HUMANE (2024)

Studio:   IFC Films
Director: Caitlin Cronenberg
Writer:   Michael Sparaga
Producer: Michael Sparaga
Stars:    Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Sebastian Chacon, Alanna Bale, Sirena Gulamgaus, Uni Park, Martin Roach, Blessing Adedijo, Enrico Colantoni, Peter Gallagher

Review Score:

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Summary:

With the government mandating population reduction due to an ecological crisis, a privileged family tears themselves apart when they're tasked with euthanizing one of their own.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Amid an environmental crisis that caused the world's governments to mandate voluntary as well as conscripted euthanasia as a means of population control, former news broadcaster Charles York summons his four adult children to dinner at his home with his second wife, celebrity chef Dawn Kim. The guests include controversial anthropologist Jared York, embattled pharmaceutical CEO Rachel York, struggling actress Ashley York, recovering addict Noah York, and Rachel's young daughter Mia.

The children are shocked and a family argument ensues when Charles unexpectedly announces that he and Dawn willingly enlisted in the Department of Citizen Strategy's euthanasia program. However, Dawn later sneaks out of the house and flees after leaving behind a note about changing her mind.

Bob from the Department of Citizen Strategy arrives at the house with several armed D.O.C.S. agents. Another heated argument breaks out among the family when they learn Charles scheduled his euthanasia for that same evening while everyone is present.

With Dawn now absent, Charles attempts to reschedule his appointment. Bob presents Charles with cancellation documents that would freeze the family's extensive assets and publicly out Charles as a cowardly traitor, so Charles chooses to go ahead with euthanasia after all.

Following Charles's death, Bob further shocks the family by informing them that legally, he must collect a second body as originally planned. After more back and forth between everyone, Bob takes Mia, who is exempt from euthanasia because she is a minor, outside to his mobile morgue unit while the four Yorks are given two hours to decide which one of them will die.

Jared heatedly suggests selecting Noah to die because he is adopted, and also a disappointing drain on the family who killed a woman in a car accident. Agreeing with her brother, Rachel attempts to stab Noah, but Noah fights back. Although she previously formed an alliance with him as the family's black sheep, Ashley turns on Noah by revealing their father paid a massive amount of money to the family of the woman Noah killed.

Several violent confrontations and chases occur as Noah fights to physically defend himself against his siblings. Eventually, Jared, Rachel, and Ashley subdue and restrain Noah.

Having received a text from him earlier, Noah's girlfriend Grace Dawson arrives at the house. Panicking over the situation, Grace causes a commotion that ends when a D.O.C.S. agent shoots her dead. Noah breaks free from his restraints while his siblings are preoccupied with the momentary chaos outside.

Jared, Rachel, and Ashley resume their attempts to capture their brother as Noah stabs, chokes, and fights back against them. Realizing they are close to killing each other, Rachel identifies herself as the worst family member as she volunteers to be euthanized. Jared contends he should be the volunteer because he abandoned his first wife and his son Lucas. Noah brings everyone together by proposing to kill Bob instead.

With Ashley playing possum, the siblings lure Bob and the D.O.C.S. agents into the house where they are disarmed and taken hostage. However, Ashley soon dies of the injuries she sustained while struggling with Noah. The siblings euthanize the agent who shot Grace. Among other revelations, Bob admits that Dawn was taken into custody and is now being held at D.O.C.S. headquarters. Bob continues to desperately bargain and also makes insulting threats as Noah prepares to inject him with the euthanasia drug. The camera cuts to black.

Some time later, Jared, Rachel, Mia, Dawn, and Jared's son Lucas attend a piano concert performed by Noah, who was once a promising virtuoso. Meanwhile, a bruised and battered Bob appears in a television commercial where government propaganda claims Ashley and Grace enlisted to be voluntarily euthanized.

