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La Meren Arriba (not looking, US, 2021) monastery. Adam McKay. Screenplay: Adam McKay and David Sirota. With Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Ariana Grande, Mark Rylance, Timothée Chalamet. Suitable for people over 16 years old.

The great premiere on Netflix to bid farewell to 2021 didn’t go unnoticed. Moreover, it has drawn highly polarized criticism: there are those who hated it and said it was the worst Adam McKay film; And others who appreciate the balls he has to mess with highly sensitive topics through sarcasm.

Because this new McKay movie isn’t a simple comedy, but it is set in the realm of dark humor to parody the political leaders, the scientific community, tech gurus, and all of pop culture these days, who are distracting our attention to what really matters: a planet.

The movie begins when two astronomers, played by Lawrence and DiCaprio, discover a meteor heading straight to Earth. Due to its size, it is known as the “Planet Killer”, as its impact can lead to the extermination of all life on the globe.

Scientists immediately organize to alert the government, but without the response they hope for, they prepare a media tour to warn humanity of the impending destruction of the Earth.

In that course, we will meet different characters performed by a host of stars, most notably Meryl Streep as President of the United States.

This argument helped Mackay talk, by analogy, about more real and pressing issues such as climate change, a pandemic, and even mining. One can substitute a meteorite for any environmental and social problem, and the film is a brutal and satirical mirror of how we behave in front of them: neglect, ignorance, indifference, vulgarity, recklessness, the list goes on. It also reflects what we’re not doing, which is to take care to stop its devastating consequences, as the only scientists in the movie try to do, who scream unheard.

It’s no surprise that Leo DiCaprio, also known for his environmental profile and for demonstrating the terrible effects of climate change, leads the cast on this production. As a result, here he was able to unite performance and social commitment to deliver an invitation to attention to anyone who wanted to “look up”.

Because while this movie isn’t perfect—McKay imbues us with its frenetic, disorganized editing, and extraordinarily long script—we can vouch that it accomplished its biggest goal: to stir up controversy and that we’re all talking about it (good or bad).

A movie director once told me that “the best thing that can happen with a movie is to make you think,” and No Look Up definitely worked.

So far the film – which is also critical of patriarchy and disastrous cinema itself – has received Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations, anticipating a very good awards season, although we still have to see how important it delivers. The upcoming Oscars.

Lydia Korea

Twitter: @liXoria

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