Leave the World Behind, director Sam Esmail's bleak and chilling new apocalyptic thriller, may make you want to build a bunker.
This polished, stylish film, adapted from Rumaan Alam's acclaimed 2020 novel of the same name, sees the Mr Robot creator reunite with his Homecoming and Gaslit star Julia Roberts for a gripping tale of societal breakdown. If the world was coming to an end, is this what it would look like?
Roberts plays Amanda Sandford, a snippy New York-based advertising executive who decamps to a luxurious Long Island holiday home for the weekend along with her well-meaning but slightly hapless husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and children, teenage son Archie (Charlie Evans) and tween daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie).
It's not long before their idyllic weekend away is upended by the arrival of two strangers, G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his twentysomething daughter Ruth (Myha'la), who are bearing news of a power blackout in New York City and are seeking refuge in the house they claim is theirs.
Racial microaggressions ensue. "This is your house?" Amanda responds with her eyebrows raised when they show up at the door, to the obvious irritation of Ruth. However, the two families are forced into an uneasy truce as their situation slowly, inexorably deteriorates.
Esmail is a master at the leisurely build of dread. An oil tanker runs to ground on the beach they are sunbathing on. Communications are down across the country, with murmurings of a mysterious cyberattack circulating. A plane plummets from the sky, while the wildlife around the house is behaving rather oddly.
Leave the World Behind is a disaster movie with a difference. It keeps you guessing throughout, aided by the terrifically off-kilter score which creates an acute sense of foreboding. It’s not all doom and gloom, as moments of dark humour pierce through the darkness.
The incredible performances across the board make you want to spend more time with these characters. Moonlight and Green Room Oscar-winner Mahershali Ali elevates every scene he is in as the suave, insightful G.H., while Roberts imbues Amanda’s prickliness with her own brand of charm.
It's an uncomfortable watch at times, skirting uncomfortably close to what the end of civilisation might look like. Cat-nip for the Doomsday Preppers.
Read more: Julia Roberts says her kindness on set is 'intentional'
