The Reel Review
A couple living in a future dystopian Midwest stripped bare by climate change face a daunting proposal when a stranger arrives, offering one of them the opportunity to live on a space station orbiting Earth. Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad, Old) star in this psychological drama based on Iain Reid’s 2018 novel.
Despite impressively committed performances from the film’s three leads, there is a nagging feeling throughout Foe that there just isn’t much meat to this story. Intended as a portrait of the effects of physical and emotional isolation, the screenplay that director Garth Davis (Lion) wrote with the book’s author just doesn’t give his actors much substance. The film’s slow, lingering visuals feel more like time-filler than moving the meager psychological case study forward.
With a not-so-shocking twist featuring the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which itself pops up in the film’s second half, Foe ultimately sputters to a disappointing letdown of an ending.
REEL FACTS
• Foe was briefly released in theaters on October 6, 2023.
• LaKeith Stanfield was originally cast at Terrance, replaced by Aaron Pierre when Stanfield dropped out.
• The house featured in Foe is a replica created on location in Australia of a house outside Westport, Canada.
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