REVIEW: THE POD GENERATION

3.5/5

Brave New World.

109 Mins. Starring: Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rosalie Craig, Vinette Robinson & Jean-Marc Barr. Screenplay: Sophie Barthes. Director: Sophie Barthes. In Theatres.

Ever since we took a bite out of the big, digital apple, we've been obsessed with pods. From iPod's (yes, I still have one. Praying to Steve Jobs that it lasts forever) to AirPods (which my friend hilariously once said makes people ears look like something out of 'There's Something About Mary'...I think he now has a pair, too). We really are 'The Pod Generation'. In this applied, electric, eclectic age of turning convenience on its head like 7-11, we really have become the swipe age that Steven Spielberg's 'Minority Report', based off the findings of science-fiction forefather Philip K. Dick, promised. Although, we still need to see these digital newspapers that constantly refresh as you read. Try using that for your fish and chips. Weary of the rise of A.I., is our humanity and heart artificial in the face of all this intelligence? If only we could hold up a 'Black Mirror' to ourselves, and really see what all that screen time is worth, and at what cost. We want to go from A to B so quickly that our self-driving cars of the future may drive us off the road, like Netflix's end of the world epic 'Leave The World Behind', also out in Japan this week. Could pods shaped like a TeamLab Borderless egg take away the pain and burden of childbirth for modern families?

Talking about this generation, there's no movie like this pioneering one for the future to replicate. Even if you search your IMDB's like you used to your memory banks, for a list longer than the amount of production companies that have got behind this look of the big picture. So many that you may be left as frustrated as Peter Griffin in 'Family Guy' when he thought all the exciting, establishing logos at the cinema were actually scenes from the movie he was watching ('Man Staggering In A Dark Alley After Being Shot In The Arm Productions', anyone?). But whatever it takes to get original ideas films financed these days in this Marvel movie world and streaming service cinema. The 'Cold Souls' of dynamic director and writer Sophie Barthes helms this sci-fi romcom that doesn't pull any subtle punches at this calculated digital era. Filmed in beautiful Belgium, masquerading as the Big Apple, this New York couple played by two great Brits are the real deal. Just like the applied look at some fantastic futuristic enhancements that may help (that we will leave as a surprise), as well as hinder. It's just all part of the treadmill we're walking on, like a scrolling phone, literally whilst we work. It's enough to make you visit your A.I. therapist the way none of this feels human any more in our new normal and out of this world as we knew it reality.

Cynicism be damned, though. There's a beautiful, broody, beating heart to this love in times of technology family. 'Game Of Thrones', 'Secret Invasion' and 'Last Christmas' (make that your festive pick to kiss under the mistletoe) star Emilia Clarke just wants to be a mother. And nature vs nurture, which way will she choose. Dreams of her pregnancy that haunt her come across as both beautiful, and brutal in the loneliness they are carrying in this labouring for love. What can't be denied is the charismatic Clarke's charm, that endears all to her character. You can tell the person she is playing truly loves her husband. Just like '12 Years A Slave' icon Chiwetel Ejiofor loves her back too and the soil of the natural world that still allows you to get your fingers dirty in this all surface, storage cleaner gen Z. When he too can carry the baby and do his share, with an applied harness that needs some IKEA like instructions, Piers Morgan giving Bond bulls### can be damned. This Sundance Film Festival also features 'Sherlock', 'Doctor Who', 'Black Mirror' and 'A Christmas Carol' favourite Vinette Robinson and the theatrical Rosalie Craig as a Womb Center Director. Not to mention 'Harry Potter', 'Andor' and 'The Tragedy Of Macbeth's' Kathryn Hunter, and Jean Marc-Barr as a Bezos type. But it's the central characters that really bring this birthed idea home. One that can inspire a new generation to grow pods from their own seeds of life. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Her', 'Mitsuko Delivers', 'Black Mirror'.