June 2, 2021

Film Review: Lapsis Directed by Noah Hutton

Sandwiched somewhere between the best and worst of Black Mirror and the terrifyingly prophetic Idiocracy, the grim satire of Lapsis works well, elevating a low-budget premise into a performance-driven sci-fi mystery.

Lapsis is a slow and happy descent into technology madness by writer-director Noah Hutton, and follows Ray (Dean Imperial), a perfectly slovenly and disinterested delivery driver living in a world of quantum computing, intentionally unexplained to keep the audience’s confusion and disbelief on par with the film’s lead.

Ray is looking after his younger brother, who has been diagnosed with Omnia, a vague illness that borderlines acute depression and an overwhelming existential crisis, and is soon drawn into a morally grey digital work scheme to fund his brother’s treatment.

From the moment Ray is introduced to the opportunity, Lapsis firmly drives home its dark satire, with mind-numbing induction videos, invasive digital monitoring, and the acceptance and embracing of the growing absurdity by everyone around him. Dean Imperial does an incredible job of holding the film together in its lead role, balancing the confused acceptance of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation with the undeniable gruff and irritation of The Sopranos’ late James Gandolfini.

The natural conversational chemistry between Ray and Anna (Madeline Wise) adds greater depth to the mystery and themes during the second half of the film, which seems to build in its obvious satirical bluntness but fall short in the film’s closing moments. The supporting cast does an excellent job of balancing the robotic meaningless of their existence with sweetly forced platitudes, creating a sense of unease that is also left slightly untapped.

Much of this is framed by the exquisite cinematography of Mike Gomes, who captures the still beauty of the forests in upstate New York, filling the screen with both its tranquillity and potential for dread as the camera lingers on a potential spy robot through the trees or the close-ups of feral forest children.

At times, it feels like Lapsis is both exceeding and falling short of its ambition, but its eerily authentic performances, and the script’s persistence in remaining consistently obscure in its satire, prevents it from becoming another mass-produced indie film that grew from a great idea. Instead, it shows a non-flashy and relatable near-future dystopia, where a simple and enjoyable life isn’t snatched from us, but willingly offered by a subservient human race in exchange for a digital token.