Leave The World Behind Review: Julia Roberts Grapples With The Apocalypse
It's the end of the world as we know it in "Leave the World Behind," Sam Esmail's odd apocalyptic adaptation of Rumaan Alam's novel. I guess you could classify this as a kind of disaster film, but Esmail has created a quirky, self-contained little saga that occasionally hints at something much, much larger lurking in the margins. It's bleak, it's weird, it's kind of funny. Full of swooping, spinning camera movements (Tod Campbell's off-kilter cinematography is a real highlight), "Leave the World Behind" isn't really interested in giving us answers. It drops us into a story and expects us to go along with all the weirdness on display. For the most part, it works, although I suspect some will take issue with the way the film all but shrugs its shoulders at providing any real answers. This is the way the world ends, the film is saying, not with a bang but with everyone just kind of waiting around for the inevitable.
As "Leave the World Behind" begins, wealthy, prickly Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) has declared to her affable husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) that she "f***ing hate[s] people." She wants an escape, and so the couple and their kids Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans) pack their bags and head to a rental home on Long Island, tucked away in a town so small that it's officially called a "hamlet." The rental property offers guests the chance to "leave the world behind," and that's clearly what the bitter, standoffish Amanda wants.
Almost immediately, this getaway goes wrong. First, while the family is lounging at the beach, an oil tanker runs aground in a genuinely unnerving sequence. Later, the WiFi at the house goes out. And then, as night rolls around, someone knocks on the front door.
Quirky distance
At the door: the tuxedo-clad G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la). As G.H. explains, this is actually his house that the Sandfords are renting. Why is he there? Because there's a blackout in the city, and he figured it would be easier to come home rather than head into Manhattan. Amanda is instantly suspicious of this pair of Black people at the door, and the racist implications are immediately noticeable. "This is your house?" she asks incredulously, looking the duo over. Roberts rose to fame becoming America's sweetheart, but "Leave the World Behind" gives her the chance to play a rare unlikable character. She wants to see some I.D., and wouldn't you know it, G.H. doesn't have any on him, nor are there any photos of himself or his family on the walls of the house. It seems highly likely that he's telling the truth, and yet Amanda remains cold and unconvinced.
Despite Amanda's racially motivated misgivings, the Scotts enter the home. This is followed by an emergency broadcast message suddenly appearing on every TV station, seemingly confirming that something is going on. And then things get really weird. This gives Esmail the opportunity to stage several large, disturbing set pieces, including a memorable moment where several self-driving Teslas crash and clog up the only road out of town.
Just what is happening here? Is it a terrorist attack? Are hackers involved? Is there something supernatural afoot? And does G.H. know more than he's letting on? It's all very mysterious and deliberately vague. Things grow increasingly tense, and yet there's a kind of dark comedy at play (the film more or less ends on a punchline). All of this coalesces into a disarmingly odd tone that both intrigues and alienates. It's not that the film is hard to figure out, nor is it obtuse. But there's a quirky distance that keeps you at arm's length.
A sour taste
"Leave the World Behind" is less about the end of the world and more about how we, as individuals, would react to everything crumbling around us. How our fears, our prejudices, and our beliefs (or lack thereof) would color the situation and make things increasingly worse. There's a telling moment late in the film where G.H. and Clay confront a survivalist (Kevin Bacon in an extended cameo), leading Clay to confess that without his cell phone (everyone's phone has stopped working at this point), he's pretty much useless as an individual.
But what does it all mean? A puzzling sequence where Amanda and Ruth confront a massive herd of deer is so intense but so, so strange that it left me puzzled, and the film's final moments are robbed of their horror by that punchline I mentioned above. I'm not quite sure what "Leave the World Behind" is trying to say, other than the fact that as a species, we seem to be inherently doomed because we're too neurotic to help ourselves. That might leave a sour taste in the mouths of some viewers, but there's something refreshing about a film so unapologetic about its unflinching hopelessness.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10