Save Yourselves!

It was a fun little movie that was clearly made on a limited budget that leaves things to the audience to decide.

It's a don't think about it too much and enjoy movie.

The main characters are performing very well together. Near spoiler alert, no naked scenes, no girl-girl or boy-boy kisses, no crazy action scenes, nothing what is put into all the recent movies to get attention, just simple good and funny acting. Yes, it is funny in most parts, sometimes a little weird funny. It's a good 6 rating almost tempted to give it a 7 for trying something different.

Using an apocalypse as a vague backdrop for what is essentially a character study on two people meant to represent an entire generation. Satirizing millennials who's technology addiction and well meaning quest for vague self improvement has left them helplessly void of any real life skills. While many of these points have been beaten to death by memes and pop culture, the writing is sharp and performances strong, and I couldn't help but feel a little "called out" on numerous occasions. It's especially ironic though that in the real life catastrophe that began just as this movie was being released, it was actually advantageous to stay inside, glued to the internet.

"Save Yourselves!" (2020 release; 93 min.) brings the story of John and Sue, a couple in Brooklyn. As the movie opens, they are bickering about computer and smart phone time. After attending a party where a friend offers his renovated updated cabin for free for a week, John and Sue eagerly take up the offer, and furthermore, they decide to disconnect from their phones and computers... At this point we are 10 min. into the film but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this small-budget indie movie was written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, this being their feature length debut. The story is the umpteenth reimagination of what "the end of the world" might look like, but they bring it with an original twist that I will not give away. Watch the film and the title of my review will make all the sense in the world. Sunita Mani (as Sue) and John Reynolds (as Jack), best known for their respective TV work, are enjoyable in the lead roles. They are in just about every frame of the film, and for long stretches it's just them. This film is billed as a scifi comedy, and I suppose it is. But I must be honest: rarely laughed (and certainly not out loud). The film lacks gravitas to be taken seriously, but it also lacks truly funny moments to work as a comedy. Instead what we get is an off-center indie film that is more quirky than anything else.

"Save Yourselves!" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, of course fully adhering to all COVID-19 social distancing and other protocols. Not that it matter much, as the Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly: exactly 3 people (including myself) in the theater's largest room. I honestly don't know how this and other theaters can keep operating like this on a profitable basis. Meanwhile, if you have any interest in an atypical "end of the world" scifi comedy, I'd readily suggest you check this out , be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Interesting and unique, but as the film proceeds its keeps getting abstract and finally ends unsatisfactorily.