Review of Metropia (2009) by Jonas Å — 26 Sep 2011

If you think the present day is bad enough, then try 2024 when Roger is a drone in call center hell, Northern European Division. That's even before he goes home to his small apartment and his loveless marriage. And then there is the voice which keeps him up all hours. To make matters even worse, his bicycle is wrecked the following morning, forcing him to take the subway. On the way to work, to his great surprise, he spots a woman who looks like the spokesmodel for a popular brand of shampoo. Figuring he still has enough time to get to work, he gives into his inner stalker and follows her to Stalingrad(!?!).

First, "Metropia" has an intriguing visual style for an animated film, not only in mostly shades of grey with brief flashes of color, but also characters whose features are photorealistic while moving awkwardly. And like any self-respecting geek, I love a good dystopia. The problems arise out of a muddled plot and a need to make statements which go off in all directions at once.(For example, the game show is too openly cruel to be taken seriously.) Oddly enough, the story seems to have been written by people who have never ridden a subway in their lives, just observed it from a great distance and took pity on the poor souls who rely on it. For example, if one wanted to realistically critique the subway, then one would start with a definite sardine aesthetic and then move onto delays. For the majority of us who do ride mass transit every day, it is not so bad when we have something to distract us from the tedium which this movie was not so terribly helpful with yesterday.