European cinema «Oxygen» ventures into the territory of Hollywood films, exploring the theme of space, claustrophobia, and astronaut behavior. We look into whether it's worth watching the new sci-fi thriller on Netflix.
Not all phobias are universal. Some are afraid of heights, others are frightened by blood. How would you feel if you woke up in a confined space with a limited supply of oxygen and no way out? Besides claustrophobia, many other senses become heightened, which is why filmmakers often turn to such a setting.
«Oxygen» (Oxygene) is a new thriller-puzzle that follows this path, exploring the possibilities of a woman suffering from amnesia who finds herself trapped. The lead role in the film is played by Mélanie Laurent, familiar to audiences from the film .
Voice assistant instead of mobile phone
One day, a woman named Elizabeth Hansen wakes up in a cryogenic chamber, not remembering who she is or how she got there. To find a way out of this situation, she needs to reconstruct the timeline of events and her memory. Was she buried alive here, or were there real reasons? But even the virtual assistant M.I.L.O. doesn't really help her in this.
As viewers, we only get small pieces of information about Liz's past life. But we still doubt whether these are real memories or just the play of her traumatized mind.
Numerous flashbacks sometimes make the film worse and less interesting. The intrigue and the possible solution to the mystery keep you from giving up in the first half hour. You want to piece together all the details. And thanks to Mélanie Laurent's excellent acting, the thriller earns the title of a solid "middle-of-the-road" film.
The plot might initially remind you of «Buried» with Ryan Reynolds. He had a mobile phone for company then, while Elizabeth has a voice assistant. It's even fun to trace the numerous parallels between the two films.
A significant part of the story is the visuals — they are very bright, beautiful, and feature memorable shots. To heighten the tension, they added a ticking clock and a display of the oxygen supply. And it works exactly as intended.
Sci-fi thriller of the isolation era
French director Alexandre Aja filmed it during the pandemic in the summer of 2020, when the whole world was finding zen, delving into themselves and their personalities, looking at old photos, and replaying memories. The pandemic opened up even more opportunities for cinema to shoot stories about isolation. Such thrillers for home viewing allow each viewer to identify even more with the character and feel their emotions in a closed space.
Aja is primarily known for horror films, but «Oxygen» is not at all like his other works. There are only a couple of moments that are genuinely frightening. And that's even considering if you have a fear of needles and syringes, like I do.
It's sad that all the ideas of «Oxygen» have already been seen in many other science fiction films. And this story hasn't brought anything new to the genre or to the imagination. It can be said that this is one of the typical and ordinary representatives of recent mainstream films on themes like isolation, space travel, astronauts in difficult conditions, and planet colonization. In the same 2020, we saw the visually beautiful but too predictable drama «The Midnight Sky» or the tedious series about astronauts «». «Oxygen» will stand alongside such projects, without pretending to be anything more.
«Away» is a solid attempt by Netflix to make a large-scale series about a flight to Mars, in which not everything went smoothly.
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It's funny that when the tension should be rising, the film instead runs out of steam by the finale. You'd think you should feel like you're suffocating along with the heroine, but at the climax, you realize you've already lost interest in watching. Alas, «Oxygen» failed to make viewers hold their breath and couldn't finish the story on a strong note.
Trailer:
P.S. By the way, we have previously about films about life-threatening situations that exploit similar themes. Maybe something from the list will interest you.
Here is a list of 5 films about life-threatening situations that are sure to evoke emotions.
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