Remember comedian John Mulaney’s now infamous quip that an all-woman “Ocean’s” reboot wouldn’t work because two women would sneak off to smack talk the others? Well, the A-list all-woman cast of “Ocean’s 8” just stomped eight glitzy, razor-sharp stiletto heels into that tired joke’s neck. And then they sped off to the Met Gala to celebrate their sisterhood with martinis and diamonds (with no help at all from director Gary Ross, whose too-safe cinematographic choices dampened the film’s shimmer).

Make no mistake, however: “Ocean’s 8” is a spin-off, not a reboot. This point is hammered home in the first 15 minutes as Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) finishes serving a prison sentence for a fraud scheme, then visits the grave of her supposedly late brother. I’m sorry, Danny can’t come to the heist right now. Why? Oh, ‘cause he’s dead! But don’t be deterred, fellow Clooney fans — a brief-but-satisfying glimpse of our favorite silver fox lies ahead.

Once Debbie hooks up with her rock ’n’ roll partner-in-crime Lou (Cate Blanchett) to flesh out a daring Met Gala heist she cooked up while in solitary confinement, the plot really kicks off. The duo’s magnetic chemistry mirrors that between Danny and Rusty in the previous “Ocean’s” trilogy, and their frequent referring to each other as “honey” and “baby” implies that there may be a little bit more than just friendship underneath.

Each of the women that Debbie and Lou soon recruit bring a different strength to the team: Nine Ball (Rihanna) is the stoner hacker; Rose (Helena Bonham Carter) is the eccentric stylist; Amita (Mindy Kaling) is the scrupulous jeweler; Tammy (Sarah Paulson) is the suburban profiteer, and Constance (Awkwafina) is the street-smart hustler. But the stand-out of the star-studded cast is Anne Hathaway, hamming it up as the glamorous, shady movie star Daphne Kluger, whose 150 million dollar Cartier diamond necklace is the target of the heist.

The exquisite detail poured into the film’s costuming is a definite highlight — Blanchett’s rainbow of suits comes just in time for Pride month, and Bonham Carter’s Victorian-style dresses are perfectly on brand for the reigning queen of goths. If only the same vivid designs of the heistresses’ glitzy garb showed through in Ross’ bland directing, which lacks that cinematic zest that director Steven Soderbergh sprinkled into the previous “Ocean’s” trilogy.

While a few nagging components of the team’s heist are a bit cliche and recycled, the plot itself is rarely dull, until the introduction of the woefully miscast fraud investigator (James Corden) in the third act. He bogs down the story with poorly camouflaged exposition, but his more significant crime is taking the focus away from the much more compelling women characters.

In fact, the few men in the film (excluding a delightful few cameos from Danny Ocean’s original team) detract from what “Ocean’s 8” is about: sisterhood. In an empowering monologue to a bathroom mirror, Debbie tells herself, “You are not doing this for me. You are not doing this for you. Somewhere out there is an 8-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a criminal. Do this for her.”

Considering Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ refusal to return for “Ocean’s 13” (2007) after the writers failed to provide them with active, leading roles, the gender politics of this all-woman reboot are especially revolutionary. “Ocean’s 8” is projected to make the most money out of any movie in the entire “Ocean’s” franchise, which suggests a potential “Ocean’s 9.” Hopefully, the sequel will include more women not just in front of the camera, but behind… and a Brad Pitt cameo.   

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June 1 is the first day of Pride Month, and we’re celebrating with an alt-rock gaylist! The explicitly sapphic (e.g. bisexual/lesbian) lyrics and dreamy guitar of these five songs pinpoint that rush of falling in love with yet another ultra cool, leather jacket-wearing goth babe effortlessly riding a skateboard across campus.

“Veronica” — Daddy Issues
Music inspired by the 1988 cult flick “Heathers” is strangely popular in the garage-rock community (see “Heathers” by Surf Curse, “Veronica Sawyer” by Summer Camp, etc.), but this track is less about the movie and more about the girl group’s collective crush on protagonist Veronica Sawyer. How very!

