Little Joe

This agonisingly slow pseudo sci-fi has camera moves, performances and lines of dialogue that. Seem. To. Take. An. Eternity. To. Deliver. Without. Much. Impact. Or. Dramatic. Pay Off.

It's a little film. But it's epic.

For some, Little Joe may seem too sterile to engage emotionally, but I found it glassily unsettling - even more so on second viewing. Inhale at your peril.

Hausner and co-writer Géraldine Bajard present a nightmare in pastel colours in this breathtaking modern sci-fi.

By eschewing fast-paced suspense Hausner takes the sting out of her story, instead showcasing a bold aesthetic sense that feels like an exciting taste of what's to come.

A unique, stimulating examination of our quick-fix, happiness-hungry culture.

Little Joe isn't emotional or even tacky enough in its convictions and twists to be fun —like a lot of B-movie sci-fi movies—nor is it as elevated and complex as Upstream Color (Shane Carruth, 2013)

Little Joe is a sleek and stylish rethinking of the “pod” movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Hausner isn't Cronenberg: Instead of committing to the human impact of a perturbing situation, she chooses an aseptic frame, convinced that it's possible to impose the coordinates of a scientific experiment onto a film. [Full review in Spanish]

A true tour de force in ambiguity, Little Joe explores two possibilities to the max: accepting the fantastical or seeking a rational explanation grounded in delusion. [Full review in Spanish]