Of all the unbelievable trends in the film industry’s recent history, Netflix’s rise to become the top producer and distributor of new movies isn’t one that many film fans would have seen coming. Although now the streaming services seems to be chasing buzzy award season titles likeMaestroandMay Decemberfor distribution deals and putting together intended blockbuster projects similar toThe Gray ManandThe Old Guard, there was a brief period of time when Netflix seemed to be green lighting many of the “cool, yet sadly undeveloped” projects that major directors had been working on for years.Martin Scorsesefinally got to make his expensive crime epicThe Irishman,The Raid’sGareth Evanswas able to experiment with the wild horror filmApostle, andSteven Soderberghput together bothHigh Flying BirdandThe Laundromatin the same year. It was during this stretch of time thatMoonandSource CodedirectorDuncan Jonesgot to seehis longtime passion projectMutecome to fruition.Mutewas a wild sci-fi noir in the vein ofBlade Runnerthat tied in Amish philosophy, criminal therapy, and a sincere love story to become the weirdest original movie on Netflix.
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What Is ‘Mute’ About?
Mutefollows the Amish bartender Leo (Alexander Skarsgard), a victim of a childhood accident that left him unable to speak. This of course is explained in a melodramatic opening flashback sequence that suggests a greater importance to the overall narrative than it actually has; the fact that Leo is both mute and Amish has little to do with the film’s central mystery.Mutethen flashes forward to 2035, where the world has been transformed into a massive cyberpunk urban complex that feels like a strange blend betweenDark Cityand the most popular MMORPGs at the time. Despite the advanced technological creations that surround him, Leo insists on communicating with others solely by writing down his thoughts on a piece of paper or napkin.
Mutecertainly devotes a lot of time to its worldbuilding, asJones is certainly a filmmaker with a compelling sense of visual design. The issue is that despite all the weirdness ofMute’s setting, its story is the same sort of dystopian neo-noir romantic mystery thatBlade Runnerperfected three decades prior. Leo is head-over-heels in love with the waitress Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh), who he defends from thugs in the midst of a bar fight. The complete sincerity of Leo and Naadirahs’ relationship falls flat; it’s easily the least interesting aspect of a film whose only bold choices seem to be visual ones.
The Wild Villains in ‘Mute'
Another reasonMutefails as a sci-fi romance is that Leo and Naadirahs’ storylines feel almost secondary to the film’s supporting characters, who feel lifted straight out of aLuc Bessonspace opera. Jones apparently assumed that to make his villains “vulnerable,” he needed to simply explore more about them. While this may have been a noble intention, it results in a film where the gangsterCactus Bill (Paul Rudd)and his partner-in-crime Duck (Justin Theroux) get more screen time than the two leads.
If there’s any reason to watchMute, it’s these two characters. Cactus Bill is an accomplished surgeon who struggles with serious anger management issues and often devolves into absurd outbursts where both Jones and Rudd seem unsure whether they are being comedic or dramatic. Bill also loves his daughter Sophie (Mia-SophieandLea-Marie Bastin) and swears to protect her in a subplot that becomes more complicated once it’s revealed that Duck is a pedophile. This barely has anything to do with Leo’s quest to save Naadirah, but it’s nonetheless more interesting.
What Happened to ‘Mute?'
2018 was a big year for Netflix; in the next twelve months, the studio would release Academy Award-nominated projects withRomaandThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs, as well as a series of acclaimed titles such as theSaturday Night LivebiopicA Futile and Stupid Gesture, the gritty crime thrillerHold the Dark,the moving midlife crisis dramedyThe Land of Steady Habits,Tamara Jenkins’ family dramaPrivate Life, and the moving terrorism drama22 July. It’s safe to say that drawing eyeballs to a bonkers sci-fi adventure was not among their top priorities.
Despite not being marketed as such,Mutewas the second film inJones’ connected trilogythat began withMoon; evidence of this is seen early on whenSam Rockwell’sMooncharacter, Sam Bell, appears on a new program recounting the events of Jones’ directorial debut. It doesn’t set up an extended universe or major crossover; it simply feels like Jones always imagined the two films as having existed within the same universe and chose to confirm it. Jones took the connection one step further in 2020 when his graphic novelMadi: Once Upon A Time In The Futuremarked the unofficial conclusion to this odd trilogy.
Jones is an underrated filmmaker. BothMoonandSource Coderepresent the sort of bold, high-concept original science fiction films that studios should be making more often, and for all the issues critics had with Jones’ 2016 video game adaptationWarcraft, it would be hard not to say that the film wasn’t ambitious. Jones is a director who always takes massive swings, and whileMuteis rife with issues, it’s more interesting as a unique creative failure than most directors would be able to pull off.Muteis often confusing and at times unnerving, but it’s never dull; it’s a surprise that Netflix was able to sink such significant efforts into giving a director the freedom to explore his weirdest impulses.