“Told Ya So” — Adult Mom
‘’Told Ya So” is a healing exploration utopia, queerness and love. New York-based non-binary musician Adult Mom (Stephanie Knipe) reassures us that, “It’s okay to feel the world. It’s okay to kiss girls.” The hopeful lyrics combined with the peppy drums make this the perfect comfort song.

“Girls Named Benji” — Murder Shoes
Tess Weinberg of Murder Shoes croons about a girl named Benji, imagining dream dates and scenarios ranging from writing movie scripts together to simply staying in bed all day. Being attracted to other women is about so much more than just sex, and this track’s exploration of the emotionally intimate side of lesbian relationships is refreshing.

“Pickles From The Jar” — Courtney Barnett
This lighthearted, offbeat love song celebrates the superficial and fundamental variations between Barnett and her partner, Jen Cloher, that make their relationship fresh and interesting. Though the two pronounce certain words differently and are fifteen years apart in age, the one thing they do share is a mutual love for Christopher Walken… but then again, doesn’t everyone?

“Rebel Girl’ — Bikini Kill
Though the ‘90s riot grrrl movement wasn’t as racially intersectional as it could’ve been, it broke new ground for gay punks nonetheless. In “Rebel Girl,” bisexual lead singer Kathleen Hanna unapologetically declares, “In her kiss, I taste the revolution!” cementing the song as a sapphic classic.

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The land near the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation is grandiose and majestic, but it’s also cruel. Violent storms kick up dust around cowboy Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau), who gazes out at the scenery as he struggles to come to terms with a life-changing injury that may end his rodeo career. This wordless, powerful scene sets the tone for filmmaker Chloé Zhao’s latest film, “The Rider.”

Last Wednesday was the final day of Zhao’s two-week engagement guest teaching the Art of Directing course on campus — she referred to her students as her, “pride and joys” — and Zhao topped it off by answering questions after a free screening of “The Rider” at the EMU Redwood Auditorium.

“It’s about showing you why Brady is risking his life to live this way,” Zhao said during the Q&A. “And to do that, I must show you why he loves not just the animal, but the land that he lives on.”

Zhao explained that she met Jandreau on the Pine Ridge Reservation while filming her debut feature, “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” and the two became fast friends. After a horse stepped on his head and crushed his skull during a rodeo, Zhao decided to make a film chronicling his story. This became “The Rider,” a heartbreaking yet hopeful take on what it means to control one’s own destiny.

Throughout the film, Blackburn is surrounded by other injured cowboys as he tries to recover. His best friend Lane Scott is a former rodeo star who is now paralyzed, living in a rehabilitation center in Nebraska. Though Scott was actually injured in a car accident, he still serves as a reminder of what could happen to Blackburn if he continues to ride.

But perhaps the most important relationship to Blackburn is the one between him and a wild horse named Apollo. Blackburn sees himself in Apollo, as both crave the rush of freedom but neither can have it. In one scene, Blackburn soliloquizes about how a rider’s sole purpose in life is to ride, but a horse’s purpose is to roam free. While this implies that the rider could be seen as a parasite, Blackburn and Apollo seem more like a symbiotic pair, inexplicably tethered to one another.

“I’m lucky because I’m working with one of the best horse trainers in the whole region,” said Zhao. “Everybody sends their horse to Brady.”

Many scenes featuring Blackburn training wild horses could not have been done with a professional Hollywood actor — the special connection that Jandreau has with these animals is communicated through controlled, loving stares and careful movements. The use of untrained actors also comes with hindrances, as Zhao must be confined to direct within the limited range of acting that they can pull off, working around their own experiences.

Fortunately, Zhao’s strong directing in this film proves that she’s up to the challenge. “The Rider” is now playing at the Bijou Art Cinemas (492 E 13th Ave).

Follow Mia on Twitter @MIACINO.

