Turn Me On

What if we could forever shield ourselves from any discomfort or unhappiness? This film explores a supposedly utopian community where all the inhabitants are prescribed a daily dose of contentment. Their's is a world without anxiety, sadness or boredom. It is also a world devoid of passion, pleasure and love. That is, until one resident skips a dose and discovers all that is missing putting in motions series of events that can't be undone. Watching the performances of the talented cast, we can't help but wonder about our own quests for contentment. Would you give up all of the highs to avoid all of the lows?

This movie gives Logan's Run vibes, mashed up with the book Brave New World, and then introduced to Black Mirror. I also feel a resemblance to the TV series Severance.

Acting, sets, costumes, concept, and plot are all great. I like the characters and their development. Well executed. I'll be watching this again on my own another time.

If you enjoy a Thought Experiment, this one's for you. It is Dystopian and has a hard to place historical time line. It feels like it might be a commentary on Capitalism as well as a social critique on drug usage to numb difficult Growing Pains and Adult Emotional Growth.

Grant it's not original ( I can think of several similar forebears going back to the 70's , at least ) . As a starting point , anything with Bel Powley as a member of the cast , it has my immediate interest . Those eyes are mesmerising and she uses them to good effect here . Loved the Pythonesque scene cuts when the couple " discover each other " ( with the hilarious classical music for added effect ) . As another reviewer has correctly pointed out , this needs investment to get past the bland , one dimensional opening acts , but it's worth it . Think of TV's Severance , but without the steroids .

In low-budget, self-satisfied Dystopian drama "Turn Me On" Bel Powley & Nick Robinson (both rising stars btw) are paired in an experimental society where past-life memories & meaningful emotion are suppressed by a daily drug, resulting in a permanent 'pleasant contentedness' that's drama-free yet as blandly drab as the society's deadly dull surroundings - but then Powley stops taking the drug... Its theme isn't original, but unlike the likes of "Logan's Run" or "The Island" it sinks into the very bleak blandness it's intending to decry. Writer Angela Bourassa & director Michael Tyburski screwed the pooch on this borefest. "Turn Me On" it did not. A turd. Flush it.

I thought it was okayish at first, but then when I started writing this review, I considered few additional things and I must say it actually exceeds what I initially thought about it.

It has a mystery, it explores important social topics, it makes assumptions about human future and our possibilities.

Everyone probably imagined at least once how they could leave their life behind and just emerge in another place.

But why would people want to always feel content?! Honestly, even uneducated or silly people know that life is a rollercoaster and you can't really experience joy without knowing what sadness is.

I think nature in its most basic wisdom will prevent humanity from going down this portrayed way, instead of getting rid of these things we all should just learn to handle them better.

Many people nowadays abuse anxiety drugs, tranquilizers - they basically give this same effect - make people content, but I really don't think it's good for you unless it's a targeted medical attack on a psychological problem person has.

Initially I was disappointed in the ending, I thought it was abrupt and lazy. But then I thought about what was said earlier in the movie and what actually happened.

This is a spoiler-free review, so I will not give away the details, but I think now that this ending is quite much smarter, that I expected.