My Review of Foe (2023)

 

Written by Iain Reid And Garth Davis

Directed by Garth Davis

Hen (re Junior): "He doesn't really see me anymore. It's as if he's replaced me with someone else. I've lost those parts of who I am, or who I could be. And, I'm scared I won't ever get them back."

I have to confess, I watched this movie back in January and I found it to be an absolute misfire. I watched it again a few weeks ago out of curiosity and again, I found it to be a misfire. 

It's one of those films that on paper had a brilliant idea but with such a muddled execution, the whole thing fell apart. Then there's the lead actors themselves. Sometimes great chemistry isn't enough to salvage a movie. There's a lesson to be learned there.

Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal star as an American couple (their accents are decent) called Hen and Junior. They live on a remote farm and an encounter with a mystery man named Terrence (Aaron Pierre) had quite the detrimental effect on the couple.  

Mainly because Terrence was from an organisation called OuterMore and Junior ended up being replaced by an android version of himself. It's a version that Hen predictably ended up getting attached to that she ended preferring the android to her real life husband.

Add to the fact you had Terrence living with Hen and her husband's android duplicate, this became a rather messy dynamic for practically everyone involved. By the end of this movie, one Junior was permanently shut down and the other resumed a life of discontentment with Hen.

Again, this movie was confusing in parts and definitely longer than necessary. The chemistry between Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, excellent as it is, it barely held it together. 

- The only other acting role in the movie was Jane Harber playing a news reporter.

- Lakeith Stanford was originally cast as Terrence before being replaced by Aaron Pierre.

- The film had a limited theatrical release before Amazon Prime released worldwide.

- Chronology: There's a two year time jump within the movie itself.

Foe is nicely shot, it has three leads who do their best with the ropey material but it's an absolute slog of a movie to get through and the ideas have been done better elsewhere. Not one I'd recommend.

Rating: 5 out of 10