In Huxley’s despotic World State, political passivity is meticulously orchestrated through Pavlovian conditioning, biogenetics, endless entertainment options and an ecstasy-like drug called soma. Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel describes a futuristic society where science, pleasure and productivity reign supreme. If it’s been a while since you read Brave New World, allow me to jog your memory.

Though the film has been described in wildly contradicting ways-“a romp of a good time ” “an abhorrent, frustrating, ugly experience ” “a twisted and hilarious delight ” and, most bizarrely, a “95-minute advertisement for cleavage”-it is best taken as a modern dramatization of Huxleyan terror. The film opts for dark humor and satire when examining society’s violent tendencies, moral shortcomings and mind-numbing angst, creating a murderous dystopian world. These turbulent times-exacerbated by our unhealthy dependence on technology that ensures we experience overwhelming tragedy in real-time-have caused widespread isolation and anxiety among Gen Z, leading many of us to wonder: Is this the start of the end of the world? Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies screens this generational dread as an outrageous murder-mystery, jam-packed with an extravagant setting, ludicrous one-liners and facepalm-inducing twists. Between the Trump administration, pandemic, civil unrest and insurrection, America has felt especially apocalyptic in the past five years.

Daphne du maurier flight of the falcon