Downsizing was released in 2004, nominated for 6 Oscars, including best Adapted screenplay, best picture, and best director. The screenplay won the first round of the Blacklist survey for unproduced scripts. The project was picked up originally by Ron Howard and was then around until 20th Century Fox finally began production. David O. Russell, Ridley Scott, and Spike Jonze were all at some point set to direct, and Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet were all at one point attached. The name was changed post-Cannes premiere, where it was widely acclaimed, despite failing to win the Palme. Charlie Kaufman reportedly did rewrites after test audiences found the ending too bitter, but these suggestions were thrown out. Starring…

Phantom Thread and Downsizing: American Decadence, at Home and Abroad. Two new movies that laugh at Western values

Alexander Payne, the indie auteur of Election and Sideways, spent $68 million to make Downsizing, which includes an elaborate, digital-effects Al Gore–style lecture on environmentalism. That’s decadence. Even though Payne’s intellectual vanity abhors outright rhetoric, his supercilious vision of America as a “brightly photographed banality” is plenty political — and obscene.

In Payne’s sci-fi-poli-sci premise, an occupational therapist at Omaha Steaks, Paul Safranak (Matt Damon), decides to undergo physical reduction (“go get small”) and live in a specialized “micro-community.” It’s one of those infernal ideas that Hollywood occasionally mistakes for brilliant even though it always becomes tiring (like Groundhog Day, The Truman…

EDITING: Above average in terms of transitions, coherency, etc.
PACING: Below average. It's got a rocky start, but it really pays off as the movie burns to a slow halt.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: At first I was surprised that there was such a broad range to the shots, meaning: some were awkward and weird while others were gorgeous and mesmerizing. By the end, however, I really fell in love with the style of it.

VFX/PRODUCTION DESIGN: Nothing groundbreaking. Simple and clever, but they didn't overdo it, like I was afraid they were going to.

ACTING: Wow. Some wooden performances and outrageously over-the-top cameos. Damon's not that good. Wiig isn't given much to do, so she doesn't shine because of it. Christoph Waltz…