Alexander Payne's DOWNSIZING proves so much more than its cute trailer might suggest

Sure, its trailer makes DOWNSIZING -- the new film from Alexander Payne that he directed (and co-wrote with Jim Taylor) -- look pretty funny and adorable. But it barely gives a clue to what this unusual and surprisingly thoughtful and heartfelt movie actually delivers. Which may be one reason that it is not drawing the expected crowds the way that a funny sci-fi movie might. The other reason, on which TrustMovies would just about stake his life, is its distributor, Paramount Pictures, which, along with Warner Brothers has historically had little idea of how to handle any out-of-the-ordinary movie. (Both studios started up and then folded their independent/art-film arms some years back.)

To my knowledge, the filmmaker (shown at left) has never made even a mainstream movie (nor anything close to a blockbuster), but that movie trailer seems determined to turn this film into one, come what may. The result so far is a major box-office disappointment, but I suspect that the movie itself will outlast its detractors and find its way into "classic" status, if the world as we know it should even last long enough for that.

Among the quite wonderful things about Downsizing -- for anyone who has not seen that trailer or read even one review of the film -- is how it takes its very original and fun/funny premise and examines it from so very many perspectives: cultural, economic, political, social, human and humane. The movie is consistently not just interesting but invigorating because Payne and Taylor refuse to simply hand us something clever and funny and then coast along on those.

That the film is so full of intelligence and fun is one thing, but Payne's use of big-time actors in so many small roles is also a delight. From Niecy Nash (two photos below) to Laura Dern,(above), Neil Patrick Harris (below),  James Van Der Beek and Margo Martindale (who doesn't even rate a close-up!) and so many others, the movie's a non-stop parade of smart actors who do exactly what's required of them while adding some amusing "star power" to the proceedings.

When around midway the film slowly morphs into something else, because that something else is so urgent (in terms of theme) and "felt" (in how the filmmakers and their cast present it), Downsizing turns into an extraordinarily humane and important endeavor -- while still offering up enough intelligence and grace to hold any audience left in America that possesses both a mind and a heart. (I know, I know: They're few and far between these days.)

As Payne's leading man, Matt Damon (below, left) shows us once again why he is becoming a near-perfect American "everyman." He was a nasty one in Surburbicon (another under-performing but better-than-you've heard movie), and he 's an equally fine one in this film, as he captures everything from the kindness and caring to the fear and doubt that currently besets so many of us in the western world.

Kristin Wiig (above, right) is just right as his wife, Audrey, but even better is an actress new to me named Hong Chau (below, left), who plays a Vietnamese woman who Damon's character tries to help. Ms Chau is revelatory. But then so is this entire movie.

A word must be said, too, for that amazing actor and Oscar winner, Christoph Waltz, below, who seems to grow better with every screen appearance. He's a character actor non-pareil, and he outdoes himself here -- yes, again.

I don't want to go into any more detail because you deserve to experience the fun and surprise of Downsizing on your own. In a year of so many very fine films, this one is another -- and one of the best. From, as I said, Paramount Pictures, the movie is playing just about everywhere. Click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Stream it: Jac Schaeffer's TiMER uses sci-fi to cleverly explore love and relationships

A great idea given even better follow-through, TiMER is a rom-com that gets its kick-start from a nifty little sci-fi premise: the invention and growing popularity of a wrist band implanted on a man or woman that let its wearer know exactly when that person will encounter the "other" of his/her dreams. Two hours, four days, 10 years, whatever -- the wait may be short or long, but if that "other" is also wearing a band, you'll know that a Mr. or Ms Right is on the horizon.  If your TiMER reads blank, however, as does the one worn by our heroine, frustration sets in.

In this exceptionally smart, thoroughly-thought-out and very entertaining movie, writer/director Jac Schaeffer (shown at right) explores this new "technology" and its effect on love, relationships and behavior from so many different angles that the results are consistently bracing.  The movie is never less than a highly enjoyable rom-com, yet at the same time, it's forcing you to consider what things like love and commitment will signify in this "new" society.  What might the ability to immediately learn an answer that usually takes months, years, or an eternity to uncover mean to the concept of "dating," not to mention that of fidelity?

And that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Ms Schaeffer's intriguing concept (shown above) makes the usual romance, including the typical scenes of necking and lovemaking (below) layered -- fraught, really -- with a lot of extra (and extremely interesting) baggage.  The filmmaker adds irony, humor, charm, and sadness to situations that, in any other rom-com, would be cliché.  Here, almost everything resonates.

As a first-time director, Schaeffer probably has a lot more to learn, yet she's done a perfectly good job of putting all this together (ever her one little dream/fantasy sequence is presented creatively and thoughtfully).  She's drawn excellent performances from her entire cast, too: no small achievement for a first-timer (first-TiMER?). As a writer, she's already quite good, with dialog that makes its many problematic points believably and with plenty of humor and zing. Overall, Schaeffer combines her dialog with the acting skill of her performers, drawing consistently real behavior from her cast.  (This is not that simple an accomplishment.)

Best of all the filmmaker puts her sci-fi notion to work on society as we know it, showing us how this little device might effect not just young romantics but moms (that's JoBeth Williams, above) schoolkids, elders and widowers stricken with grief.  The experience of the young son of the family tears down, in one fell swoop, barriers of class, race -- even height!)  And philosophically speaking (the French should love this film), TiMER asks the question, Can you be unfaithful before you've met the man of your dreams? In fact, the movie actually gives us its own, post-modern notion of an "arranged marriage."

In the fine cast, everyone stands out.  Emma Caulfield (above) makes a charmingly frustrated heroine and Michelle Borth (below) is savvy and sad as her half-sister and best friend.

Ms Williams is in fine form as the pair's mother, and in the male department, Desmond Harrington (below, left) and John Patrick Amedori (below, right) provide, respectively, the 30-something and 20-something love interest with the proper perspective and allure.

After doing a ten-festival circuit, the excellent little film opened in a very limited theatrical run a couple of months ago and seemed to sink without a trace. Yet it is so good that one can only wonder why.  A couple of those festival appearances were at Sitges and Brussels, so perhaps the combination sci-fi/rom-com content confused people. (And not so much the audiences themselves as the folk whose job it was to market the movie to those audiences.)

Too bad.  TiMER is one of the best rom-coms of this, last, or the past several years.  It has the courage of its convictions, too -- which is why the feel-good ending you think you're getting comes freighted with enough ballast to keep things properly stable.

TiMER is available now via streaming from Netflix, which is how I watched in -- in hi-def, too.  It's also available via Amazon On-Demand and perhaps on VUDU (which my Samsung Blu-Ray machine is currently loading, to find out).  Eventually, I hope it will be available on DVD, as well.