Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 AFI FEST Film Festival. Netflix releases the film in select theaters on Wednesday, November 22; the film will start streaming on Netflix on Friday, December 8.
When Barack and Michelle Obama made the unusual post-presidential move of partnering with Netflix to launch Higher Ground Productions, it was often reported that they cited “Get Out” as the kind of film they were interested in making. Invoking Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning debut, which uses horror tropes to make an unambiguously progressive point about race relations in America, sent a clear message to potential collaborators. The Obamas wanted it known that they had something to say, but weren’t interested in producing cinematic homework.
It was a lofty goal, but their first slate never quite achieved it. Since signing with Netflix in 2018, the Obamas have largely stuck to the kinds of projects you might expect from a post-White House entertainment venture: odes to the national park system, dramas about the Civil Rights movement, and nuanced documentaries that call Americans to look past their differences. But the company’s latest project, Sam Esmail‘s “Leave the World Behind,” strikes a wildly different tone.
The apocalyptic drama — which is fueled by a J.J. Abrams-style mystery box and features Julia Roberts going absolutely apeshit on a pack of hypnotized deer — is the most ambitious thing the former first couple has produced so far. A pulpy piece of genre fare that’s also a sprawling attempt to comment on everything from micro-aggressions and disinformation to cybersecurity and geopolitics, “Leave the World Behind” is Higher Ground’s first project in the same vein as “Get Out.” Or at the very least, it tries to be.
Adapted from Rumaan Alam’s 2020 novel of the same name, “Leave the World Behind” tells the story of an affluent Brooklyn couple with a very relatable problem: they’re sick of interacting with people. After months of stressing about their jobs, Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke) decide that they need a relaxing weekend away with their two kids. (More precisely — in a turn of events that won’t surprise many married couples — she decides they need a weekend away, makes the reservations and packs everyone’s bags, and he shows up and has a great time). If you’re willing to look past the massive oil tanker sailing directly into the beach on their first day — which they apparently are — it has all the makings of a great vacation.
But their first night at the Long Island vacation rental takes a strange turn when George (Mahershala Ali), a suave tuxedo-clad man who claims he owns the house, shows up with his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold) asking to spend the night in the basement. New York City has been hit with a blackout that prevented him from taking the elevator up to his high rise apartment, so he claims he had no choice but to retreat to his vacation home. It’s an unorthodox request — and one that Clay is considerably more receptive to than Amanda, who asks some borderline racist questions before reluctantly agreeing to let them stay the night.
When they wake up, the blackout is still underway. Internet and cell phone service is nonexistent, and it’s impossible to get updates on the strange occurrences taking place at every turn. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, this review won’t discuss much of what happens next other than to say that it becomes increasingly clear that something very, very bad is happening. As the two families work together to figure out what that is — despite having no real reason to trust each other besides proximity — we begin to see the ways that life-or-death scenarios erode our capacity for pleasantries and force everyone to reveal their true colors.
The film is able to turn what might literally be the end of the world into a gripping stage play because the four adults are so well-written. Ali steals the show as George, a dapper financial advisor who manages wealth for some of the most powerful people on Earth and has no reason to doubt his understanding of the way our world truly operates. Amanda is a nuanced riff on the “Entitled White Woman” archetype, understandably jaded by her job in ad sales but all too willing to lash out at anyone other than her kids. Clay is a happy-go-lucky professor who has the luxury of maintaining a hyper-positive view of humanity while spending his days marinating in esoteric debates with no real world consequences. And Ruth is a street-smart Gen Z college grad whose wealthy upbringing has allowed her to spend infinite time studying human nature without ever having to apply her knowledge. The four of them play off each other to form a tinderbox for conversations about what really matters in the face of a crumbling society.
While the sets are appropriately lush, Esmail does deserve some negative style points for directing the film as if it’s a reel for an aspiring jib operator. Despite having a script that’s more than interesting enough to hold our attention, he never displays the confidence to let his characters and their truly Biblical problems stand on their own. Instead, we’re bombarded with a nauseating amount of needlessly complex crane, drone, and Steadicam movements that serve little narrative purpose. A few flourishes would be fine, but the constant attempts to show off his tricks erode the immersion that his tense script works so hard to create.
With high points that are sharp and low points that are nonsensical, “Leave the World Behind” never ceases to be entertaining. Through the families’ conversations about their lives and work, Esmail touches on a massive array of societal ills ranging from first world inconveniences to catastrophic threats. He seems to relish the fact that the looming end of the world absolves him from the obligation to wrap any storylines up, but his ambition is genuinely admirable. “Leave the World Behind” paints as comprehensive a tableau of 21st century threats to America as any Netflix original movie could be expected to offer — while remaining resistant to monocausal explanations for any of them. While it never comes close to making as pointed of a statement as “Get Out,” its thoughtful exploration of looming dangers and appeal to our better angels is reminiscent of the former president who produced it. If the price we have to pay for that is occasionally sitting through an asinine side quest about the Long Island deer population, that’s a bargain.
Grade: B+
“Leave the World Behind” opens in select theaters on Wednesday, November 22 before streaming on Netflix on Friday, December 8.