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For the next two weeks, award-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao will be here in Eugene guest-teaching a cinema studies course on directing. Zhao recently won the inaugural Bonnie Award, which honors a mid-career woman director, at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards. A glowing introduction from filmmaker Ava Duvernay preceded Zhao’s acceptance speech.

Last Tuesday, she participated in a discussion and Q&A on campus at Gerlinger Hall, moderated by Cinema Studies associate department head Priscilla Ovalle, that touched on topics of realist cinema, working with non-actors (both humans and horses) and her own personal history.

Born in Beijing, China, Zhao moved to London for high school, studied American Political Science in college, and eventually earned her graduate’s degree in film at NYU. Her debut feature, “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” had a microbudget, a crew of only eight people, and took three years to make, but it was still met with acclaim when it premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Zhao’s latest film, “The Rider,” nabbed four Spirit Award nominations and a win at Cannes Film Festival, and is garnering heaps of critical acclaim, currently holding a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

During the Q&A, Zhao discussed how she comes from the “Terrence Malick school of filmmaking,” often employing realist techniques to produce documentary-like films that feel poignant and true to life. Instead of creating wholly original scripts, Zhao opts to find real people and build a story around them and their experiences. This often means working with non-professional actors, such as “The Rider” star Brady Jandreau, a cowboy living on the South Dakota Pinewood Indian Reservation. The film explores his tragic experience after a riding accident threatens to end his rodeo career.

“They’re giving you their real lives and their very personal struggles but they’re hiding behind a character that has a different last name,” Zhao said. “To see your story play out from a different character is a really powerful thing.”

Zhao also admitted that she initially harbored romanticized ideas of these Native Americans’ lives, and she had to unlearn the false labels that mainstream media had given them. In doing so, she became close with her actors — Jandreau even chose Zhao to be his daughter’s godmother.  

“I was much more interested in portraying them as human beings rather than issues,” Zhao said. “The connection with them was like, ‘These are my kids. These are my friends.’ And they struggle with the same things that my friends back in China do.”

Zhao’s upcoming work includes directing and writing a biopic on Bass Reeves, the first Black U.S. marshall, and a Western historical epic centering on Native American territories of the 1800s. She has also been in talks to direct Marvel films — during the Q&A she said that her first passion was manga comics — but the indie filmmaker is more at home when working with realism rather than spectacle.

There will be a free screening of “The Rider” next Wednesday, May 9 at 7 p.m. in the EMU Redwood Auditorium, followed by a Q&A with Zhao. Seating is limited and first come first served.

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Last weekend, the Eugene community gathered together for the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, a five day film festival packed with 12 feature-length films and 16 short films created by Asian American filmmakers.

According to a study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 5.7% of the 900 most popular films of 2017 featured Asian roles, and 3% employed Asian directors. DisOrient aims to provide a platform for independent Asian and Pacific Islander filmmakers to screen their work.

Hosted by KEZI news reporter Brady Wakayama, the opening night gala at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art last Thursday included stirring live performances by singer/songwriter Chinyi Chen, cartoonist Vishavjit Singh and slam poet Alex Dang.

Singh, the featured presenter and creator of Sikhtoons, gave an engaging and hilarious lecture titled “Disorienting Stereotypes with Art.” As a turban-wearing Sikh man, Singh said he faced so much bigotry after the events of 9/11 that he couldn’t leave his house for two weeks for fear of harassment. Refusing to succumb to the hatred targeted at him and his culture, he channelled his frustration into cartoons that poked fun at American ignorance.

“Labels are data points. In isolation, they define us.” said Singh. “We have got to tell our stories so people stop using labels.”  

Dang, the only slam poet in history to be on the Portland Poetry Slam national team for four consecutive years and a three-time Eugene Poetry Grand Slam champion, finished closed the night by performing a handful of emotional, richly passionate poems about his experiences as an Asian American. In one poem titled “Orange Chicken,” he expressed the notion that people view him and the popular dish in similar ways.

“I too, have skin golden and glazed, to be ripped open by white teeth and be left even whiter meat,” Dang during his performance.

