Does Swan Song sing with praise, criticism, or somewhere in between? (Movie Review)
by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
When I was in high school, I had a buddy named Shawn. We had this book called If filled with what if questions that the two of us would go through and ponder together. We had one question during a sleepover that kept us up for quite a while. The question was, “if you had 10 minutes to live, what would you do?” After about 45 minutes of thinking of our perfect answers, we realized that if the situation for this answer were true that we would have been dead for 35 minutes. We thought about it for a while until we eventually came up with something called the 10 minutes to live drill. One of us would call the other to say you have 10 minutes to live, and they would have to do something they were putting off or something they wanted to do but “didn’t have the time” to do it. The purpose of this was to reflect on doing things we wanted to do, but maybe have a push to help jumpstart us. The whole premise revolves around this simple notion: what are you waiting for?
It’s questions like these that I like to ponder. Questions like this similarly came up in Swan Song.
Apple TV+’s newest movie stars Mahershala Ali as Cameron Turner, a husband and father with a terminal illness. In the future, a company has come up with a technology that creates a clone of you to replace you so that your family won’t have to go through the suffering of a death of a loved one. The goal will be that Cameron’s clone is good enough that his family, wife Poppy (Naomi Harris) and son Cory (Dax Rey) won’t know the difference.
There are some very philosophical concepts coming into this film. I appreciated what it was trying to say, especially revolving around themes of grief and regret. This gave me some real Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind feelings as well. Ali beautifully balances the performances of both Cameron and his clone Jack. The individual performances are both great, but the real achievement is when both of them are onscreen together. You can feel the anger and pain in Cameron’s face during this whole ordeal and the confusion and hopefulness that he’ll do well enough to take care of Cameron’s family in Jack’s face. That’s a tremendous amount of range for someone who’s already a well-regarded and talented actor. Shout out to Harris and Rey for their roles during present day (Cory was also portrayed in multiple age ranges in flashbacks). Ali, Harris, and Rey all have amazing chemistry as a family as well. You can really feel the ups and downs as a family and how heavy of a decision this is for Cameron.
There’s a lot to like from a technical standpoint. The cinematography in Swan Song is beautiful as well, particularly when they’re at the compound in the woods. Lots of nature shots and the shots around the lake are well placed. The effects department did a great job with presenting some of the futuristic tech like self-driving cars, cameras in contact lenses, and a pop-up menu that can come out of nowhere if you ask it too. The color palate is very futuristic, which was a cool sight. The music and score also pair well with the shots, guiding listeners on what emotion they should be conveying.
Swan Song is oozing with emotional moments. This is where the movie really resonates for me — the moments where Cameron is agonizing about the decision. It’s one of those decisions that has a lot of impact and raises a lot of questions. What lengths would you go to assure your family didn’t have to watch you suffer in death and your family didn’t have to suffer because of your death? Death is a part of life, so we will all deal with it at some point or another. But when it comes to your own family, it’s different. You can see the conflict in Ali’s face. There’s more emotional moments aside from his decision that Cameron is facing too. The moment Cameron finally meets Jack and the flashback interactions between Cameron and Poppy are all emotional as well.
There are two main critiques I can levy with Swan Song. They throw a lot at you with Cameron, Poppy, and Cory. I could have used more time between them, though. We as the audience can clearly tell that they’ve been through a lot as a family. We get glimpses of their family through flashbacks and memories, but I could have used a little more. This movie clocks in at 112 minutes, which felt pretty brisk. The other critique is that its a fairly predictable and straightforward movie with not a lot of entertainment value. It’s an art house piece. I was half expecting there to be a mystery element or some type of action piece. Although I did appreciate the attempt, it was sometimes a little boring.
If you have Apple TV+, Swan Song is a worthy addition to your queue. If you love heady, deep science fiction that pulls emotional punches and has great performances, add this to your list. If you’re expecting lots going on, action set pieces, and something deeper beyond what you see on screen, then this probably isn’t for you.
Grade: B-
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