Postcard from Earth (2023)

Not rated, mainly because this is a spectacle Vegas experience.  It's kind of like a Planet Earth or a Koyaanisqatsi​ where there's a lot of visually intimidating things, but nothing that would be even remotely considered offensive.  Considering that Aronofsky is a vehement atheist, there seems to be respect for the notion of religion in this one.  For an Aronofsky movie, it's actually quite tame...mainly because he knows this film's intended audience.

DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky

I really went back and forth about writing about this movie. It's only 55 (? I counted 45) minutes long.  It's more of a planetarium show than it is a traditional film.  But it's Darren Aronofsky and it does have a science-fiction plot running through it.  Listen, I'm going to write what I'm going to write and we'll see how much I get out of this.  It may not be much, but I'm already giving myself Brownie points for writing about this movie at all.

Also, I'm going to be one of the rare film blogs that has this Aronofsky movie on his page.

If you hadn't guessed, we went to Vegas this weekend.  The Sphere is the only place you can see this movie.  Listen, I love me a good planetarium IMAX movie.  If I want to avoid dancing around it, Postcard from Earth might be the most impressive IMAX movie ever made.  IMAX movies only tend to go so far.  In terms of expectations from an IMAX movie, there is some warping of the image, mainly because a two-dimensional image is being beamed onto a round space.  But Aronofsky does the thing that most people don't.  In a lot of cases (with some forgiveness for warping), Aronofsky uses such advanced technical techniques that makes the audience really feel the experience of seeing these things up close.  Like Planet Earth, it's a breakdown of everything that makes life on Earth the way it is.  As part of that, Postcard from Earth is one part nature documentary and one part social criticism.  

The thing about Aronofsky that I respect, but often don't enjoy, is the idea that he is going to be incredibly challenging with his movies.  Sometimes, it is at the expense of the story.  When I think about mother!, there was a lot that I liked, but his own hubris kind of got in the way.  This is him holding himself back.  There's something paradoxical about the very nature of making a spectacle piece like Postcard from Earth that Aronofsky is really treading here.  One of the things I've noticed about the big name Vegas shows is that they often aren't challenging.  That's an oversimplification, mainly because I'm trying to make a point.  The other show we saw was The Beatles: Love through Cirque de Soleil.  Was there something political?  Sure.  Was it the most easy to ignore political message in the world?  Also true.  Aronofsky is making Postcard from Earth in that vacuum.  He's making something that needs to be visually spectacular before going into his political message.  I know that the message that we're destroying our planet is polarizing (no pun intended) to some people.

But I also feel like it is a message that we were inundated with growing up.  I mean, we're the Captain Planet generation.  The notion that people are ravaging the Earth isn't anything all that new.  It's weird that this movie can get people riled up as much as it does.  Postcard from Earth does something really smart to get that message out though. The majority of the movie is the spectacle you want.  Transitioning from a standard 16:9 narrative about humans waking up from a deep sleep in space (which has meh special effects), the movie shifts into the full sphere full of 4K (8K?) visuals about the history of Earth and the dynamics of nature.  Because that shift is so impressive, coupled with rumble seats that give it that extra RPX experience, the movie wins its audience with an intense overwhelming of the senses.  In the final 30% of the movie, however, it reminds us of that science fiction element promised at the beginning.  It becomes critical of humanity and the notion that we are the ones solely responsible for this change.

I suppose in my current hippie years, I'm incredibly moved by such a message.  The movie works on the visuals of juxtaposition.  The first 70% of the movie in IMAX is about how gorgeous things are.  It celebrates man, despite damning him later.  It shows the greatness of man in his environment.  But then Aronofsky takes us through the visual consequences of that genius and specialness unchecked.  Yeah, if we can terraform distant planets and moons, why don't we just terraform Earth?  I think its a metaphor and a lovely shortcut story of how we can't afford to live on the place that gave us life. While I find effective, I know that it didn't necessarily work for everybody.

But it should be taken into account, this is a very impressive pseudo-documentary.  If this wasn't framed by a science-fiction premise of people awakening on a distant planet, ultimately, this would be Koyaanisqatsi.  It is an accusatory look at our world.  Me?  I love when things get political, especially when it is well-executed.  That's this.  But not everyone digs it.  It's a beautiful looking movie that may be pulling its punches for the sake of views, but it is pretty darned impressive.  Good art tends to change society.  While I think that the current climate (pun, unfortunately, intended) might not be receptive to such a message, I don't know if that falls on Aronofsky exactly.  In a perfect world, he'd hit even harder.  But it is impressive, in the way that things in Vegas should be impressive.