An activist mother who founded a community organization and her estranged YouTuber son may have more in common than they think.
Jesse Eisenberg, actor we saw starring in The Social Networkdirects his own screenplay with When You Finish Saving The World (When you’re done saving the worldin French version), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022.
Although the film was shot on a modest budget, it stars Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore (Still Alice) and Finn Wolfhard (revealed in Stranger Things) in the shoes of a mother and her estranged son.
Evelyn runs a shelter for victims of domestic violence, while Ziggy is a singer-youtuber who performs live in front of 20,000 young people. They may live in the same house, they each evolve in their universe without really knowing what the other does on a daily basis.
Evelyn, whose cold temperament contrasts with her vocation, will try to get closer to a young person from her refuge and to have the closeness that she does not have with her son. As for Ziggy, he will want to develop a more committed and political thought to please a girl from his secondary school.
“You are narcissists,” the family patriarch (Jay O. Sanders), an intellectual who always has his nose in a book or a study, throws at them at one point.
A sentence which is not trivial as for the outcome of the film which is neither a comedy nor a drama.
Despite the fertile ground of the synopsis and the acting of its actors, it is difficult to become attached to the characters of When You Finish Saving The World. Evelyn and Ziggy lack sensitivity and vulnerability.
The film nevertheless brings a relevant reflection on the way in which the members of the same family can each live in their own bubble, in search of mutual recognition.
Basically, why make a difference in society if it is to the detriment of our relationships with our loved ones? In the age of clicks and generational conflicts, what does it mean to want the best for others?
rich questions. But perhaps too much for the film’s one-dimensional characters and overly crude storyline.
When You Finish Saving The World (VF: When you’re done saving the world) will be released in theaters in the original English version and in the original version with French subtitles.
Indoors
Drama
When You Finish Saving The World (VF: When you’re done saving the world)
Jesse Eisenberg
Julianne Moore, Finn Wolfhard
1:28