If you think you’re being nickel-and-dimed to death now, wait until you see your gravity bill in the dark future presented in the Iranian CGI sci-fi feature Jamais Vu – Reverse Fall, written and directed by Mostafa Farmani. Many tomorrows from now, a group of angry aliens invades Earth’s moon: some are real evil baldies in black with grey skin, and some have mohawks and ride electric sharks. These moon marauders take control of the gravity on Earth, billing the inhabitants for it like a utility. If someone on Earth is late paying for their gravity, their privileges to use it are revoked. This causes the person to rise up into the air behind the sky, until they are sucked into a black hole.
“These moon marauders take control of the gravity on Earth, billing the inhabitants for it like a utility.”
Working for the Earth resistance, Keyvan’s mother, Atousa (Bahar Jafari), is caught by the lunar pirates, who promptly banish her up to the hole in the sky. Young Keyvan (Pouria Dehghani) is forced to take her place in the rebellion, whether he is ready or not. He is being guided by Grandfather (Moshen Partoei), the battle-scarred veteran of a thousand wars, though he is a little dotty in his old age. He is also being helped by the warrior Faraz (Behnam Mohseni) from a secret asteroid, who was sent by Keyvan’s father to Earth to assist. Also on the team is Homa (Shiva Riasatian), a cyborg with a lot of metal up its sleeve. To defeat their enemy on the moon, the group needs to launch an attack on the bullet train that circles the planet continuously. Devoid of passengers, the non-stop train’s real purpose is to control the gravity that is pulled from Earth’s grasp…
As far as Jamais Vu – Reverse Fall is smart enough to stand out, and fun enough to space out to. Farmani crafts the perfect dark vision of economic strangulation by skyrocketing utility costs. I have heard of charging people for the air they breathe, but hadn’t ever thought about the cost of keeping the ground beneath their feet. Farmani hits that sore nerve everyone on the planet has with one of the most timely movies about today’s problems. There is this giant robot running around, screaming how he needs money to pay his bill, or he will go up the chimney. That robot is me, and it is everyone I know and don’t know. The giant robot is us.
"…the perfect dark vision of economic strangulation by skyrocketing utility costs."
