Into the Green

If you’ve read Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 novel Annihilation, you might view writer-director Alex Garland’s new adaptation of the story as yet another expedition into the eerie, expanding, beautiful and terrifying Area X. Both stories follow the twelfth group of explorers, but Garland’s film feels like a refracted version of VanderMeer’s novel. Some of the pieces look the same; some of the shapes are entirely different.

Natalie Portman leads Annihilation as Lena, a biologist who finds herself on the fringes of Area X after the return of her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac). He’d been gone a year, on a mysterious mission; she thought he was dead. His inexplicable return is followed by something even stranger and scarier: a team of black-clad soldiers whisking them off to a facility on the edge of “the shimmer.” The border hangs in the distance — an oil spill, a soap bubble, a wall that shouldn’t be.

If we need a “reason” why a solitary, talented, unhappy biologist and former soldier would be drawn to the strange siren song of Area X, this should suffice. But Garland burdens Lena with a dose of guilt — the notion that she owes Kane something for her choices while he was away.

The prominence of Lena’s guilt, and the emphasis on Kane’s character, would be less frustrating were it not part of a trend: the latest, promising round of female-led science fiction films seems determined to frame their female leads’ choices primarily in relation to husbands and children. From Arrival to The Cloverfield Paradox, women are driven by relationships; those who aren’t often don’t survive their films.

To be fair, everyone’s survival in Area X is in question. VanderMeer’s novel is short on answers and long on an eerie, disconcerting sense of place; Garland’s movie opts for more answers and more existential horror, spelling out what caused the shimmer and what’s happening within.

The cast is uniformly excellent, from Gina Rodriguez as a tough paramedic to Tessa Thompson, quietly devastating in a role I wish we’d seen more of. Tuva Novotny, as an anthropologist named Cass, gracefully handles the thankless job of having to deliver pat descriptions of the other women and the weight each carries.

What isn’t said is much more interesting: Watch Thompson’s expression as she accepts the shimmer, or Rodriguez’s when she suspects someone is lying. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as team leader/psychologist Ventress, observes with a cool but fragile distance that cannot hold up under Area X’s strangeness.

It wouldn’t do to spoil Portman’s best wordless moment, but it’s safe to say that by the end, when shit gets well and truly weird, Lena’s narrative breaks free of Kane and is something all its own. Despite the fragmented narrative and disconcerting shifts in time, Annihilation isn’t weird enough — Garland’s playing with light doesn’t quite make up for the parts of Area X that just look like a rainforest, and one last-act set is pure Giger Light.

But the film builds terror in other ways, some too much for a horror-averse viewer. At best, it revels in a sense of creeping dread, loss of ownership over yourself, and the fear of experiencing without understanding.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!