Warning 2021

I came to Warning pretty much at random and unlike the rest of the world, apparently, I liked it. It suffers in comparison to Black Mirror, because it isn't Black Mirror, which I mention because just about every reviewer compares it to Black Mirror (with predictable results). It's true that Warning is about people running afoul of dystopic technologies, but that's where the similarities end. The film is a meandering glance at a world clashing against itself from far down its slippery slope. The poster subtitle reads "This is the Way the World Ends," so there shouldn't be a lot of surprises about where it's all going.

Thomas Jane loses control of a satellite repair job in orbit. Someone back on Earth loses control of their feelings in a relationship - or they both do, really, but in different ways. A woman loses control of her body, literally, in wrenching ways that made me think of some of the darker, unexplored corners of Neuromancer. In another relationship, a risky romance between have and have-not social groups ends in control being seized and stolen. There's not much exploration of these small capsule stories - after all, this isn't Black Mirror. The film's inspiration, I think, is really more in the way of Crash, or Iñárritu's Babel: we glimpse and follow a set of moments in a troubled time, flitting here and there. It's a bit formless, but it carries itself down the road.

The short-bites format may also be how Warning landed its capable cast, with a couple of Name names and a bunch of up-and-comers. Come to it expecting neat resolutions or the heart of humanity and you'll leave empty-handed. It's more like a set of postcards from a road trip through final days. "Dear Mom: I met a woman who lost her God. She couldn't adjust to God 2.0. It was a customer service issue, from what I can tell." Taken on its merits, it's an interesting first film that makes me look forward to what Agata Alexander will bring us next.