After this opening night gala, the festival officially kicked off. Friday included two screenings at the Broadway Metro theater of human rights activist Anastasia Lin’s documentary “Badass Beauty Queen,” which details how she fights oppressive systems of China through her status as Miss World Canada 2015.

The festivities continued Saturday morning at the EMU with a series of shorts and documentaries about the lack of Asian representation in comics and pop culture. Opening short “Marvel Presents a New Superhero… Model Minority!” spoofed the idea that Asian immigrants are perceived as “heroic model minorities” while other races are considered “villainous” and “problem minorities.” Feature documentary “Drawn Together: Comics, Diversity and Stereotypes” also delved into the issue of racial stereotypes in comics by challenging false perceptions of race through art.

On Sunday, DisOrient headed into its final day with “A Taste of Home,” a documentary about Chinese-American food culture, followed by a Q&A with DisOrient founder Jason Mak. Mak, born and raised in Eugene, completed his undergraduate degree at UO before heading to UCLA for grad school where he wrote his thesis on Chinese foodways, a term which refers to the intersection of food and culture.

During a Q&A session after the screening, Mak discussed how he grew up washing dishes in his family’s restaurant and how that experience led him to realize that foodways tell stories about immigration.

Mak explained to the crowd how Asian-Americans’ owning of laundromats and restaurants stems from the fact that there used to be legal limitations on other occupations and ownership of property, and Asian immigrants were only legally allowed to do “women’s work.”

“These stories are about finding a home, resistance and survival,” said Mak. “Resistance is survival.”

The DisOrient film festival’s purpose isn’t just to enjoy entertaining films — it’s also to educate audiences on the importance of breaking down stereotypes and the stories of Asian American struggles. From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s, film and other forms of art act as a soothing balm for these cultures to heal from history’s deep wounds.

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Until Sunday, April 22, a series of 13 haunting boards will sit on display in the lobby of Straub Hall. “The Architecture of Internment: the Build Up to Wartime Incarceration” exhibit details Oregon’s involvement in the Japanese internment camps from 1941 – 1942, following the attacks on Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt’s Executive Order forced 120,000 Japanese Americans and immigrants to be incarcerated, including nearly all of the 4,000 Japanese Oregonians living here at the time.

“As a legal term, ‘internment’ means the detention of ‘enemy aliens’ during a time of war,” one board says. “The term was used to make the public more comfortable with what was, in fact, the mass imprisonment of people treated as if guilty of a crime.”

Excerpts from official government documents, provided by the Library of Congress and Oregon State Archives, refer to the Japanese with derogatory terms such as “Japs” and “aliens.” Oregon has and turbulent history of institutionalized racism, and this exhibit is eye-opening for those who may be unaware of just how dangerous these government actions can be.  

“The Architecture of Internment” is part of the 13th annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, which highlights 12 feature-length films and 16 short films, all created by and starring people of color. According to a study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 5.7% of the 900 most popular films of 2017 featured Asian roles, and 3% employed Asian directors. DisOrient aims to provide a platform for independent Asian and Pacific Islander filmmakers to screen their work.

Today, there are two chances to catch screenings of activist Anastasia Lin’s documentary, “Badass Beauty Queen,” at the Broadway Metro (43 W Broadway) at 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Lin herself will hold a Q&A after each showtime. There will also be a free panel on Asian Americans in film and media at Lane Community College, featuring five of the DisOrient film directors, at 3:30 p.m. And after a long day of movie viewing, you can unwind at the Aloha Friday celebration today 6 p.m. at Whirled Pies (199 W 8th Ave) and enjoy live music from Hawaiian musicians.

The DisOrient festivities this weekend will be held in multiple rooms in the EMU (1395 University St), and DisOrient founder Jason Mak will host a Q&A and screening of his documentary “A Taste of Home” at 10:30 a.m. in the EMU’s Redwood Auditorium.

