On Movies: Junction of dystopia, dysfunction

Sure, people are watching movies on tablets and smartphones, on their couches, streaming video on demand. But maybe there's another reason box office is down dramatically (summer biz dropped 25 percent from the same period in 2013). Call it the Dys Factor, as in dystopian post-apocalyptic young-adult sci-fi, as in dysfunctional family comedies, as in you're showing me dys movie - again?

In March, Divergent, Neil Burger's adaptation of Veronica Roth's YA novel, opened in theaters, with Shailene Woodley as the heroine living in a frayed, futuristic Chicago where what's left of society is divided into five factions, and where every year the kids who come of age are tested for assignment to a group and a vocation. Downright dystopian.

Last month, The Giver, Phillip Noyce's adaptation of the Lois Lowry juvenile fiction bestseller, opened in theaters, with Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush as the hero and heroine living in an isolated, black-and-white world where a governing body of control-freaky Elders assigns the kids a role, a job, that they must keep for life. Downright dystopian.

Even Thwaites was aghast over the parallel premises.

"I watched a little bit of Divergent on the plane the other day, just to get a sense of what people were talking about," the Australian actor said during an interview in Philadelphia in early August. "The similarities between the characters - crazy!"

That was even before Thwaites had a chance to catch The Maze Runner, adapted from James Dashner's postapocalyptic, dystopian YA fiction series and opening this weekend, or The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, adapted from Suzanne Collins' postapocalyptic, dystopian YA fiction series, opening Nov. 21.

So, what's with all the futuristic Clearasilian gloom?

"It's a somewhat anxious time, and postapocalyptic fiction is a way to channel our anxieties," Emily St. John Mandel, author of the dystopian novel Station Eleven, told a reporter this summer.

And let's face it: Divergent and The Hunger Games franchise have made money. Like, kabillions. (The Giver, not so much: With a $25 million production budget, and probably that much again in marketing costs, its one-month tally of $42 million does not bode well for a sequel.)

But if teenagers running around shooting crossbows and confronting all-seeing authority figures isn't your cup of tea, how about a couple of hours with a clan of angry, angsty grownups reconvened when the grand patriarch has died?

The imploding family has long been a theme in theater and film, from Edward Albee and Eugene O'Neill to Little Miss Sunshine, Meet the Fockers, and National Lampoon's Vacation. The appeal is obvious, combining the rubbernecking thrill of watching a car crash with the painful recognition of something all too familiar - our own messed-up parents, children, siblings, and in-laws. Our own messed-up selves.

Thus far this year, the list of dysfunctional family comedies includes Wish I Was Here, in which Zach Braff struggles with a dying dad and a deadbeat brother, and Are You Here, in which Zach Galifianakis struggles with the inheritance left by his dead dad, and with the annoying presence of his deadbeat best bud. (Two dys-fam-coms with "Here" in the title starring guys named Zach!) And then there is This Is Where I Leave You, which assembles Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Adam Driver, and Jane Fonda with a boob job (it's a running joke), sitting shiva and yelling up a storm. There are no Zachs in this one, which opened Friday.

The Judge, coming Oct. 10, isn't a comedy, but its story about an estranged son (Robert Downey, Jr.) returning home to manage a crisis concerning his fading father (Robert Duvall) is rich with dys-fam-com elements: sibling rivalries, the re-meet with a high school sweetheart, embarrassing declarations triggered by too much alcohol.

Now if only some Hollywood brainiac could fuse the two genres: the ultimate dysfunctional, dystopian, YA sci-fi postapocalyptic family comedy.

Just think of the time and money we'd save.

Herzog: The Collection (Shout! Factory, $150) and Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed (Faber and Faber, $40). Documentarian/storyteller/actor/opera director Werner Herzog's take on the world and the creatures inhabiting it has produced more than 40 years of extraordinary cinema. This deluxe Blu-ray boxed set packages 16 of the German filmmaker's early key titles, from the Klaus Kinski collaborations Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and Fitzcarraldo (1982) to the penetrating, sometimes perverse docs Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) and Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997). The voluminous Guide to the Perplexed offers Herzog interviews (with Paul Cronin asking the questions) on everything from art, acting, and new technology to ancient ritual - and his films, of course.

Ida (new on VOD). Pawel Pawlikowski's brilliant black-and-white road movie, set in post-World War II Poland, tracks a young woman (amazing newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), an orphan raised in a convent and about to take her vows, who discovers she has an aunt (Agata Kulesza) and goes off to meet her - changing both women's lives forever. One of the best films of 2014.

Ghostbusters I & II - 30th and 25th anniversary DVD/Blu-ray edition. Bill Murray leads a team of paranormal investigators ridding New York City of demons and doing battle with a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The sequel unearths a subterranean stream of supernatural pink slime. Who you gonna call?

215-854-5629 @Steven_Rea

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