Mark Kermode reviews Leave the World Behind - Kermode and Mayo's Take

we were hoping that Julie Roberts was going to be on the show then a plane was late um so Con in the case of Julie Roberts it would have been her plane it would yeah privately landed but it was too late to be included but anyway the movie is Leave the World Behind which is a Netflix film yes I think it is a it was it opened in cinemar last week and it comes to Netflix today a psychological Thriller adapted from a novel by rman Alum directed by Sam esil who was the showrunner on Mr Robot and at the beginning there's an ex produce a credit for well it's really because it is one of those Paws discuss in the room EXA Barack and Michelle Obama yes which I mean obviously of course they're out there doing stuff in the real world but it is just like and Al he always publishes a list of his favorite movies and his favorite books precisely so it would have come well they are both very culturally connected you know they both read and see and listen and you know and unlike some others who came afterwards oh I see what what you're saying so um Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawk are a couple who decide to get away from it all I think what you're saying by the way is if you asked Barack Obama for his favorite Bible verse he would he would probably be able to quote a few yes and also to quote it beautifully and you know and then to to contextualize why it was that that particular thing and then then then mention a couple of different translations of that particular thing and then tell an anecdote about how somebody in his family had actually turned to that particular thing during a great and sing A Hymn and him yes all of those yes oh God it's like it's like Camelot isn't it it's like shall not come anyway Julie robs Ethan hwk there are a couple she very very early on she realizes that she hates people so she decides that they're going to get away from she what she she say she hates people so they want to get away from it all they have kids um she's Amanda and he's clay and uh she says that she's booked this Dreamhouse for them to go and stay for a while and they're going now and he goes well now she says yeah I've booked it it's all happening fine so they go there and it's great they get to this place I mean it must be it's owned by a billionaire presumably everything about it is high-tech it's got an incredible you know Outlook and it's you know remote and swimming pool swimming the whole the whole nine yards whilst they are there on holiday something strange happens which is that they are on a beach and they see in the distance a great big oil tanker and the oil tanker appears to be getting nearer and it appears to be getting nearer and then it appears to be very very near indeed running a ground near in fact this really well- rendered sequence it's very good they go back to the house and they discover that things aren't working the internet's not working properly they're having you know there's no big deal but means that the the the the daughter in the family who's desperate to see the final episodes of friends can't see it cu the internet's working and she not working she can't download and then in the middle of the night there is a knock at the door here's a clip you must be Amanda Amanda sford right you you two know each other no we have not had the pleasure of Mee him face to face I'm I'm GH GH Scott George he's George that's how it reads in his email forgive me I forgot see this is why I much prefer life before the internet cuz we would spoken on the phone you recognize my voice and knowing that this is our house I'm sorry U this is our house I'm the George you emailed back and forth with no I I remember the name I just this is this is your house so what's going on in that scene okay that's mersel Ali turns up and says he's fantastic isn't he he's he's fantastic in absolutely everything um um police says this is my house and she looks at him like this is your what do you mean this is your house now what what's confusing her about that well it's you know one of the readings is clearly that it's sorry this is your house but you're an African-American you can't possibly be the person that owns his house he never says that never says it out loud and the film never explicitly kind of you know goes to that place except a little later on the sort of tension start to arise they say it's him with his daughter they say they got stranded they need to stay the night they apologies he said you can't we booked the house he says look let me make it right okay I'll pay you back you know whatever it was that you paid for all we need to do is sleep downstairs because there's a basement downstairs he sort of proves that he knows his way around the house because he knows the he knows how to get into the drinks cabinet and he knows where things are although there's a couple of things that don't quite seem to Al there are no photographs of him or his family anyway though as um Ethan HW says yes but if you rent out a house you take away the photographs because you know you make into thing so there's a certain level of ambiguity um as far as Clay is concerned he's okay fine I buy you know he's the I could I take the guy at his word and he's got the money and he's got the thing Julia Roberts is hang on hang on we're in a house with my kids I don't know this