A brilliant concept that was poorly executed.
Anon is a film distributed by Netflix starring Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried. This is a very interesting film that has a great premise. Although this is a sexy looking film it does fall short in many different ways. Anon is written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show and In Time). The film is set in the near future where no one is anonymous. Our very lives and information are stored and recorded to the Ether (the internet on steroids) which can be access to see what we see. The story focuses on Detective Sal Frieland who uses the Ether to solve crime. In theory, because of the Ether, it would be impossible to commit crimes as what everyone sees is recorded and available to be viewed.
The initial scenes of this film do a great job of setting up the premise and making it rather easy to understand the world and what is possible. Another interesting point that the film has going for it is that the film doesn’t feel as though it is too far into the future. In theory, a lot of the technology and science fiction themes in this film are things we have now. When the film shows it’s many P.O.V. shots you see the augmented reality that is in this world and all the streams of information available at a glance. The film does a great job of showing the possibilities of this technology even from an advertising standpoint. Another thing I really enjoyed is seeing the juxtaposition of scenes where one moment it is showing a character’s point of view and you see all the information, ads, civilian profiles and then shows you a third parties perspective and there is nothing but a quiet and an empty street.
I feel as though this film was really trying hard to highlight mankind’s scarily close relationship to technology and sharing our data. It is frightening to watch this film at times because you feel as though the characters have no privacy and then realise it is a very real possibility that in a few short years no information will be private or sacred. Another thing to point out is how incredibly beautiful this film is at points and even if you don’t like the premise of the film you can at least acknowledge that this film is visually stunning and sleek looking. Although Andrew Niccol is more known for his writing efforts than his directing roles he demonstrates a great ability as a director.
I was rather pleased to see Clive Owen on screen again. I know he has technically been working throughout the last ten years I just feel as though he has not been as noteworthy or popular as his work in the 2000’s. I hope to see him in more projects in the foreseeable future as he is a brilliant actor. However, Clive did a great job in this film and showed a large amount of depth in this role. Clive plays a detective who uses the Ether to solve crimes by seeing what the victims and murder sees. His world starts changing when he notices a woman on the street who is anonymous. Amanda Seyfried was also in this film and she also did a good job and plays a hacker who doesn’t appear on any records or on the Ether. She hacks the world around her to stay anonymous and I feel she played that well. That being said both Clive and Amanda played rather boring and one-dimensional characters. I don’t feel as though this was a reflection on their performances in any way and would put this blame more on the story and the characters in general. Also at times the chemistry between Clive and Amanda can feel really stilted and forced.
The film although it has a really interesting premise and feels like it could be a genuine issue we will be faced with, it has moments where it falls short. The story has interesting moments but in so many points the film drags and has almost super obvious and predictable moments. I do not think this was a bad movie in anyway but it wasn’t a groundbreaking film either. I guess the best way to sum this film up is meh. Even at times, the interactions between the main two characters can feel very monotoned and boring. I find this a hard film to recommend. I would say if you like Black Mirror even their bad episodes then this movie will be right for you. If you are a picky film goer then you might want to skip Anon.