Dazzling sci-fi puzzle with no easy answers

Rating: 10/10 (23 February 2018)

Annihilation is based on a novel of the same name by Jeff Vandermeer, a writer specialized in a literary sub-genre known as "weird fiction". This book is the first from a
trilogy; however, director-screenwriter Alex Garland ("Ex Machina") wrote this adaptation before the next two books were even published.
It follows the story of a Lena, a biologist with military background, whose life has been shattered by the disappearance of her soldier husband who had gone on a secret
mission into an ecological disaster area presumably harboring an alien presence. Lena will be recruited as part of a scientific expedition into the unknown that will try
to find some answers. As someone who have read the books, I appreciate the way the director has made this story his own, taking enough from the book to make the story
recognizable, but at the same time making his own interpretations and connections, expanding on its themes and characters. There is much wonder, weirdness and visual poetry
to be found in the beautiful and exceptionally well crafted film, and to my surprise there is also plenty body horror and sudden outbursts of gnaly monster action.
The movie weaves different timelines in a very seamless way, with a combination of economy and elegance that is both eloquent and easy to follow; this makes it possible to introduce
different layers of meaning within the narrative (psychological, scientific, philosophical), and to tackle big themes without becoming pretentious or obtuse. The film contains
memorable dialogue not included in the original novel and the characters are much more fleshed out (the conversation between the biologist and the psychologist about the
nature of self destruction is a highlight, and a pivotal moment).
This is a project where you can clearly appreciate the simbiotic relationship between two highly imaginative thinkers (perhaps the best collaboration since Kubrick and Arthur
C. Clarke in "2001: An Space Odyssey"). "Annihilation" represents the type of reflexive science fiction that ponders about our place in the cosmos, our intrinsic mutability,
and the horrors this conjures; it amounts to a surreal, sciency phantasmagoria about desintegrating identity, deeply rooted in cosmic horror. And I have no words to describe that climax apart from saying it left me in complete awe. This is
for sure a new sci-fi classic that consolidates Garland as one of the major sci-fi visionaries of our time.