LONDON: Thoughtful sci-fi movies are something of a rarity, but “Swan Song,” recently released on Apple TV+, manages to merge a fanciful near future with a very human story. The film is the debut full-length feature from Irish director Benjamin Cleary, who picked up a 2016 Academy Award for his short “Stutterer”. For his first full movie, Cleary has assembled a stellar cast, including Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Glenn Close and Awkwafina.
Ali plays Cameron Turner, a doting husband and father with an idyllic life about to be snatched away from him by a terminal illness. A ground-breaking new medical program, headed up by Glenn Close’s Dr Scott, offers Cameron a way out — of sorts. Though his fate is sealed, Cameron can spare his wife and son from grief by replacing himself with a clone; the theory being that they’ll never know the difference if he never tells them what he’s planning. But as the day of the swap approaches, Cameron begins to have second thoughts.
“Swan Song” is on Apple TV+. (Supplied)
As movie outlines go, it sounds primed for a third-act switcheroo straight out of Hollywood’s thriller handbook, but, to be fair to Cleary, he makes sure that “Swan Song” avoids winding up as a derivative, by-the-numbers who’s who. Ali, too, seems determined to avoid every tried-and-tested movie trope, instead portraying Cameron as a man who must balance what’s best for his family with the (very relatable) impotence of knowing he’s helping someone else take over his life.
At times, “Swan Song” plods a little, or skitters across the odd plot hole, but such moments are easy to forgive when the movie is such a showcase for complex, thrilling character acting. Ali, Close, Harris (as Cameron’s wife) and Awkwafina (as a previously cloned, terminally ill woman) are all mesmerizing to watch. The film never leans too heavily on its sci-fi tech, or devolves into CGI spectacle — this is too smart a movie for that.