Little Joe (2019)

Directed by: Jessica Hausner | 105 minutes | drama, science fiction | Actors: Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw, Kerry Fox, Kit Connor, Phénix Brossard, Leanne Best, Andrew Rajan, David Wilmot, Goran Kostic, Yana Yanezic, Sebastian Hülk

Genetically modified plants are nothing new. Yet the plant we see in the international sci-fi drama ‘Little Joe’ is a special case. It releases a pollen that makes everyone who breathes it happy. The plant needs a lot of love and care from its owner, but it is richly rewarded for that care. Sounds appealing, but are the lab technicians sure this lucky plant has no dark side effects?

The more than one and a half hours that ‘Little Joe’ lasts we mainly stay in the ultramodern lab where the plant is grown and in the house of senior scientist Alice. It is she who names the plant Little Joe (after her own son Joe) and takes it home in a copy against all the rules. But as the day approaches when the plant will be presented at an international flower fair, Alice has more and more doubts about the safety of her creation.

This special story produces a film that is equally special in several respects. ‘Little Joe’ can hardly be pinned down to a genre and the film is difficult to interpret thematically. We recognize the influence of dystopian futures (from ‘Brave New World’ to ‘Black Mirror’) and the main theme seems to be addiction. Once you have sniffed Little Joe, your perception of the world changes and is only interested in the next sniff. But what exactly we should do with this is never clear.

Even more striking is the all-encompassing artificiality of the film. Sets, dialogues, diction, acting, costumes, (disgusting) music, colors and visuals are constantly forced and unnatural. You never have the impression that you are looking at a realistic drama but rather a filmed play of the more invented kind. Complete with shock effects that never arise from the story but from unexpected (and crackling) sounds.

The fact that the makers deliberately opted for this artificiality is easy to understand from the perspective of the story. It’s about artificial happiness produced by an artificial plant. It does mean that ‘Little Joe’ is a sterile and cold film, with which the mind can still do something, but from which all emotion has disappeared. No problem for a short film, with a full-length film like ‘Little Joe’ you start to long for a pinch of pollen a little too much.