 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Oxygen (aka Oxygène) • Year: 2021 • Country: France, USA • Director: Alexandre Aja • Main cast: Mélanie Laurent, Malik Zidi, Laura Boujenah • Runtime: 100 minutes • Production company: Getaway Films, Wild Bunch International Sales, Echo Lake Entertainment • TRAILER
|
Think back a little, do you remember that little movie Buried (2010), starring Ryan Reynolds before he did only junk movies, where his character wakes up buried alive inside a coffin? The premise for Oxygen (2021) is very similar, although the setup is totally futuristic and the protagonist of the story wakes up in some kind of high technology cryogenic chamber.
And, from here, with an initial start point full of confusion, where she begins step by step remembering who she is in order to find out why she trapped is in that pod and how to escape from it before she runs out of air, a fantastic movie is built.
Except for a few flashback memories, the entire time we have the only presence on screen of Mélanie Laurent. She gets to talk to some people outside the pod and communicates with the integrated voice in the capsule, M.I.L.O, but the entire film is basically her and her struggles. And now is where the praising comes, because Alexandre Aja makes an outstanding job to keep the tension permanent along the entire running time. Yes, his lead actress does an excellent job, and the screenplay written by the debutant on a feature film Christie LeBlanc is superb, but it can’t be an easy task to keep the audience glued to the screen as this movie does.
Visually impeccable, and with an intense storytelling pace, what this movie needed to become close to perfection was a good story. And it has it. A very science-fiction story built in a way that the main character, let’s call her Liz, gets to know that the hell is going on at the same time the audience also does. Many surprises are to happen, and an overall vision of the whole story quite unique, I must say, but I won’t share anything from it to avoid ruining the experience with those despicable spoilers.
Christie LeBlanc with her text, Alexandre Aja turning that text into images and sounds, and with the fundamental help of Mélanie Laurent with her body and voice, they have built a little masterpiece. As Buried (2010) played to wake up the feeling of claustrophobia and sickness to the audience, Oxygen (2021) is candy for the brain. A delicious trip very entertaining to watch and that will remain in your subconscious while you play it over and over in your head. This week’s Netflix major release is a movie that will remain on the top list of this year 2021.
RATE: 7.5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6341832
