Directed By: Alex Huston Fischer & Eleanor Wilson
Written By: Alex Huston Fischer & Eleanor Wilson
Starring: Sunita Mani, John Reynolds
I’m a proud member of Generation X. I say “proud”, I mean “apathetic”. Thirty years later, I still have the clothes and the art, but – alas – not the hair.
Generation X walked so that Millennials could run. Well, actually, Generation X walked because there was nowhere we were excited enough about to run to. We were the last analogue generation. Our music came on vinyl and plastic, our news was printed on paper, our movies were on tape and our phones were resolutely immobile.
Which brings us to Save Yourselves!. This is not how we consume things in this instant world we live in now. Two Brooklyn hipsters, Su and Jack, online since adolescence, worry about their dependency on technology for both work and leisure; the irony being these devices created to make communication easier seem to be putting up barriers in their relationship.
Taking advantage of the offer of some time away in a friend’s country cabin, they decide to disconnect and decompress. No phone, no email, no social media.
This would be a lovely thought if it wasn’t for the fact that, while they’re trying to find themselves, an alien race has found Earth and invaded. Embracing the lack of budget and running with it, the invading army are large balls of fur – the pissed-off big brothers of Tribbles – but cute they are not.
Like the other films on this list so far, this is another two-hander. Yep, it’s all well and good having an external threat, but the drama gets drawn out in the conflict around how you deal with that external threat. And, for me, this is where the film’s charm is. Separated from their support network, these two spend a weekend in the country trying to bumble their way through this bijou apocalypse-ette with both nature and extra-terrestrial forces trying to kill them.
And they’re fully aware they are way out of their depth. “We have no skills,” Su tells Jack at one point. There are chuckles along the way as this point is proven on several occasions, and Jack’s speech about traditional masculinity had me roaring with laughter.
The film may lose its way a little at the end, but over the 90 minutes, it’s fun to watch these two stagger out of their comfort zones, becoming better people and a closer couple along the way.
Save Yourselves! is available to stream on Sky Cinema and buy on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube, and the usual places.