Mark Reviews Movies: LITTLE JOE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 5, 2019

Even before they're infected by a mood-altering virus that's emitted within the pollen of a genetically modified plant, everyone seems pretty dull in Little Joe. As a result, co-writer/director Jessica Hausner's central joke, a not-too-subtle jab at the increasing market for pharmaceuticals intended to help those with mental health issues, doesn't work.

The gag, which is basically the extent of the movie's repetitive narrative, involves the aforementioned plant, which produces an odor that makes the smeller happy. It was developed by a team of scientists led by Alice (Emily Beecham).

She's a single mother and a workaholic. Her son Joe (Kit Connor) seems a bit resentful of the level of attention she gives to her job, except when he doesn't. There's so little time spent with these characters before things go awry that the story's initial conflicts never stick.

Anyway, she brings home one of the plants, a breed she has named "Little Joe" after her son (Her therapist, played by Lindsay Duncan, wonders what Alice will do if she's forced to choose between her two children as a bit of foreshadowing that goes right over the scientist's head). Meanwhile, Alice's co-worker Chris (Ben Whishaw) is trying to woo her (She's unaware of his intentions until Joe points them out to her), and fellow scientist Bella's (Kerry Fox) dog becomes an omen of things to come. After the canine and Chris are exposed to the plant's pollen, the dog becomes agitated—not the same dog in the owner's eyes.

Hausner takes a low-key and realistic approach to a somewhat familiar story—an essentially alien entity replacing/changing the nature of those who encounter it. The weird thing, though, is that because these characters are so thin and played without emotion that the changes don't really register. The only flashes of personality come from the set design and lighting, making striking use of brightly bold colors to reflect the scientists' apparently misguided intentions.

As for the message here, it's pretty obvious, although the movie's outright condemnation of artificial aids for mental health is both simplistic and a bit rash. If the argument of Little Joe is that attempts to alter the minds of people to be happier and more content only make complacent and boring people of us all, maybe these characters shouldn't have been so complacent and boring in the first place.

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