When did Alexander Payne lose his ear for how people actually sound? Even in his archest satires like Election and Citizen Ruth, Payne’s cinematic voice had a realistic edge to make the most heightened emotion and biting commentary distinctly authentic. As his most recent features have given way to sentimentality that has made less and less room for that reality, now he actually steps toward science fiction – sort of. Downsizing is a high-concept attempt to return to satire, but with none of the attributes that made his best films so exacting.
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