Netflix's Mute - Duncan Jones 2nd Movie - 2018

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In a Berlin of the future, a mute bartender's search for his missing lady-love takes him deeper and deeper into the city's criminal underbelly.

 

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Back in the 2009, when the Moon came out, I had to wait for a long time until I got to see the masterpiece. Mute is a bit different as it's available now at Netflix and it too is a masterpiece directly linked to the other movie. I didn't know this fact as Netflix doesn't exactly advertise it, but I guess they were eager to get this one done once Duncan brought them a script. So, just like it happened with the Cloverfield, the Moon universe has been expanded and that world is filthy compared to ours.

Thing is, with the rate we are expanding to cybernetics, high energy business, Near Earth Space, we are ought to see the world similar to Mute's Berlin. One this is sure their Berlin isn't ours. Although ours might have the right mix of nationalities the mighty Germany hasn't descended back to despotism as they've done in the movie universe. At there, the endless wars hasn't ended. Instead America has withdrawn back into its shell, while EU is dealing with the Russia. You kind of get that is the case in the original Moon movie, but the extend of things are mostly hidden from the viewers.

Maybe it was right that back then we didn't get to see what the Moon Industries energy really powers as there was no implants. No neon lights or an army of drones and flying cars criss-crossing across the sky. But that is exactly what you see in the mute. The technology revolution taken ten to twenty years ahead of us. Things that they can do to do humans are straight out from the cyberpunk reality.

The mute thing, you can repair it in backstreet chop shop, if that's what you want. The physical disability isn't going to restrict your life, if you have enough of money or good connections. And the best thing, you won't become a senseless, numb borg. You become the sum of your desires, if you really want to make your dreams become true. But, at the end of the day, the business of achieving it is yours and nobody else.

There are no free meals in Duncan's universe. Things are shitty for a reason, but at least there is a hope for something better. And for the Mute, the life has gone done in the dirty hole for good. His girl is killed and the mute is left without a closure. He is forced to hunt down the perpetrator until the amazing end, which closes the timeloop Duncan casts at the opening.

I understand why the big names want to use the Netflix to publicize their movies, because at the moment, what the Netflix does is exactly the same as what Amazon is offering for the Authors. The Hollywood Studios cannot but watch jealously them gaining the prestigious status of being currently the number distribute. I salute you Netflix producers. You're doing the right thing. Mute is a masterpiece and it shows world very similar to the famous Bladerunner universe. Although it doesn't beat the number 1 (the original BR), it certainly does beat the number 2.

I loved it.

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

Duncan Jones' 2nd movie?

 

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Duncan Jones' 2nd movie?

I don't count in the Warcraft or the Source Code, but his personal works. This one definitely has his fingerprint in the print. Maybe I should have said, his 2nd personal movie. Yeah?

 

[Droflet]

Just saw this and found it to be tedious. Maybe that's just me.

 

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I feel sorry again for liking something.

 

[Penny]

I watched Mute on netflix the other day and, sure it was no blade runner but it wasn't the worst movie, it told the story seemingly effectively, hell it even brought tears to my eyes a coupla times, and made me turn away in disgust at others.

I thought it told it's story effectively and had some very good acting to boot, not to mention a nice Moon easter egg.

Yet half the reviews I see pan it like its the worst film ever. whats your thoughts?

 

[Droflet]

Hey, Penny. Someone's post about this so you might want to post there. You're call, of course.

 

[Penny]

eh. im a unique flower

 

[Brian G Turner]

Moved a couple of posts into this thread.

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

I don't count in the Warcraft or the Source Code, but his personal works. This one definitely has his fingerprint in the print. Maybe I should have said, his 2nd personal movie. Yeah?

I would agree that Mute and Moon share some DNA but I wouldn't consider either as any more personal than Source Code.

I loved Moon, found Source Code intriguing, skipped Warcraft altogether because I never had any interest in the source material and I'm not a fan of the genre, and found Mute extremely disappointing, in spite of the amazing cast (Justin Theroux should be in everything).

I liked the atmosphere, although after a year of Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner 2049 and now Netflix' own Altered Carbon, the production design seemed a bit uninspired. On the plus side, it could've just been that I know Duncan Jones is David Bowie's son or that the movie was set in what was basically Cold War-era Berlin with extra neon signs, but the atmosphere sometimes brought to mind Bowie's albums Low and Outside.

The fatal flaw of the film was its chaotic structure and character development: The only characters with a modicum of depth were the two "villains" and their flaws were far too heinous for me to forgive them and side with them. The protagonist and female lead on the other hand were so bland that I never had the impression these people had ever existed outside of the film's running time. There is sometimes a temptation to think that a protagonist with very few character traits (a "blank slate") will allow a wider audience to relate to them as the viewers pour their own hopes and struggles inside that hollow recipient, just like in video games (Zelda's Link comes to mind - also a mute character), but that never works in movies as far as I'm concerned, because there is no physical involvement on my part like there is in a video game. I'm not controlling this character, I have to follow him. And if I'm not interested in who he is, I cannot be interested in his journey or ultimate destination.

So Mute left me cold.

With that being said, I'm really happy that some people like it, because I believe in Duncan Jones and I want him to keep making movies and to feel free to experiment and explore at the risk of failing, like he just did with Mute.

 

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With that being said, I'm really happy that some people like it, because I believe in Duncan Jones and I want him to keep making movies and to feel free to experiment and explore at the risk of failing, like he just did with Mute.

I agree. If Netflix can provide him a platfom where he can execute his visions then it's all good for us, as he has shown being able to produce these visions and string them together just like JJA. The Mute left me feeling the same way I felt after I'd watched Gattaca. Both of these movies are artistic visions and they both portray a slightly dark Utopia, although in the Gattaca there is no war. Just peace and a great deal of conflicts.

When I showed Gattaca to an audience the movie received a cold notion. People weren't interested in it but rather bothered, if not bored. Since then it has taken long years for that movie to become a cult classic. I believe Mute will receive a same routine and we might see Duncan Jones doing more Hollywood spectacles.

All I know is that I liked it and the story lives within me, even if it's as hated by the mainstream critics as the new Cloverfield movie.

 

[Penny]

I don't think that Mute will be a cult classic, although I suspect Duncan Jones has great things ahead of him if what he has done so far is any indication, the only real cult value in Mute will probably come from its extension of the Moon storyline.

I generally enjoyed the film, It saddened me that the two most interesting characters were the evil two, it also kind of annoyed me that the issues the pair had were not explored more deeply, just kind of glossed over as both being insane and monstrous in different ways. I did find the way the pair fed on each others insanity through their shared military experience interesting.

I am just not a fan of characters randomly not telling people things because the main character interrupts them and refuses to listen when they try to tell them something important, that has always just seemed so unnatural to me, but SOOO many films seem to do it.

Still though, I thought it worked despite those flaws.