Every year at the Tribeca Film Festival, a couple of entries stand out above the others. In 2022, "We Might As Well Be Dead" is one of those standouts. It's a thoroughly original piece that reminded me of the feel of The Lobster, despite the plots being totally unrelated. Both take an offbeat view of what may lay ahead in the future. It's director Natalia Sinelnikov's feature debut, and she is also the co-writer.
At the outset, we're not quite sure where or when we are. By the end, we still don't know, but at least we can formulate guesses. That we're never told is one of the best parts of the film.
What we do know is that there is a tall building on the edge of a wooded area that serves as a shelter for a community. The people living there all seem to have ended up there because they very badly didn't want to be wherever they all came from. We don't know if they all came there from the same place or different places. Has a nearby city or perhaps the entire planet become chaos-filled? Who knows?
The community they all now inhabit is totally self-sufficient, at least as far as we can tell. They have their own entertainment and security, and they are exceedingly careful about who to let join them. One family desperately wants to get in. The ones already there desperately don't want to be tossed out.
The film's central character is Anna (Ioana Iacob), who serves as the security guard of the facility, but she's not just security. It's also her job to show families the unfurnished apartment that will be assigned to them if they're accepted by the community. After she meets with those who wish to join, she reports her impressions of the aspiring newcomers to the residents' vetting committee. What the committee looks for is the abilities they may offer their closed society.
In addition, Anna seems to have quite a few other jobs, including broadcasting upcoming community events and weather reports. She broadcasts it all in a very plain voice, with little inflection. She also serves as almost a thought and action police force. Nothing can be tolerated if she deems it unsocial, immoral, or inconsiderate.
She lives in her apartment with her daughter, Iris. I won't even get into how weird that situation is, because you should really see "We Might As Well Be Dead." In a world where so many films follow similar patterns that we all recognize, this one is truly unique: it has absolutely zero moments where you'll think, 'I knew that was going to happen.'
| Movie title | We Might As Well Be Dead |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2022 |
| MPAA Rating | NR |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | It's the near future and things are bizarre and we're not sure what's going on in this thoroughly original film. I loved it. |
