Humble Dumpling

If you find the central premise to be as engaging as i did you'll find much to enjoy in this quietly sinister offering. Doesn't entirely stick the landing but neither does it completely fumble it. Well worth a watch.

Superlative. At the narrative heart of every Alex Garland offering i've seen to date, is a core of hard science, and the profound philosophical questions that arise from such. DEVS is no exception. This is quiet and intensely thoughtful SciFi. Cinematography and sound production are exceptional, as are the performances. Riveting and difficult to fault.

Takes a long time to get where it's going and it all feels a tad pedestrian along the way. Well acted and not without merit, but certainly not what I had hoped for upon learning of Aronofsky's involvement as co-writer and producer.

Been meaning to watch this one since it dropped last year and i was pleasantly surprised. I wish the director hadn't felt the need to bookend the film with the ultra-weak "documentary" style narrative that tried to establish this movie in the same cinematic tradition as films like Ringu and Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, both of which are directly referenced in the "documentary" portion and led to the equally weak tag line, "The Deadliest Film Ever Made". *Yawn* Instead if you skip ahead 9 mins at the start and wrap up at about an 1hr 27mins, you're left with a beautifully shot and soundtracked, retro-styled film, which draws on the enduring creepiness of the deep dark woods, and works well with ambiguity and suggestion. Suggestion that is almost completely undone by the clumsily explicit exposition of the mockumentary bookend. Sad that those superfluous 16 minutes detract from what is otherwise a bleak and highly watchable effort.