Not Good

Rating: 2/10 (13 August 2016)

I had heard some good things about this movie, Colin Farrell's performance in particular, so my curious mind wanted to see it. After reading the summary and watching the trailer, I was nothing but intrigued by the unique premise and absurdist hype that surrounded it.
As my numerical vote may imply, I have few positive things to say about this movie.
-For what it is, it was well done, I guess. There are only so many ways you can pull off an absurdist dystopian comedy, it seems.
-The music was nice to listen to, especially the repeated main theme which had some nice combinations.
-Lea Seydoux is always a wonder to watch on screen and I found her character to be the most compelling, even for a supporting role.
That's it.
The plot was occasionally slow, unclear and felt too Brechtian for me too enjoy.
From a social justice point of view, this movie's representation was not good and sometimes offensive, especially the scene in which David is told that bisexuality is not an option and he has to choose whether to register himself as homosexual or heterosexual. This did not sit well with me.
I found the performances to be a little bland and two-dimensional. Even the leading Colin Farrell couldn't save the day, as his portrayal of David was uneven and nothing remarkable in my opinion. Olivia Colman, a brilliant actress, had some nice, comedic moments, but she had too little material to do anything major with it.
All in all, I found this film to be unsatisfying and confusing. Maybe I'm not intelligent enough to understand the subtle nuances of absurdist cinema or the underlying messages contained into the movie, but this film has left me in no hurry to try another absurdist dystopian movie any time soon.