If you’re anything like me, the on-screen pairing of Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal is enough to pique your interest in Foe. Garth Davis’ (Lion, Mary Magdalene) latest film features this powerhouse duo as Henrietta and Junior, a young married couple living in America’s Midwest in the year 2065. When a mysterious government official, played by Aaron Pierre, shows up to their home during the night, he delivers new that will throw their simple domestic off-balance – Junior’s impending departure.
Foe takes it’s bold, high-concept science fiction premise, and wraps it inside a story of a marriage. And that’s where this film really shines. Ronan and Mescal are of course, phenomenal, and their performance gives us a compelling glimpse into a complex marriage. The film delves into thought-provoking questions about compatibility and the enduring forces that bind two individuals together.
What Davis also does well is create a constant sense of unease. This film is creepy.
Particularly, Aaron Pierre’s performance is intense and gripping. The cinematography, editing, sound design all converge to make this a really unsettling watch. The vast emptiness and scale of the setting and production design, in particular, make Foe really eerie.
I enjoyed the unravelling plot, which has no shortage of twists and misdirects, and a satisfying ending. Foe is a film that gives you threads of information to cling to, starting right at the beginning with a mention of AI clones, which adds an intriguing layer of drama to narrative later on. The film starts and you immediately feel like you’re missing something – and this feeling persists throughout.
However, Foe stumbles in a few instances and falls short of hitting the mark, due to a complex plot that verges on outright confusing. As a science fiction film, it’s a bit rough around the edges. When we finally see a flying spaceship vehicle, it’s almost comically out of place and most of the sci-fi elements disrupt the immersion and suck us out of Henrietta and Junior’s story.
Ultimately, Foe is a fantastic thrill, and provides a thought-provoking exploration of AI and human nature, set in a not-too-distant future, making the narrative feel especially immediate.
Review by Amelia