Molli and Max in the Future, 2024.
Written and Directed by Michael Lukk Litwak.
Starring Zosia Mamet, Aristotle Athiras, Arturo Castro, Michael Chernus, Aparna Nancherla, Okieriete Onaodowan, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Erin Darke, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Matteo Lane, Nick Mestad, Connie Shi, and Danny Burstein.
SYNOPSIS:
A sci-fi romantic comedy about a man and woman whose orbits repeatedly collide over the course of 12 years, 4 planets, 3 dimensions, and one space-cult.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or, in the case of writer/director Michael Lukk Litwak’s Molli and Max in the Future, the more technology expands, and our civilization expands beyond Earth across other planets and into multiple dimensions, the more relationships are the same messy experiences. Even with a groundbreaking device that will simulate a relationship to gauge compatibility, the best way to grow as a person and live life is to try it out naturally and see if it turns out to be a waste of time or not.
At the center of this potential relationship is, of course, Molli and Max (played by Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari with winning chemistry and on the same wavelength of the film’s irreverent sense of humor), two people who keep bumping into each other regardless of which direction they individually go in life. Her dream is to learn powerful space magic and do something important for this futuristic world, whereas he wants to become a popular mechanical robot prizefighter. Naturally, these dreams don’t necessarily turn out to be as fulfilling as they hope (she winds up in a sex cult serving a polyamorous god imagined as a face with tentacles, and he finds that fame and advertising energy drinks don’t fill the romantic void in his heart), giving them something to talk about when fate brings them together again.
It’s a reasonably silly movie backed by some truly impressive low-budget special effects that pay tribute to the sci-fi genre (even regarding costuming, Molli’s hair resembles Princess Leia in the opening sequence) that put to shame a majority of what Hollywood is pumping out. Artistic design and aesthetics can take a film, and the filmmaking team here offers up something vivid, colorful, and visually appealing, bursting with personality. Again, much of it is more homage to the genre than originality, which is also fine since the film’s purpose is the romantic comedy aspect and not the setting itself.
Molli and Max in the Future plays out with an episodic structure (generally each time the characters reunite or take on a different adventure), each rooted in a different parallel to the current world. Amusingly, one of them sees a Galactic collection of sorts that is unquestionably meant to be a riff on not only how idiotic and condescending Donald Trump was to Hillary Clinton during those debates, here with the former portrayed as a demon who bluntly announces all the terrible things he will do, but also on how society will keep electing these clowns. Max also technically belongs to the fish species (he has gills on his neck underneath his shirt), a group that was on the receiving end of a genocide. These similarities to the real world aren’t exactly subtle, but they are weirdly imaginative and funny.
That’s also not to say that every joke lands here, as some of them do feel forced or as if the characters unnecessarily feel the need to explain why it’s supposed to be funny for some reason. However, the humor is coming from the right places where observations on relationships and how, for as much as the world evolves, humanity and love remain something unpredictable and unknowable that come down to chemistry and growing as people.
Molli and Max in the Future is a delightfully offbeat sci-fi romantic comedy with a solid, well-thought-out emotional throughline. Every technical limitation is made up for with a bizarre burst of imagination and an embracement of retro flair.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