The Architecture of Internment exhibit is free and will be on display in the Straub lobby until Sunday. The full program and schedule of the DisOrient Film Festival are available here, as well as links to purchase tickets.

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“Damsels, Divas and Dames: 19 and Facing the Bronze Age,” or “Triple D” as show producer/director William Sullivan calls it, is the 19th annual Eugene drag show extravaganza promising two-and-a-half hours of singing and dancing. It’s all for a good cause too. The show’s net profit goes directly to a general fund for HIV Alliance, a non-profit organization founded in Lane County with locations in Eugene, Roseburg and Salem dedicated to eradicating HIV.

Founded in 1994 after the AIDS epidemic reached its height in the U.S., HIV Alliance aims to raise awareness through youth and adult education and implement prevention programs to help those who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Some of these services include needle exchanges, food banks and low-cost dental care.

The Imperial Court, the second-largest LGBT organization in the world, is another beneficiary of “Damsels, Divas and Dames.” Putting on a show at the Hult Center can be expensive due to labor costs, deposits and the booking of the stage itself, but Sullivan said the large venue is worth the money, as the event usually earns around $5000 – $7000. A sold-out show totals around $7500.

“Being producer and director, you see the show from start to finish,” Sullivan said. “Once the curtain opens, it’s going. If something happens, it happens, and you’ve got to flow with it.”

Sullivan also said that drag culture is thriving in other parts of downtown Eugene, even after the recent closing of the Wayward Lamb, the city’s only LGBTQ bar. Local drag queens such as the Glamazons, Facisha Farce and Cookie have found a new home at the cafe-by-day/dance club-by-night Cowfish (62 W. Broadway), where they perform in drag shows and participate in drag-themed karaoke and bingo.  

Some of these queens, as well as some local dancers from the Work Dance Company, will be performing in “Damsels, Divas and Dames,” lip-syncing and dancing to pop music and other medleys. Trai La Trash, a queen who made it big in the New York drag scene, will sing live for his farewell performance — La Trash is retiring this year. Special guest Sabel Scities will also be flying up from Austin, Texas to perform.

“If you’ve never been to a drag show, this is the one to go to,” Sullivan said. “It’s in a professional theater setting, it’s for a good cause and you’re gonna have fun.”

“Damsels, Divas and Dames” hits the stage for one night only at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 7 at the Soreng Theater in the Hult Center (1 Eugene Center). Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for college students and youths and are available to purchase on the Hult Center’s website.

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With his latest film “Isle of Dogs,” the famously meticulous Wes Anderson has presented himself with a challenge: Is it possible to make a derelict island full of rancid garbage and mangy mutts beautiful? Using muted tones, intricate sets, and a gorgeous mixture of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, Anderson has ensured that the film’s aesthetic style is decisively a triumph. But he may have sacrificed some of the soul of the film in the process.

After a wave of dog flu sweeps across the fictional Megasaki City, the cat-loving Mayor Kobayashi enacts a decree to quarantine all dogs on Trash Island. The mayor’s ward, a 12-year-old boy named Atari (Koyu Rankin), flies solo to the island to find his dog, Spots (Liev Schreiber), and encounters a ragtag group of former domestic dogs: the cautious Rex (Edward Norton), the gossip-loving Duke (Jeff Goldblum) and Boss and King (Bill Murray and Bob Balaban). Chief (Bryan Cranston) is the only disobedient stray in the pack — “I bite,” he repeatedly explains. Atari is similar, albeit less standoffish, and the two slowly form a heartwarming bond.

Aside from his perfectly symmetrical cinematography, Anderson’s intentionally stilted, on-the-nose dialogue is one of his most iconic trademarks. This winsome aspect is still apparent yet downplayed in “Isle of Dogs,” as most of the human characters speak unsubtitled Japanese (though an interpreter played by Frances McDormand translates some important scenes). The film is prefaced with a title card stating that all characters speak in their native tongue, while the barks have been translated into English. This means that Japanese speakers may get a bit more out of the film than others. On the other hand, it encourages English-speaking audiences to identify with the dogs rather than the Japanese people. This is a problem.

