Little Joe
Jessica Hausner’s “Little Joe” has an interesting riff on “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (with a bit of “Little Shop of Horrors,” even, minus the dark humor and musical numbers), but it doesn’t have the execution to elevate it to where it seems to want to go. There are solid performances all around in this story of a research company where a genetically engineered plant is causing some odd side effects when it releases its seed, and the way Hausner builds the narrative has strong momentum. Part of that is because the plant is being designed for therapeutic purposes, and is one that will respond to being talked to in unusual ways. Once the film reveals its ultimate endgame, however, “Little Joe” gets fairly predictable to follow, losing some steam before it gets to what feels like an inevitable conclusion. That being said, I like that it represents another independent blast of sci-fi this year after films like “Aniara” and “High Life,” which also have familiar ideas, but bring them to life with some imagination (Hausner’s visual sense is simple and compelling), and good performances by actors like Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw and Kit Connor as Beecham’s son. The score is a bit too insistent, but I like how it’s a different way of scoring this type of film. On the whole, “Little Joe” isn’t a great film, but I think it has a lot to offer genre fans.
