A masterpiece in visual storytelling

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2019)

A masterpiece in production design, cinematography, and score, Dark City is a throwback to early 20th century period, tribute to film noir and German Expressionistic films such as Metropolis. Unapologetically bleak but with an undercurrent of hope and love, the film is a deep dive into themes of reality, memories, and perception. What the film lacks in action, it has in spades of character study. The sense of time and space are further manipulated to present a grand scale in a once small and contained story centering on an amnesiac man running from shadowy figures.
The story follows John Murdoch as he awakens in a bathtub, suffering from amnesia. With only faint memories of his past, Murdoch is chased by groups of men called "Strangers", upon the call of Dr. Daniel Schreber, who seeks the "tuning" ability he possesses. Emma Murdoch is his wife, whom he has no recollection. Aside from the Strangers, Inspector Frank Bumstead is hot on his trail because Murdoch is accused of murder, one of which is a dead woman found inside the apartment he woke up. The pursuit ensues unwrapping mysteries behind the Strangers, Murdoch's fabricated past and the city's façade. The Strangers are a group of extraterrestrials near extinction who seek the meaning of humanity's individuality as a means to save their race. Every people living in the city is an unwitting subject, Murdoch included. All memories of the past are fabrications made by the Strangers meant to cloak changes. The city is the apparatus in which this giant experiment unfolds. During midnight the city physically changes, literally. Buildings and roads are rearranged and new memories are inserted to erase every truthful past and recollection. The city, in reality, is a massive space habitat protected by force fields, at the core of which is a machine that powers the city's machinations and is the Strangers home.
What is reality? Is the world a façade? Is reality ultimately a subjective viewpoint? What drives our perception of reality? How do our memories shape our present self? Dark City answers these philosophical questions satisfyingly and in a cathartic fashion.
Reality in Dark City can be viewed from multiple perspectives. The city is real from the Strangers' standpoint since they are its builders. Having control is tangible power, and is real because it alters the city's true state. For Murdoch, reality begins confusingly due to amnesia but the ending with Anna, Emma's new identity, is his true reality. Emma is the wife he never had, except as implanted memories, but this is where he builds his reality. The city can be further considered a façade or not depending on the perspective. The Strangers built a façade world where the occupants consider it real.
Now, is reality ultimately a subjective viewpoint? In the film's context, reality is indeed subjective. On a personal level, we create our own reality through our identities and experiences. The physical world is a reality different from the mental reality each individual possesses. It is a stimulant which our physical bodies are subjected. Some reactions are natural like pain, but emotions may vary from person to person, thus each may conclude differently from the same source. Murdoch, as the central character, finds resolution when after defeating the Strangers he altered reality to his will by changing the city into the memories which were implanted. Emma, now Anna with new memories, is his only reality because everything is mere creation and the only person whom he feels an emotion and love towards is her. Ultimately, as the driving force of the film his resolution is the thread that binds the themes together.
The acting is also great. Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, and Kiefer Sutherland are good in their roles, but Jennifer Connelly is the best performer, embodying the pain of not knowing any true past.
21 years since Dark City's release the visuals remain something to behold. The artistic qualities need to be experienced first-hand because words are not enough to do justice its beauty. A masterpiece in art direction and cinematography.
10/10