That problem is exacerbated by the introduction of Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), a plucky American exchange student and journalist. Gerwig’s voice is delightful as always, but her character is one of the only English-speaking humans — she serves mostly as a vessel for American audiences to project themselves into. Tracy recalls Jared Leto’s character in Netflix’s film, “The Outsider,” in which a white American is forced to assimilate with the Yakuza gangs of Japan.

While these characters aren’t technically examples of whitewashing, a term which refers to the practice of casting white actors in roles made specifically for people of color, their existence still prioritizes the white experience while using Japan as a stylish backdrop. The filmmakers are clearly trying to demonstrate that these characters feel like outsiders in Japan, but they seem to be forgetting that “American” is not synonymous with “white.”

Aside from these missteps, “Isle of Dogs” attempts to be respectful to Japanese culture by throwing in homages to Akira Kurosawa’s classic samurai films and employing Alexandre Desplat’s percussive, taiko drum-heavy score. It’s easy to get distracted while trying to drink in every subtle reference and intricate detail — perhaps too easy. As the plot gets rolling, new obstacles come in at a mile-a-minute, making it hard to focus on what exactly is happening. There’s just no room for the characters (or audience) to breathe.

In addition to the sometimes baffling story structure, frequent exposition dumps also distract from the spine of the film: the devoted bond shared between people and their dogs. The only thing stopping it from jumping from good to great is its inability to get in touch with humanity like Anderson’s other films do — the heart is sorely missing from the dystopian world in “Isle of Dogs.” If only the characters were as complex as the plot.

“Isle of Dogs” opens Friday, April 6 in theaters everywhere.

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Ava Duvernay’s “A Wrinkle In Time” is the first ever live-action film directed by a woman of color to have a budget over $100 million. Considering that just 4% of top-grossing directors from 2007 – 2016 were women, and just seven were women of color, the film undeniably breaks exciting new ground no matter how many diminutive flaws it has.

Based off of the 1962 book by Madeleine L’Engle, the film follows Meg Murry (Storm Reid) as she embarks on a quest to find her missing father (Chris Pine) with her little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and a boy from school named Calvin (Levi Miller). Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), a manic and impulsive redhead, Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), an oracle who has evolved beyond language and only speaks in famous quotes, and Mrs. Which, a gloriously giant deity (Oprah Winfrey), help the trio out as they teleport to strange new worlds and dimensions. The logic behind this “wrinkling of time” doesn’t make much sense, but the chromatic visuals effectively distract the audience from thinking too hard about it.

In fact, Duvernay’s world-building is a highlight of the film, adapting L’Engle’s often confusing, convoluted source material into verdant landscapes filled with helpful talking flowers and lush jungles that are strangely akin to a kid-friendly version of Alex Garland’s “Annihilation.”  

Another highlight is the excellent portrayal of Meg by 14-year-old Storm Reid, a wonderful new talent who has a brilliant acting career ahead of her. Reid embodies the shy, bespectacled Meg with a sensitive subtlety (fellow nerd girls will find her painfully relatable), but the same cannot be said for McCabe. It’s not fair to accost a 9-year-old for giving a poor performance — the blame should be placed on the casting director rather than the kid himself — but this smug, sweater-vest-wearing Young Sheldon-esque kid heavily detracted from what was supposed to be a touching brother-sister relationship.

The adult cast, on the other hand, makes the best of the clunky dialogue they’re given. Zach Galifianakis brings some genuine humor to his sage-like character, Happy Medium, and David Oyelowo is haunting as the voice of the murky, nebulous entity, The It. Chris Pine and Gugu M’batha Raw stand out as Meg’s scientist parents, explicitly giving biracial girls some long overdue on-screen representation.

