Division 19. (15.)
Directed by S. A. Halewood.
Starring Jamie Draven, Linus Roche, Alison Doody, Clarke Peters, Will Rothhaar and Toby Hemingway. 92 mins
This is a dystopian futuristic drama, much like all the other dystopian futuristic drama because in fiction all our bad endings end in much the same way whereas in reality our horrorshow always finds some novel little twist nobody saw coming. Division 19, shot in 2013, edited in 2017 and originally due out last year, presents a mishmash future amalgamation of London and America, with everything paid for in Korean Won. It's got bits of everything but borrows mainly from Fight Club, District 9, V for Vendetta, Divergence and Johnny Depp's Dior adverts.
The low-budget production looks surprisingly good, is full of righteous anger and has plenty of decent ideas, but almost no support structure for them. At times it borders on narrative incoherence as if we were watching a very long trailer for a ten-part TV series. It broadly hints at what might be going on and leaves you to fill a lot of it in for yourself. It's set in 2039 where everything is monetised, prisons have been turned into Big Brother, and a resistance movement, Division 19, hack into computers and leap about on rooftops.
Still, at least overpopulation has been solved; there's never anybody around. The roads are empty, the sidewalks deserted and the only people you can spot are the Div19 lot leaping around on the roofs in black masks. It's amazing the authorities can't catch them.
Directed by S. A. Halewood.
Starring Jamie Draven, Linus Roche, Alison Doody, Clarke Peters, Will Rothhaar and Toby Hemingway. 92 mins
This is a dystopian futuristic drama, much like all the other dystopian futuristic drama because in fiction all our bad endings end in much the same way whereas in reality our horrorshow always finds some novel little twist nobody saw coming. Division 19, shot in 2013, edited in 2017 and originally due out last year, presents a mishmash future amalgamation of London and America, with everything paid for in Korean Won. It's got bits of everything but borrows mainly from Fight Club, District 9, V for Vendetta, Divergence and Johnny Depp's Dior adverts.
The low-budget production looks surprisingly good, is full of righteous anger and has plenty of decent ideas, but almost no support structure for them. At times it borders on narrative incoherence as if we were watching a very long trailer for a ten-part TV series. It broadly hints at what might be going on and leaves you to fill a lot of it in for yourself. It's set in 2039 where everything is monetised, prisons have been turned into Big Brother, and a resistance movement, Division 19, hack into computers and leap about on rooftops.
Still, at least overpopulation has been solved; there's never anybody around. The roads are empty, the sidewalks deserted and the only people you can spot are the Div19 lot leaping around on the roofs in black masks. It's amazing the authorities can't catch them.