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Review:

"Humane" reminds me of the first "The Purge" film (review here) in that it begins by building a dystopian setting whose backstory details have far-reaching moral implications and societal consequences. Then the movie immediately contracts back from the bigger picture to instead tell a small-scale story examining how that setting affects just one family caught inside a single house.

"Humane's" opening voiceovers of newscaster sound bites, a tried-and-true trick for establishing essential exposition in under a minute, inform us that the planet has suffered a catastrophic ecological collapse. Food and water are scarce. International borders are closed. Every nation on Earth now has one year to meet a population reduction quota in order to ensure humanity can still survive.

Amid this devastating crisis, former TV anchor Charles York summons the four adult children of his privileged family to dinner at his expansive home. Although items like fresh fish and fine wine are supposed to be prohibited, Charles's celebrity chef wife Dawn prepares an indulgent feast unlike anyone has seen in quite some time. Charles and Dawn simply want everyone to enjoy a delicious meal together before dropping a bomb: the two of them have decided to sign up for the government's voluntary euthanasia program to help provide for their family.

That's enough of a shock as it is, yet the situation hits another harrowing hurdle when Dawn's cold feet lead to her surprise disappearance. Bob, a comically callous employee of the Department of Citizen Strategy, has come to the mansion to collect two bodies, and he and his armed guards are not leaving without a second one. The York children now have two hours to decide which of them will take Dawn's place and join dad in death, if the secrets spilled over the course of the evening don't cause them to kill each other first.

Given the overarching concept, "Humane" can be classified first as a thriller. But depending on an individual viewer's expectations of what they want out of the movie, anyone who enters explicitly for the horror element should be forewarned that the film features quite a bit of dramatic family conflict that won't appease everyone's interests.

Of the four York children, Ashley has the softest spotlight as a struggling actress who's a disappointment considering where her siblings progressed in their respective careers. She'd be the black sheep if not for Noah, an adopted brother who was once a promising pianist until addiction caused him to kill a woman in a car accident. Jared's work in anthropology makes him a controversial political figure who also left his first wife and son for a fling. But being the embattled CEO of a pharmaceutical company probably makes Rachel the most ruthless of the bunch. And just wait until you hear all about Bob's own issues with a wife battling Parkinson's, and how his hard life led him to essentially assisting suicide in a mobile morgue.

"Humane" dishes out several of these servings where character development through dialogue is the only food on the plate. For an audience interested chiefly in the squirming violence of stabbings, stranglings, and other slices of punctured flesh, all of the bickering discourse and conversational confrontations can be difficult to digest.

"Humane" also hits a long lull when the siblings center their attention on a specific someone to offer up as the sacrificial lamb. That's the movie's greatest weakness. It arrives at its main moment, the one upon which the rest of the runtime hinges, too early, and there isn't enough intrigue left to fill the plentiful space before end credits. After this point, "Humane" feels like its wheels spin in sand with repetitive chases, beatings, and revelations about how awful these people can be.

On its strong side, however, "Humane's" horror hits satisfying sweet spots when the family dynamics get physical. Since Michael Sparaga is both the sole credited writer and the sole standard producer, it's a tad misleading to call "Humane" a Caitlin Cronenberg film. Still, it's entirely evident from the confident direction that Caitlin's apple didn't fall far from her father's tree. Like entries in the elder Cronenberg's oeuvre, "Humane" positions class commentary against a bleak backdrop that's unmistakably Canadian while retaining a streak of cynical wit, particularly through Enrico Colantoni's Bob, who intentionally possesses an edge of gallows humor to contrast with the seriousness of the circumstances.

Inconsistent in its varying intentions to deliver allegory as well as entertainment, "Humane" nevertheless averages out to be an engaging exercise in post-apocalyptic theater, even if part of its promise goes unfulfilled. There is nearly no likelihood of a sequel since nothing about "Humane" screams "franchise," though the underlying fiction remains as ripe as "The Purge" to continue creating interesting indictments of modern living in an increasingly tumultuous world.

Review Score: 65

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