The Daily Stream: I Think We're Alone Now Is A Fascinating And Forgotten Post-Apocalyptic Tale
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "I Think We're Alone Now" (2018)
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
The Pitch: Imagine a post-apocalyptic story devoid of zombies and the typical dourness associated with the end times in stories like "The Road" or "The Stand." This isn't a story about the worst of humanity surfacing as society crumbles, but rather a loner who is actually kinda glad he's living in the end times and may very well be the last living human on Earth.
Why it's essential viewing
It's not very often we get Peter Dinklage in a leading role, let alone one where he gets to be front and center for a post-apocalyptic tale. It's kind of a shame that "I Think We're Alone Now" came and went so quickly in 2018 because it's a thoughtful, contemplative, beautifully shot, grounded film about the aftermath of a deadly event that we don't really need any details about as long as we know most of humanity is dead.
It's like "The Stand" happened in real life, without a nightmarish figure in a blue denim jacket or a wise old woman in Nebraska pulling you into a larger fight between good and evil. The beauty of this film is that it's about the mundane routine of surviving in a true post-apocalyptic world.
Don't expect roving gangs of cannibals, bloody fights over remaining resources, or murderous aliens trying to eradicate us from the face of the planet. Instead, this is a story showing what it'd be like for a person who has always liked solitude to survive the apocalypse and what happens when a little bit of random chaos throws his steadfast routine off its axis.
Dinklage plays the lead character, Del, who spends his days going methodically from house to house, neighborhood by neighborhood, to respectfully remove and bury the dead. He cleans up a little, scavenges for useful things, like batteries, and then moves on to the next house.
Del has nothing but time and has set himself up as comfortably as one could possibly be after an extinction-level event.
Maybe he's not so alone now
One day, Del encounters another survivor, a young woman named Grace, played by the always great Elle Fanning. If Del is order, Grace is chaos. She's desperate to stay, but also too impulsive to not get on his nerves when he's been used to living in a dead world where nothing at all challenges his methods.
A bond does grow between them as he teaches her his ways of survival and she reminds him what it's like to be social again. In many ways, this movie is about relationships, specifically the mindset you can get into after a bad breakup and a long dry spell. You can get used to being alone, not having to consider anybody's schedule or feelings but your own, so much so that even the prospect of a new relationship and the responsibilities that come with it can scare the hell out of you.
There is a little bit of a romance that develops between Del and Grace, but that's not really the focus. They could remain totally platonic and the message hits just as hard. It can be emotionally safe to be alone and not have to consider anybody else, but the rewards of human interaction are worth the compromise of whatever you perceive as your solo freedom.
Peter Dinklage gets a chance to really stretch his acting muscles
The movie gets a little sci-fi bullsh**ty towards the end when it introduces a survivor community that may or may not be doing some questionable things with the residents, but thematically it still works. Community can be dangerous, but it can also help us acknowledge past trauma and make peace with it. No matter how much easier it is to be alone, once you have a taste of companionship you want to do anything you can to keep it.
"I Think We're Alone Now" is at its best when we're just following Dinklage through his daily routine, addressing problems as they come up, and finding clever ways to retain a bit of civilization and order in the face of unquestionable loneliness. Dinklage is just so expressive. He's the kind of actor where you can see the gears turning in his mind with a simple expression, so you don't need a voiceover explaining who he is or why he's doing what he's doing. This is a role that is tailor-made for an actor of his caliber and, as a bonus, doesn't require there to be an emphasis on his height.
Grace's chaos is a good compliment to Del's order
Elle Fanning is equally well-cast as the young woman who has her own loneliness and trauma and copes with that in a wildly different way than Dinklage's character. Her way isn't any worse or better than his, although an argument can be made that her's is way more destructive, but ultimately those two together find a less chaotic middle ground where he can open up and she can calm down a little bit.
It's a lovely story, beautifully shot and directed by Reed Morano (cinematographer of "The Place Beyond the Pines" and director of many episodes of "The Handmaid's Tale") and written by "Bad Education" scribe Mike Makowsky that doesn't deserve to slip through the cracks of cinema history.
Fans of the two lead actors will certainly find this movie if they set their mind to it, but it's nice that it's available to stream on Hulu where anybody can stumble upon it and discover the slow-burning but mesmerizing story for themselves.