Mute (2018 Film)

''Mute'' (also known as ''Moon II'' in some countries) is a 2018 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Duncan Jones, who co-wrote the script with Michael Robert Johnson. A follow-up to his 2009 film ''Moon'', it stars Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Robert Sheehan, Noel Clarke, Florence Kasumba, and Dominic Monaghan, revolving around a mute bartender (Skarsgård) searching for the love of his life (Seyneb Saleh) who has mysteriously disappeared. A third instalment, a graphic novel called ''Madi: Once Upon A Time In The Future'', was released in 2020.

It was released on Netflix on 23 February 2018 and received negative reviews, with praise for the visuals but criticism for its pacing, plot, and mishandled subject material; it drew unfavorable comparisons to ''Blade Runner'' from many critics.

Plot

A childhood swimming accident leaves Leo mute, as his devout Amish mother refused the surgery which could have helped him. As an adult in 2035, he swims frequently and has perfected the technique of holding his breath underwater. He is also a talented artist and loves woodworking.

Leo works as a bartender at a Berlin strip club owned by Maksim and dates cocktail waitress Naadirah, with whom he is deeply in love. She confides in her gay friend Luba, who also works at the club, that she has not told Leo about her past or her desperate need for money.

Naadirah shows up at Leo's apartment and attempts to tell him about “something important”, but Leo tells her, by a note, that as long as they are together, nothing else is important. Then he shows her an elaborate bed he has been carving as a present for her. Naadirah is overcome with emotion and they have sex.

Elsewhere, Maksim's mobsters meet two American surgeons, Cactus Bill and Duck, who run a black-market clinic. The two doctors are close friends, having served in combat together. Bill (who has an aggressive, volatile temper) desperately wants to leave Berlin and has pressed Maksim to provide forged documents for him and his young daughter, Josie. Duck, however, enjoys living in Berlin and has another, official, clinic where he performs cybernetic surgery. Some of his patients are children, and Duck appears to have a sexual interest in very young girls.

Naadirah goes missing and Leo is unable to contact her; but then he begins to receive a series of text messages on his phone, giving clues as to her whereabouts. Leo asks Luba for help, but Luba (who is jealous of Naadirah’s affection for Leo) refuses.

Leo remembers that Naadirah wrote an address in his notepad and tore out the page. He uses charcoal to read the imprint of the address on the next page of the notebook.

The address leads Leo to the apartment of a man called Oswald. Leo sees a photo of Naadirah at the apartment and, when he expresses interest, Oswald assumes Leo works for Maksim's underling, Nicky Simsek, who is skimming money from Maksim's prostitutes. Leo meets with Simsek, who is babysitting Josie, at a diner. Leo befriends Josie, who is sketching, by drawing a picture for her. Then - watched by Maksim’s henchmen - he leaves Simsek money from Oswald and an incriminating note.

After tracking down Naadirah's address, Leo discovers Luba living there instead. Luba admits that he and Naadirah have been working as prostitutes to earn the money she so desperately needs. Leo obtains the address of Naadirah's mother and visits her. There, he learns that Naadirah is Josie's mother, and realises Bill is responsible for Naadirah's disappearance.

Having discovered that Simsek has been double-crossing him, Maksim orders him tortured by Bill and Duck. Bill later discovers a picture of a naked child on Duck's computer, which he took using a hidden camera in his consulting room. Bill becomes violent and threatens to break Duck's arms if he ever goes near another child, but before the situation can escalate, Bill receives a call from Maksim advising that he has the forged documents ready. Bill is elated, and takes Duck out on the town in celebration. During the evening Duck casually reveals that he is the author of the anonymous texts to Leo, which he had sent to “mess with him”.

As they leave a casino, a security guard stops them for a casual theft, and an enraged Bill pulls out a huge knife and threatens to kill the guard. When Duck intervenes, Bill strikes him. Upset by this, Duck texts Bill's destination (Maksim’s club) to Leo. Leo goes to the club, taking a support beam from the bed he made, and uses it to beat up Maksim and his henchmen; he then takes Bill's forged documents.

At Bill's house, Leo finds a badly wounded Simsek strapped to a gurney in the basement. He releases Simsek, who tries to escape but is killed when Bill appears. Bill reveals Naadirah’s asphyxiated body to Leo; he killed her because she was trying to get custody of Josie. The two men fight and Leo stabs Bill through the throat with his own knife. Then he carries Naadirah’s body out into the garden, and sits by a tree, cradling her.

Duck then turns up, but refuses to take Bill to a hospital. Instead, he turns the surveillance camera, which shows Josie's room, towards Bill's face, so that the dying man can see Duck carry away his daughter.