person I don't know who they are they going to sleep downstairs you're happy with this I'm not happy with it and then there are also other questions like the story that they tell about well we you know we got stranded we couldn't get but I left my jacket I didn't have the keys to the something's not quite right now to say anymore would be to spoil the film except that to say that for all the sort of external trappings of you know why why is the internet down what is going on essentially it's a story about four people in a house and you know some other characters the young Char four people in a house not trusting each other not quite knowing exactly why they don't trust each other and it's a drama which is about race and class and and identity and paranoia and trust and a bunch of things but brilliantly it's dressed up as a kind of is it a disaster movie well if it's a disaster movie when what was the thing with the with the tanker running a ground what's the thing with the internet being off do you remember 10 Cloverfield Lane I remember you're talking about it's a film in which the whole thing takes place in a basement in which somebody wakes up they're tied up in a basement and they're told that they're there because there's been an alien invasion but really what it's all about is what's going on in the house um it also I think tonally it had something of uh Annihilation which was a science fiction movie that Barack obam incidentally included in his list of the his favorite films of the year when it came out and I thought that was a really interesting Touchstone because I think this has something of that in it I thought it did a terrific job of revealing only gradually what's going on in the story I thought the performances were really well done I thought the tensions between them were really well done I think the way in which I mean it's that that thing that you want it's smart entertaining fair that on the one hand is a maybe it's a genre movie maybe it's a disaster movie maybe it's a science fiction movie but actually it's really it's about other things but it's dressed up in those clothes to make it entirely accessible I thought that that idea about if there's a disaster it's an internal disaster it's a kind of it's It's a domestic disaster worked really well it's also got an absolutely beautiful sting in the tail and I thought it it was one of the films that when it ended I went well done that is a really really good ending one of the reasons why the I I was 5 minutes in and I realized I'd read the book and and interviewed ruman and I'm the author of the book and one of the reasons why it was such a huge hit is it came out in lockdown so I didn't know that so the book is about well it starts as four people stuck in a house which then becomes six people stuck in a house um so is the book very different no no no the the so they have six so there's two people and two kid two kids and then say yeah fine yeah it's different in as much as Mah Ali character arrives with his wife rather than his daughter right okay but it's a lockdown book so it comes out in lockdown and there are six people in a house trying to get on with tensions and that's exactly what they've got in in this particular film and there's one other thing which I think is okay to I I mentioned it in the interview ages ago with there is something about someone's teeth falling out yeah which is which is really absolutely horrific think you know in horror movies any other you've seen a lot worse than that but there is something I kept thinking he's going I kept thinking he's going to wake up and this is a dream and you go no no he's not it's not a dream his teeth are falling out and I have a I I've got terrible terrible teeth and um it's one of these things if you dream about your teeth falling out it's meant to mean a bunch of stuff in my case if I dream about my teeth falling out it's because my teeth are falling out that scene of teeth falling out is absolutely hor is horrible as we've discussed many times on this program before if a deer turns up in a movie run you're in and there are so many deer in this film you know which way it's going to go I thought it was great though I really enjoyed it it's on Netflix isn't it it's on Netflix now it's been in cinema for a week it's on Netflix now the World Behind is the and because the other thing just because you mentioned the Barack Obama thing is that because there's sort of maybe end of the worldy stuff happening outside of this house being a former president he would know precisely what the government is doing I mean we don't see it's not about the government it's not it's not also so it raises the interest in question about who is mersel Ali's character yes what what does he know and what doesn't he know you know I I thought it was really well judged thanks very much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it while you're here check out all the other videos cuz they're cool too aren't they they are and if you want to keep up to date with everything kerm Mayo take then check out our social channels I mean why wouldn't you I mean I I would but I have done excellent

Channel: Kermode and Mayo's Take

Views: 92,486

Keywords: Mark Kermode, Simon Mayo, Kermode and Mayo's Take, Film Review, TV Review

Id: 07rhra7VIys

Length: 9min 56sec (596 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 08 2023