Cold Souls and Madame Bovary director Sophie Barthes returned to Sundance Film Festival earlier this year with her latest feature The Pod Generation. Led by Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film follows their characters living in a not-so-distant future in New York, taking a wild ride to parenthood after landing a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples a convenient and shareable pregnancy by way of detachable, artificial wombs, or pods. Ahead of an August 11 theatrical release, the first trailer has now arrived.
John Fink said in his review, “A sharp relationship satire that proves the more things change, the more they stay the same, Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation imagines a world of, to borrow Aaron Bastani’s idea, Fully Automated Luxury Communism. Are there poor people in this imagined futuristic world of the United States? (We can only identify the country because there’s a...
John Fink said in his review, “A sharp relationship satire that proves the more things change, the more they stay the same, Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation imagines a world of, to borrow Aaron Bastani’s idea, Fully Automated Luxury Communism. Are there poor people in this imagined futuristic world of the United States? (We can only identify the country because there’s a...
- 7/17/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
A sharp relationship satire that proves the more things change, the more they stay the same, Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation imagines a world of, to borrow Aaron Bastani’s idea, Fully Automated Luxury Communism. Are there poor people in this imagined futuristic world of the United States? (We can only identify the country because there’s a post office visit later in the film.) Perhaps. The film does include a world beyond the city where people actually live in nature, rather than hermetically-sealed smart homes where toast is 3D-printed to your desired crispness. It’s a hell of a clean, sterile, fully automated city, one that looks as if the film’s production team had the run of an Ikea.
A film that might signal a world to come if the masters of the universe have their way, in Barthes’ futuristic city, nature and therapy have been made obsolete...
A film that might signal a world to come if the masters of the universe have their way, in Barthes’ futuristic city, nature and therapy have been made obsolete...
- 1/26/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Vertical and Roadside Attractions releases the film in theaters on Friday, August 11.
In the 22nd century — somewhat amazingly — human existence has become so technologically advanced that certain things no longer seem necessary. Food comes from 3D printers. Nature has been reduced to something people experience through quick-hit “pod” immersions. Cities are the preferred location for nearly everyone. The sun is bright, outfits are crisp and tidy, and most people look sort of blissed out. It’s enough to fuel a closely tracked “Bliss Index,” which assigns an actual number to how happy the population is. It’s on the upswing and has been for a while.
Oh, and people — at least the people with enough money, some things really do never change — can grow their babies in smooth, egg-shaped pods that look like something Steve Jobs might...
In the 22nd century — somewhat amazingly — human existence has become so technologically advanced that certain things no longer seem necessary. Food comes from 3D printers. Nature has been reduced to something people experience through quick-hit “pod” immersions. Cities are the preferred location for nearly everyone. The sun is bright, outfits are crisp and tidy, and most people look sort of blissed out. It’s enough to fuel a closely tracked “Bliss Index,” which assigns an actual number to how happy the population is. It’s on the upswing and has been for a while.
Oh, and people — at least the people with enough money, some things really do never change — can grow their babies in smooth, egg-shaped pods that look like something Steve Jobs might...
- 1/20/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in The Pod Generation written and directed by Sophie Barthes, and starts with Rachel (Clarke) imagining she’s pregnant–but it was just a dream. Her smart home helps her begin the day with 3D printing toast, making coffee, and picking her outfit for the day. Her husband Alvy (Ejiofor) is a bit more grounded. He’s a botanist and professor who encourages his wife and his students to reconnect with nature. Rachel hasn’t told her husband that she’s on the waiting list for Pegazus womb clinic (a place that grows babies in pod eggs), and her consultation date is finally arriving.
In this near future society, anything considered natural is seen as foreign because people have forgotten how to interact with nature. Alvy wants a natural birth, but Rachael doesn’t want pregnancy to interfere with her cushy job. When she tells him,...
In this near future society, anything considered natural is seen as foreign because people have forgotten how to interact with nature. Alvy wants a natural birth, but Rachael doesn’t want pregnancy to interfere with her cushy job. When she tells him,...
- 1/20/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
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