Duck finds Leo in the garden and knocks him out. Back at Duck’s clinic, he implants an electrolarynx in Leo’s throat, so that he can hear Leo “apologise for killing Bill”. When Leo refuses, Duck drives him and Josie to the bridge shown in the one photo Leo has of Naadirah. Duck says he took the photo himself, when he, Bill and Naadirah visited the spot together in happier times. Duck threatens to throw Leo off the bridge if he doesn’t apologise, but Leo takes a deep breath and, gripping Duck tightly, launches them both into the water, holding Duck down until he drowns. When Leo surfaces he sees Josie near the edge, and - thanks to Duck’s implant - is able to shout a warning to her. When Leo is finally back on the bridge, he tells Josie he will take her to her maternal grandmother.

A final scene shows Leo sitting with Josie in a restaurant, both drawing pictures. He notices that she wears a bracelet of wooden beads that he carved for her mother, and produces another bead, which he gives her.

Cast

* Alexander Skarsgård as Leo, a man left mute from a childhood accident
** Levi Eisenblätter as young Leo
* Paul Rudd as Cactus Bill, an American surgeon
* Justin Theroux as Duck, Cactus' partner and best friend
* Seyneb Saleh as Naadirah, Leo's girlfriend
* Robert Sheehan as Luba
* Gilbert Owuor as Maksim
* Jannis Niewöhner as Nicky Simsek
* Robert Kazinsky as Rob
* Noel Clarke as Stuart
* Dominic Monaghan as Oswald
* Mia-Sophie and Lea-Marie Bastin as Josie
* Florence Kasumba as Tanya
* Ulf Herman as Gunther
* Anja Karmanski as Kathy
* Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell (uncredited cameo)

Production

The film was in development hell for many years, but Jones always said he wished to direct it and has described it as a "spiritual sequel" to ''Moon'', heavily inspired by the Ridley Scott film ''Blade Runner'' (1982). During the film's development, Jones had expressed his desire for Sam Rockwell to reprise his role from ''Moon'' in a cameo appearance that was to act as an epilogue for the character, and that the film would be the second instalment in a trilogy consisting of ''Moon'', ''Mute'' and yet to be announced third film. In October 2016, Justin Theroux officially joined the cast, joining Skarsgård, Rudd, Noel Clarke and Florence Kasumba.

Filming

Filming began on September 28, 2016. The film was shot on site in Berlin by cinematographer Gary Shaw, who worked with Jones on ''Moon''.

Music

Clint Mansell composed the film's score. In a series of Instagram posts titled Mute & Me, he cited the culture of 20th century Berlin as a major influence, claiming that "Berlin has been, and continues to be, a cultural hot bed of our times". Mansell drew from multiple forms of Berlin culture, including "poets and artists, musicians and philosophers, dreamers and drunks, lovers and the lost and lonely, the wild, the beautiful, and the damned". During background research for the film, Mansell claimed to have drawn inspiration from works of German expressionism such as ''Metropolis'', the crime drama ''M'', as well as works of classic and contemporary film noir like ''In A Lonely Place'', '' Cape Fear'', ''Chinatown'', ''Brick'', and ''Blood Simple''.

Mansell also looked at the works of New German Cinema filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Wim Wenders. He points to Fassbinder's ''World on a Wire'' as a specific sci-fi influence from that era. He also looked at the krautrock group Popul Vuh and their collaborations with Herzog on '' Aguirre, Wrath of God'', and ''Nosferatu the Vampyre''. Mansell cited Jones's father David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy of albums as being a major influence in terms of representing Berlin culture, along with other Brian Eno-produced albums like ''Ultravox!''.

Release

Originally scheduled for release in 2017, ''Mute'' was released on Netflix on 23 February 2018.

Marketing

The film was heavily promoted and discussed by Jones on Twitter with production stills and concept art. On 6 January 2017 three stills from the film were released, showing characters Leo, Cactus Bill, and Duck with the backdrop of a futuristic Berlin.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Visually polished but narratively derivative and overall muddled, ''Mute'' is a would-be sci-fi epic whose title serves as an unfortunate guide to how it might be best enjoyed." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film received a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

References

External links

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{{Duncan Jones

2010s mystery films
2010s science fiction films
British mystery films
British science fiction films
German-language Netflix original films
Films about disability
Male bisexuality in film
Cross-dressing in film
Films about bartenders
Films directed by Duncan Jones
Films scored by Clint Mansell
Films set in Berlin
Films set in the future
German mystery films
German science fiction films
English-language German films
English-language Netflix original films
Babelsberg Studio films
British neo-noir films
German neo-noir films
British multilingual films
German multilingual films
2018 multilingual films
Cyberpunk films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films
2010s German films