A hot-button issue for many contemporary filmmakers is the climate crisis and overall anxiety surrounding our planet’s climate situation, and there are different ways that people tackle it. Some recent examples include Paul Schrader’s First Reformed and Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the former analyzing how this affects a single man and the latter following radicalized youth in the vein of a heist film. These films masterfully use their view of climate change as an integral part of their story and character development. Caitlin Cronenberg attempts to do so as well, to varying success, in her debut feature.
Humane takes place in a not-so-distant future where the world’s governments are forced to ask up to a fifth of the population to be voluntarily euthanized following ecological collapse. In the midst of this, the father of a wealthy (Peter Gallagher) family brings his children together for dinner to inform them that he and their stepmother have enlisted in this program. Things don’t go quite as planned, and the children are pitted against one another as they are trapped in their father’s home by the Department of Citizen Strategy that runs the euthanasia program.
Cronenberg, daughter of horror legend David and brother of rising star Brandon, shows a lot of promise in her first outing as a director, particularly in the visual components like lighting and cinematography. Unsurprisingly, Cronenberg has spent much of her career as a photographer, so this aspect of filmmaking comes naturally to her. The visuals are by far the strongest point of the film, with some of the other aspects not quite reaching the same heights.
The cast turns out solid performances, but the clear standout is Enrico Colantoni as DOCS worker Bob, the primary person keeping the York family captive. He’s both hilarious and terrifying all at the same moment as he antagonizes the siblings with a bluntness that is frankly shocking. Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Sebastian Chacon, and Alanna Bale round out the rest of the cast as the York siblings, with all their performances coming off a little one-note. Each role is played well, but there isn’t much depth or nuance found among them. Unfortunately, Michael Sparaga’s script doesn’t offer much for them to play with throughout the film, so we’re left with undercooked characters that don’t have a ton of time to be fleshed out.
The real miss of Humane is the lack of follow-through on the thoroughly enticing premise. Outside of the setup that contextualizes the story, the concept and ramifications of this ecological disaster are not explored as much as some might expect. The film quickly devolves into a standard family drama with a twinge of horror that’s nothing new to audiences and the world around the characters seems to have little impact on who they have become up to this point in their lives. The political messaging seems to be boiled down to a few buzzwords flashed on television screens and quick throwaway comments alluding to a fascist government that controls the media. Cronenberg and Sparaga definitely have things to say about climate change and the broader political landscape, but any subtlety or profundity is lost in the delivery.
Humane is a steady, if uninspiring, debut from Caitlin Cronenberg that has a lot to offer visually and an interesting world set up around the main story but doesn’t quite put many of the other pieces together. Despite its flaws, the movie is still fun and Cronenberg flashes plenty of talent at various parts of the film, and hopefully she gets another shot at directing a feature in the near future.
Humane will debut in select theaters on April 26, 2024, courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder.
Humane is a steady, if uninspiring, debut from Caitlin Cronenberg that has a lot to offer visually and an interesting world set up around the main story but doesn't quite put many of the other pieces together.
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GVN Rating 5.6
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Proud owner of two movie passes. Met Harrison Ford at a local diner once. Based in Raleigh, NC.