Zachary FenellThe Last Mimzy
February 10th 2009 18:04
The Last Mimzy, 2007
The Last Mimzy does not cause this reaction. I know, I watched it almost every day for a week. Not even a sniffle.
The hubster said it's because "it's got the maths". (I'm a big math junky in my secret double-life.) My daughter says it's because I work for the guy who made a video game that vaguely had something to do with "mimzies". (If you can figure out who that is and what I'm talking about, you get a gold star.) My son says it's because it has hippies, and I'm a big dork (but only in the most loving way, and he's probably right).
No one told me anything about the plot of the Last Mimzy before we watched it. I picked it out based exclusively on the promise of the spiral on the front and the faint mandala-like fractal that showed up in the commercials. I expected it to be a once-a-year kid movie (because, really, aren't they all?), except that the story veered wildly away from the blurb on the back. That little snippet - and every other little snippet I found subsequently - just does not capture the soul-stirring real love or beauty that I found in this film.
Remember when you first saw E.T.? (If you didn't, just play along. Don't make me feel old like that.) Remember when you realized not only was there a connection between the boy and the alien but that there was a real chance of the death of the characters you cared about? Remember how crazy everyone went over that? I think in the interim years, so many people have tried to recapture that and failed that this next evolutionary step in soul-speak slipped under the radar. Not many people "got it", and it was ignored, as I recall, by the Academy (and only nodded to by the Saturn and Young Artist awards), but HOLY COW, you have to see this flick, even if you've seen it before.
The dream-like quality of the infinitely and quantum-small spaces... the clarity of union between science and spirit on one side versus the strict Baconian "science" on the other side... the feeling that this is not just a science fiction movie but a whisper of future, moreso even than Blade Runner or Star Trek: First Contact (which were both really just wishful thinking)...
If you didn't get it last time, watch it again. Pretend it's not a "movie" required to follow "movie" sensibilities. And then, watch it again. There are such layers of meaning woven between words and scenes that if you give it a chance, it could trigger something for you, something rich and meaningful in a way that no other movie I can think of even remotely compares.
5 Stars
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Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Comment by BethmooraRaven
After reading your plea to watch it and your fabulous description of how it has made you feel, I will be going off to Blockbuster later today to return a dvd I have already and shall be asking for The Last Mimsy to watch tonight.
Your enthusiasm is very infectious and I have just subscribed to your email updates!