Duvernay skillfully adds references to Meg’s biracial heritage. Calvin tells Meg that he likes her natural hair, and, insecure and unused to being complimented on her Black features, she becomes flustered and shrugs him off. Later, Meg faces off against an “ideal” double of herself — this version lacks glasses and dons straight hair, makeup, and trendy clothes. The confrontation is exhilarating, symbolic, and important for girls of color who are forced to cope with Westernized beauty ideals every day of their lives. Finally, they have a young heroine in a major film to relate and look up to.

“A Wrinkle In Time” is currently sitting at a dismal 3.9/10 on IMDb and a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, most likely due to the fact that there are no child film critics. Sure, the over-expository script and confounding plotline may be aggravating for adults, but this movie isn’t made for them. This movie is for girls of color and biracial girls. It’s for girls who feel ashamed and alienated for loving math and science. It’s for girls who may be interested in cinematic, visual storytelling. But above all, “A Wrinkle In Time” is for girls who want to believe in themselves.

“A Wrinkle In Time” is now playing in theaters everywhere.

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“Annihilation” will stimulate your right brain and frustrate your left brain. It’s a simultaneously beautiful and horrifying visual spectacle that thrills in the moment but perplexes once you try to analyze and dissect its meaning.

The film stars Natalie Portman as Lena, a biologist who volunteers for a dangerous expedition into an enigmatic entity called Area X in order to find a cure for her sick, comatose husband (Oscar Isaac). The team consists of four other women: a psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a paramedic (Gina Rodriguez), a geologist (Tuva Novotny) and a physicist (Tessa Thompson).

Once inside Area X — the scientists call it “The Shimmer” — the rules of nature do not apply. This world is filled with genetically mutated flora and fauna that appear to originate from our world, but with slight and not-so-slight differences. Deer with lilac plants sprouting off of their antlers; alligators with rows of serrated shark teeth; giant bears with grotesque, flesh-less snouts.

The story is told non-linearly, beginning with Lena in quarantine as she is debriefed about her months of exploring and studying Area X. From there, we jump around several times from her expedition to her previous home life with her husband then back to her debriefing again.

While the eschewment of traditional narrative structure is subversive in itself, what’s even more radical about “Annihilation” is its gender politics. Seeing women scientists actually represented on-screen is exciting, especially considering they’ve been historically erased from the field. The film also spectacularly fails the Reverse Bechdel Test (two men never speak to each other throughout the whole film), and Isaac’s character serves as a mere prop for Portman’s character’s development.

“Annihilation” is based on Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 novel of the same name, but that’s about where the similarities end. Director Alex Garland opted not to re-read the book, but to adapt it as a sort of dream-like version of it instead. While the characters in the novel, aside from the biologist protagonist, lack complexities and are simply referred to by their profession (the psychologist, the surveyor, etc.), the characters of the film have names and backstories.

The book’s intentionally vague descriptions of Area X also make it fertile ground for filmmakers to craft their own rich, innovative cinematics. Garland’s films heavily incorporate stunning visuals (his 2015 directorial debut “Ex Machina” beat out “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award) and “Annihilation” is no exception. Its creative effects range from celestial, ethereal entities to revolting body horror.

Garland is also starting to become known for taking on excessively cerebral material. While “Ex Machina” explored the relationship between humans and technology, “Annihilation” explores the relationship between humans and… well, it’s hard to say, really. Nature? Genetics? The unknown? In a way, the film itself represents Area X and we the audience are the team of scientists, desperately trying to reason with something that’s incapable of reason.

In fact, Garland’s refusal to serve viewers a simple, easy-to-follow story led to poorly-received test screenings, causing Paramount to lose faith in the film, believing it to be “too intellectual” for general audiences. So the studio struck a deal with Netflix — Paramount distributed it to theaters in the U.S., Canada and China on February 23, and Netflix will release it online internationally on March 12.

Sadly, this means that international audiences won’t be able to experience the ultimate North American and Chinese privilege of viewing “Annihilation” in all its glimmering glory on the big screen. Make sure to take full advantage of this opportunity and see it in theaters, but be prepared to think… and scream.

“Annihilation” is now playing in theaters everywhere.

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