Mute (2018)

I’ve been putting off Duncan Jones’s Mute for such a long time, I even forgot what the movie was about. Or which actor I like was in it. I soon remembered it was the one with a tiny Sam Rockwell cameo, and I also remembered why I skipped it in the first place, the bad reviews I read. And they were right, the film is terrible.

Set in 2035, the main storyline follows Leo (Alexander Skarsgård), a mute Amish bartender who is in love with a cocktail waitress, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh). When Naadirah disappears, Leo embarks on a quest to find her which takes him deeper into the city’s underworld. Meanwhile, two American surgeons, Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), makes quick bucks by performing surgeries for the mob.

One of the many problems with Mute is that it does not have a plot, only a vague idea of it. The result is a confused, convoluted mess that makes no sense whatsoever, with subplots that come out of nowhere and go absolutely nowhere. From the way the story started, I was expecting an interesting noir with the main character discovering corruption where one would not expect to find it, and surprising, clever twists. And it kind of has that. Unfortunately, it is not compelling.

The characters are another issue. They are not properly established and have no development. Just like the story, they are quite confusing and when they all connect together at the end, you don’t care because you already have lost your interest. The main character, Leo, is an Amish, which adds absolutely nothing to the film. He is supposed to be some devoted Amish but he works in a nightclub as a bartender. I’m not sure that’s very Amish of him. Anyways, if Jones wanted to provide the character with some backstory, he should have gone with something else instead, something more plausible.

Netflix

The performances, on the other hand, are quite brilliant. Alexander Skarsgård does a really good job as the silent protagonist and somehow manages to convey Leo’s struggle to keep his Amish identity in the modern world he lives in. Too bad that I’m stuck with him playing the abusive husband on HBO’s Big Little Lies and because of it, I didn’t sympathize with him nor like him. Paul Rudd’s is the best performance though. He always plays lovable characters so it was nice seeing him in the role of a creepy, dark man, and makes a very compelling villain. That moustache though, it is unwatchable! Not as unwatchable as Justin Theroux and his fake wig. 

Some of the acting isn't the only aspect of Mute that I liked, the visuals are pretty good too. Although it looks like a cheap version of Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049, the futuristic scenery is gorgeous —the neon colours, lighting, costumes and design truly elevate the film. Too bad the starting point was below zero.