MOVIE REVIEW
“LX 2048”
Not rated. In theaters and on Amazon, VUDU, iTunes and more.
Grade: B-
I’m not sure what “LX 2048” means (2048 is presumably a date). But it’s certainly better than “001Lithium10,” the original title. The film is a near-future dystopian hybrid shot in Los Angeles and Lithuania written and directed by Guy Moshe (“Bunraku”) and featuring London-born James D’Arcy (“Cloud Atlas”) as American Adam Bird. An executive in the virtual reality business, Bird is dying from heart failure and lives alone in his family’s second home. The first home is occupied by his beautiful wife Reena (Englishwoman Anna Brewster) and their three young sons. Reena has a restraining order against Adam and is the process of divorcing him. In opening scenes, Adam wears a hazmat suit as he drives to to work, something almost no one does anymore because sunlight is deadly.
His only companion in his high-rise offices is a clone cleaning lady with a big scary smile. He has a meeting with another clone named Dr. Rhys (British veteran Gina McKee in a bizarrely small role) about his condition. Most humans stay at home and prefer to “live” inside virtual-fantasy worlds, wearing their goggles and earphones, socializing virtually, going to virtual schools and taking the drug 001Lithium10. Adam is certain chips are going to replace the virtual reality gear and put him out of business. In flashbacks we learn that Adam and Reena bought a government-backed Premium 3 insurance plan from an enthusiastic agent (Jay Hayden), guaranteeing that if either of them died they would be replaced by “improved” clones. We also learn that Reena, who had been withholding sex, caught Adam having virtual sex with an avatar he dubbed Maria (newcomer Gabrielle Cassi).
While the plot of “LX 2048” eerily evokes our current condition under COVID-19, the film, which is in many ways an metaphor for a crumbling marriage, does not work because of murky plotting, wavering accents and the thread of misogyny that runs through the depiction of Reena, who is an emasculating harpy. “LX 2048” is more enamored of the sexy, full-lipped Maria, who wears a black bikini, resides at a virtual beach and is Adam’s creation as well as his lover.
D’Arcy is certainly capable in the role of the meaningfully named Adam. But the character is so high-strung and likely to fly into a rage that you don’t warm up to him. “LX 2048,” which frequently recalls Aldous Huxley’s classic 1932 novel “Brave New World” and the Richard Fleischer 1973 cult favorite “Soylent Green,” gets a shot in the arm when Delroy Lindo, a best actor Academy Award front runner for “Da 5 Bloods,” shows up as the gun-toting Donald Stein, the brilliant scientist who masterminded cloning and chips and who offers to send Adam a present after spending a day drinking with him (shades of “Blade Runner”).
“LX 2048” may not really work. But Moshe does a lot with a little, creating a credible dystopian future with the impressive aid of the widescreen lensing of cinematographer Thomas Buelens. Netflix could use them both, for sure.
As for the film’s ending, let me just say once again, “Send in the clones.”
(“LX 2048” contains profanity and sexually suggestive language.)
The Link LonkSeptember 25, 2020 at 04:57PM
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‘LX 2048’ murky stew of chips, clones and marital strife - Boston Herald
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Chips
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