylistic elements that made Mr.Robot‘s often psychologically perplexing story come to life. This translates pretty seamlessly to Esmail’s psychological apocalypse thriller as the tension between the families is often communicated much better through visuals than dialogue.
Unfortunately, overwritten scenes and underdeveloped characters fail to deliver the poignant blow its finale should have offered. The dialogue often feels over-expositional, stilting character development. This makes the dramatic and emotional moments of the climax feel underbaked as they don’t fully pull off the emotional resonance the film feels like it’s trying to impart.
The philosophical and political aspect of the film is much more impactful. However, because of the film’s focus on these underdeveloped characters, the personal impact of these themes are not as poignant. The themes and ideas presented are still impactful and more haunting because of how realistic they feel but the character dynamics are also left woefully unexplored and many aspects of tension are simply left behind, making them cheap ploys to hook the audience along. There’s nothing wrong with this, in theory. Chekov’s gun doesn’t always need to go off but, in this film, the character trait that they decide to bring full circle at the end of the film is almost comedic and seems far from the point the film is trying to make.
The film’s final scene presents the thesis and is, without question, the most important part of this movie. If you haven’t seen it, I’d say you get the most out of this film by seeing it blind. Essentially, the ending points to the tensions in America and the division that has been created between people because of dividing political beliefs that have only deepened with online bubbles and misinformation. It’s a call to reflect and look forward to how we choose to Leave the World Behind, both in our attempts to escape and the way that the world may be damaged by our lack of trust and compassion as human beings.
Leave the World Behind is streaming on Netflix now.
