Little Joe

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🎙️ EPISODE 511: 07.15.22 I think this film — the fifth feature from Austrian director Jessica Hausner — is trying to say something profound about antidepressants, especially SSRIs, and how they can literally change a person, alter their sense of self, but I'm not exactly sure what that is. I want (or hope) that the movie knows, because this feels like too specific of a topic to be on the fence about. I normally love a good open-ended question mark of a film, but something about this ultimately didn't sit well with me, though I liked it overall, especially the very strong first act. It leads you in with aesthetic and mood and offers just enough setup to guide you through this dystopia.

And the setup is beyond fascinating: planet breeders discover a way to make flowers give off a scent that makes you happy. This breed, affectionately named "Little Joe" after our protagonist breeder Alice's only son, is also visually stunning. The effects work in the design of this plant is subtle but effective; a really nice blend of practical builds and gentle VFX.

Things start to go haywire when it's theorized that this plant — geo-engineered to be sterile — has mutated and implemented a virus into its pollen (the flower's way of continuing its lineage by effecting its caregivers). Sure, it seems like a stretch on paper, but they make it work and the philosophical questions behind a sterile plant (in addition to its intended purpose) are intriguing. Joe (the child) is one of the first to be infected and this brings up the film's secondary theme, noted by Alice's therapist as "her subconscious wish to free herself from the bond with her child." The virus makes its victims 'happy' but it also makes them master actors at doing and saying the most normal things possible, the things people want to hear. This takes form in various stilted performances which called to mind how the players (especially children) in a Yorgos Lanthimos film might act from the get-go in the off-kilter worlds he creates.

Things start to sour around the same time that its soundtrack starts to implement canine noises into the score. Much like the soundtrack gets too big for its britches with the additions of these piped-in dog barks, howls, and yelps, the actual movie followers suit, going all the way off the rails with ambitions that muddy the plot and pacing, especially in the final act. It's scarier, in a sense, that this film ends up saying nothing, and — while that just might be the point — I found myself yearning, wishing that it had something more to offer.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 510B - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 512 ⫸

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Little Joe is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Jessica Hausner. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Emily Beecham won the award for Best Actress.[3][4] Beecham stars as Alice Woodard, a plant breeder and single mother who creates "Little Joe", a plant that gives its caretakers joy. It was released on May 7, 2019.