Sundance 2022: When You Finish Saving the World
sundance 2022As the cinematic landscape grows and expands, many actors and on-screen talents have tasted life behind the camera stepping into the role of director and screenwriter for the first time. Screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival with A24 already signed on to distribute, Jesse Eisenberg is the newest name to join this list with his debut feature When You Finish Saving the World. Exploring not just family dysfunction but also the modern adolescent experience as a whole, Eisenberg captures the lives of a young boy named Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard) and his mother Evelyn (Julianne Moore).
Each individual is incredibly different with how they approach life and how they communicate leading to a massive divide between the two. What they both share, however, is a desire for something more. Both want to fill the holes put in their lives by this dysfunction resulting in each trying to build relationships outside of each other to give the validation and outlet they should be getting from the family they belong to.
The immediate strength found within the feature is the performances bringing this relationship to life. Both Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard are rather fantastic, with Moore especially giving a powerful yet remorseful look at motherhood and the longing to make her son the best he can be. While she has no seeming relationship with Ziggy to allow her this goal, she does meet a young boy her son's age named Kyle (Billy Bryk) who she decides to care for and push as her own. One truly feels for her as she desperately clings to Kyle as an almost personal project, yet ultimately he is not her son and falls short of providing what she needs.
Ziggy, on the other hand, is in desperate need of validation and belonging. Concerned mainly with an online community he has cultivated with his singing and impressing a girl at his school named Lila (Alisha Boe), Ziggy doesn't feel like he particularly belongs in any group he interacts with and could desperately use direction from a parent. These two are their own answers but cannot bring themselves to provide that closure for the other in a frustrating yet authentic-feeling way.
It is frustrating however how little the film actually has to say about this relationship. While obviously present, there is little actually seen as to why these two have grown so far apart and the end thesis fails to justify how this relationship grows and morphs throughout the runtime. Their identities are also incredibly underwritten. For a film that wants to say plenty regarding the modern push for social change and privilege, it never has the inner focus to actually tackle these themes or ideas with the protagonists at the center of the film. By the end, this creates a viewing experience that, while feeling authentic, is ultimately far too hollow for its own good.
It also is almost criminal how little Jay O. Sanders gets to do as the father and husband of this family. Every scene with him is fantastic, feeling the effects of this dysfunction tearing down everything he wants and hopes for out of his family. Yet he gets no arc or moment to truly express himself. There is so much more that needs to be said not just from him but from every character within the film yet these voices are simply not heard. Eisenberg clearly has strong ideas but lacks the experience to truly make the most of this premise that feels like it has the potential to be a Mike Mills film, at times.
While the narrative can feel frustrating, the film does at least have a solid technical base. The empathetic cinematography from Benjamin Loeb is stunning, at times, with Loeb continuing to prove his worth after projects like Mandy and Pieces of a Woman. The score from Emile Mosseri might not be as much of a focus throughout the film as his previous scores in films like The Last Black Man in San Francisco or Minari, but still has its moments where it really shines and enhances the content it is put over. The lighting and atmosphere of nearly every scene feel effective and largely these above-average technical elements do the film a massive favor in enhancing some of the weaker moments of story and character.
Buried within When You Finish Saving the World is an incredibly poignant and moving family drama but as is, the film undeniable has its faults. While still overall effective, there needs to be more focus and substance within a screenplay like this that wants to comment on massive themes including layered issues like the exploitation of suffering and minorities. With this rich of characters and social commentary, the film simply needed to be more than it is to truly achieve what it is trying to be.
