This movie is just too slow. And there is nothing wrong with slow movies, sometimes that does make sense, but not here. As some reviewers has said, it would be much better as a "Black Mirror" episode.
The concept is interesting. Humanity has been willing to grow children outside of the womb for generations, that's one of the reasons surrogate pregnancy became a thing. There has even been some progress with artificial womb quite recently. Exploring potential future of this tech - is a ground for a good story. The movie even adds more modern context with too much of synthetic/processed food, and AI replacing humans in some roles. As mentioned - perfect ingredients for a "Black Mirror" episode.
But the movie feels like a chore. There is not really a proper exploration of the world outside of this new form of pregnancy, despite the long runtime. The pod system itself has kind of a strange place in this world, too. It's new, but at the same time somewhat "widely accepted", which does not really make sense, considering society is not portrayed as "dumb".
The exploration of psychology of the couple is also subpar. They seem to transition from mood to mood quite easily, essentially showing somewhat flat emotions, even though parenthood is definitely a more complex thing (and I'm not even a parent). It is surface level, as if the authors were scared to show some "edge".
It would have worked much better if edited into a much shorter run, like 40, maybe 60 minutes. It would have been then a good quick dive into potential future. More like a "what if" rather than food for a deep thought. Or vice versa - as a TV show, like 5-6 episodes, where they could have explored society of this world and psychology of the soon-to-be parents and their relationship. I mean, "Upload" TV show works, even though it's definitely more of a comedy. Perhaps, someone will adapt "The Pod Generations" to a similar format?
The concept is interesting. Humanity has been willing to grow children outside of the womb for generations, that's one of the reasons surrogate pregnancy became a thing. There has even been some progress with artificial womb quite recently. Exploring potential future of this tech - is a ground for a good story. The movie even adds more modern context with too much of synthetic/processed food, and AI replacing humans in some roles. As mentioned - perfect ingredients for a "Black Mirror" episode.
But the movie feels like a chore. There is not really a proper exploration of the world outside of this new form of pregnancy, despite the long runtime. The pod system itself has kind of a strange place in this world, too. It's new, but at the same time somewhat "widely accepted", which does not really make sense, considering society is not portrayed as "dumb".
The exploration of psychology of the couple is also subpar. They seem to transition from mood to mood quite easily, essentially showing somewhat flat emotions, even though parenthood is definitely a more complex thing (and I'm not even a parent). It is surface level, as if the authors were scared to show some "edge".
It would have worked much better if edited into a much shorter run, like 40, maybe 60 minutes. It would have been then a good quick dive into potential future. More like a "what if" rather than food for a deep thought. Or vice versa - as a TV show, like 5-6 episodes, where they could have explored society of this world and psychology of the soon-to-be parents and their relationship. I mean, "Upload" TV show works, even though it's definitely more of a comedy. Perhaps, someone will adapt "The Pod Generations" to a similar format?