Elizabeth Harvest is available on Digital Download on the 1st of April 2019 here
Director: Sebastian Gutierrez
Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez (Screenplay)
Starring: Abbey Lee, Ciaran Hinds, Carla Gugino, Matthew Beard, Dylan Baker
Plot: A brilliant man marries a beautiful woman and shows her his home, stating that it’s all hers – except a room she can’t enter. First chance she enters and discovers what might be human cloning. When the husband returns she pays the price.
Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Sci-Fi Mystery Consequences
Story: Elizabeth Harvest starts when newlyweds Elizabeth (Lee) and Henry (Hinds) return to his mansion to start their lives together, he has workers in his home with Claire (Gugino) and Oliver (Beard) doing the household jobs, while Elizabeth is banned from one room.
Left alone in the house, Elizabeth starts exploring more which does take her into the forbidden room, which only angers Henry to new levels, where he must start his plans again.
Thoughts on Elizabeth Harvest
Characters – Elizabeth is the new wife ready for her life of luxury, she is delighted with the number of clothes she has, the size of the house, but she isn’t prepared for what she finds in the forbidden room, a clone of herself, she spends the film learning who she is and why she is being cloned. Henry is the husband that has been bring his new wife home for the household, he has been planning this for years, with his clones being used to complete his perfect world, the deeper the story goes, the more we learn about his decisions. Claire is the scientist hired to help Henry with his clones, she doesn’t agree at first before learning just what this could mean for science. Oliver works around the house, he is blind and has been waiting for his chance to learn about the work within the house.
Performances – Abbey Lee takes on the leading roles of Elizabeth, each one is slightly different which shows how the science has continued to improve through the versions, this comes out in her performances as somebody who becomes riser as the film unfolds. Ciaran Hinds is always going to be strong in the scientist role, with Carla Gugino in the mentor figure and assistant that works well with Matthew Beard doing everything needed for his shining moments in the later part of the film.
Story – The story follows a young woman marrying a scientist and learning that he has been working on a bigger project which involves clones. This is an interesting story because it plays into the ideas of whether clones should be used in the real world, which is always going to be an interesting conversation. The story does however jump around the timeline with the flashbacks filling in the blanks for Elizabeth. It could get moments that are confusing because keeping up with certain characters can be hard to figure out which is which, but otherwise this does everything needing to make you think you are watching an episode of Black Mirror.
Sci-Fi – The sci-fi side of the film uses the idea of clones being welcomed into the world or how they are secretive for the first designers.
Settings – The settings keep the film in one location which does show the world that Elizabeth must get used too.
Special Effects – We keep the effects simple and effective to show the wounds inflicted to the characters.
Scene of the Movie – The meeting of the clones.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many time jumps.
Final Thoughts – This is a sci-fi film that does ask a question about cloning, and whether they should be included in the world or not.
Overall: Black Mirror in film form.
Rating
