Swan Song movie review: Twice the Mahershala Ali, twice the sorrow in Apple’s new sci-fi film

Loud spectacle is traded in for morbid melancholia in Oscar-winning director Benjamin Cleary’s new science-fiction movie Swan Tune, out on Apple TV+. Starring two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as twice the variety of individuals he normally performs in movies, Swan Tune is a slow-burn meditation on loss of life, and an assured instance of the form of inward-gazing, mid-scale sci-fi that’s getting rarer by the 12 months.

The entire thing has the vibe of Taylor Swift’s Folklore documentary, if it had been shot inside an Apple retailer. Swan Tune marries melodrama with cutting-edge concepts rooted in emotion, and blends a cottagecore aesthetic with Hollywood slickness.

After an Everlasting Sunshine of the Spotless Thoughts-inspired meet cute aboard a practice, the film jumps forward in time by a number of years, when illustrator Cameron discovers that he’s terminally sick, however decides in opposition to telling his spouse, Poppy. He hears of an experimental new process by means of which dying women and men can rent an organization to create clones that can take their place once they die, leaving their households none the wiser.

Crucially, although, not one of the ideas that Cleary presents within the movie are far-fetched; they’re, as an alternative, an extension of tech that already exists. We predict synthetic intelligence and microbotics are near-fantastical notions, however actually, they’re simply at a nascent stage proper now. That is excellent for sci-fi storytelling, as a result of this manner, you don’t waste time making an attempt to persuade the viewers to purchase what what you’re promoting. Proof-of-concept already exists.

Swan Tune sounds much like the Black Mirror episode Be Proper Again solely as a result of it’s. And like Be Proper Again, Swan Tune additionally spends an acceptable period of time pondering over the ethics of cloning. However crucially, it flips the angle. Whereas Be Proper Again was an exploration of grief instructed from the perspective of a lady who loses her accomplice in a automotive crash, in Swan Tune, it’s Ali’s Cameron who pre-empts his spouse’s anguish and decides to clone himself. Issues are difficult solely as a result of he doesn’t seek the advice of Poppy about his dicey choice.

We all know how, within the fingers of a much less assured director, ethical quandaries comparable to this will develop into inadvertently problematic on display screen. We’ve seen the Chris Pratt-Jennifer Lawrence film Passengers.

Nearly the whole thing of Swan Tune’s second act is dedicated to Cameron second guessing his choice. When he comes face-to-face together with his clone—the person who will quickly take his place—he understandably freaks out. Over conversations with, properly, himself, Cam begins to marvel if the brand new him is a greater individual than he ever was. This can be a theme that was (partially) addressed beforehand in One other Earth, a real masterpiece of the style that sadly by no means bought its due.

Swan Tune is rarely nearly as good, however due to Ali’s soulful twin efficiency, stellar manufacturing design, and Masanobo Takayanagi’s shiny cinematography, it’s a movie that would (fittingly) discover its viewers lengthy after its launch window.

Swan Tune
Swan Tune director – Benjamin Cleary
Swan Tune solid – Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Glenn Shut, Awkwafina
Swan Tune score – 3 stars

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