The Good and the Bad of Mute
Just finished watching this film, and I have mixed thoughts. Overall, I think I enjoyed the film, but there are some big drawbacks.
The world presented is really interesting. I liked that Jones presented a sci-fi world without it feeling unbelievable or hampering the plot. For instance, there was an increase in technology, but not so much that it became impossible to understand how Bill could evade detection. In so many sci-fi worlds, it strains suspension of disbelief that anybody could dodge all the security cameras and watching Big Brother eyes.
The opening parts made me feel for the characters of Naadira and Leo, and enjoy their relationship. They were cute together, they felt like three-dimensional people, and the relationship between an Amish bartender and a barmaid was great. That could have been better explored, but what they did explore was good.
Now, what I wanted to see a LOT more of was the Luddite in the future world. Not nearly investigated at all, and Leo's adherence to the old ways made me wonder what he was doing in a sexually-charged nightclub in the first place.
The other characters were super-interesting. Bill is a seething mass of contradictions and Paul Rudd's performance was amazing. Duck was creepy and played perfectly by Theroux.
A lot of Leo's plot was pretty textbook neo-noir investigation point-a-to-b stuff. Bill's plot, with the quest for IDs, was also pretty standard, but I was more engaged by his crazy world juggling all these balls. That he was a devoted father was that much more odd and interesting. He would torture people half to death and work for evil mobsters, but he didn't want his kid drinking soda. Hilarious and fun to watch.
The last scenes of the film were really great, as I did not know what to expect. Normally these films end after the main mysteries are solved, but there was quite a bit after the investigation, and that's neat; seeing that extra stuff play out kept me guessing until the end.
SPOILERS BELOW
A lot of people really criticize this film, and I wonder if it's partly because the plot is disconnected (the two stories connect, but are disparately played out) and has loose ends (what happens with the gangland people Leo pissed off? What does Leo do next?), but more because it ends in an "unsatisfactory" way.
This movie does not give us what we want. We want the girl to be happy. We want Leo to find Naadira and for them to live happily ever after as a family. None of that is possible. Leo's fate is - at best - ambiguous, and at worst, grim. There is little chance for him to find happiness. The girl is also facing quite a lot of trauma. The world presented is brutal and uncompromising, and we're left to ponder that. What's it all about, Alfie? We don't get a neat bow, and it's messy, and in some ways that's unsatisfying. Is it too challenging?
Ultimately, I think I enjoyed it. It kept me interested, the performances are good, the world is interesting, and it has some neat concepts. It falls short of its ambitions by not exploring Leo's anti-tech/religious integration in a tech-heavy, neon-drenched society, and by having a bit of a rambling plot. But at the end of the film, I'm glad I watched it.