#POLISH PREMIERE | fantastic | metropolis | sci-fi | elixir of youth | drug | brothers | future | death | revival | capitalism | obsession with appearance | macho | 90s | visual masterpiece |16mm
DIVINITY
sci-fi, thriller | USA | 2023
World premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2023
Polish premiere: Splat!FilmFest
A VISUAL MASTERPIECE ABOUT AN OBSESSION WITH YOUTH
Sci-fi produced by Steven Soderbergh is a story about a future world where humanity is dependent on a wonder-making serum which guarantees an everlasting youth. An elixir, produced by a gifted scientist, Sterling Pierce, makes people addicted to it and it brings our civilization to ruin. The situation gets even worse after the elixir is taken over by remorseless Sterling Junior. Luckily, mysterious brothers arrive on earth to save the planet and kidnap the tycoon responsible for monopolizing youth.
The movie written and directed by Eddie Alcaraz („Perfect”) is a gloomy reflection on death and revival, a commentary on capitalism and our obsession with youth and desirable appearance. People taking the Divinity serum may have young skin, but their minds have already seen better days. Being enslaved to the promise of immortality, they lose the ability to think and asses the situations correctly. And that’s why it’s so easy to manipulate with them.
Alcazar is famous for his black and white esthetics and when it’s combined with sci-fi and a thought-provoking scenography, it brings to mind a legendary „Metropolis” by Fritz Lang. And in the best possible way. „Divinity” is a visual masterpiece, shot by a 16mm camera. It’s a production in which the viewer is hypnotized from the very first scene by refined shots and scenography. It becomes even more impressive when we take into account no big budget and no special effects costing tons of money. However, there are effects and creativity of their authors to admire.
The cast is also worth-mentioning, because it’s not common to have such a wide range of stars in an independent movie. The old Sterling is portrayed by Scott Bakula, whom the fans of horror may know from „Lord of Illusions” and lovers of sci-fi from TV series like „Quantum Leap” and „Star Trek: Enterprise”. Sterling junior is played by Stephen Dorff, an uncompromising ‘90s star, who in the interviews highlighted that he despised Marvel productions and he valued the most the kind of cinema that had something to convey. Dorff took part in productions like e.g. „Blade” and „Space Truckers”, as well as TV series like „True Detective” and – lately – he played in western „Old Henry”, which has great ratings. Bella Thorne, one of the most popular young American actresses nowadays, portrays a stunning leader of a group of women who try to keep the planet alive. Fans may know her from productions like „The Babysitter”, „American Horror Stories” and several horrors thanks to which she tries to free herself from the image of a Disney star. Let’s not forget about music – in this movie the co-author is DJ Muggs, a member of a legendary music group Cypress Hill.
director: Eddie Alcazar
screenwriter: Eddie Alcazar
cast: Stephen Dorff, Scott Bakula, Bella Thorne
photography: Danny Hiele
music: Dean Hurley, DJ Muggs
editor: Steve Forner, Kevin Greutert
language: English
subtitles: Polish
duration: 1h 28min
recommended age: 16+
